Aging Baby Boomers Spawn New Tech Markets

PreacherTom writes "With the generation of Baby Boomers starting to enter their 60's, 75 million Americans will cross that line in the next 20 years. For the first time, though, this group will be composed of people who have grown up with technology. Enter a new industry: tech for the elderly that provides greater independence and better health, with an eye to users' privacy and dignity. Some examples (with pictures) would be the Pill Pets, stuffed animals with LCD's that tell their owners when to take their medicine, and Aware Car, which provides electronic warning systems to compensate for losses in reflexes." A national coalition, the Center for Aging Services Technologies, was established in 2003. Intel is doing some imaginative work in the area of assistive technology.

Comments

Pill Pet?

[BoberFett]

Do people who are familiar with technology really need to hide their pill reminders in a stuffed animal? That sounds more patronizing than anything.

Re:Pill Pet?

[drinkypoo]

Yes. They do. Clearly you have never seen some nice old lady all atwitter at one of those cute furry mouse-looking covers for a computer mouse. Or the little old lady driving down the road with nine trillion plushies in her back window. Or the women who come to play bingo at my place of employment and bring their lucky troll doll collection with them. Obviously it's not for everyone, which is why they're not going to stop selling the traditional pill reminders. What do you have against choice?

Re:Pill Pet?

[kfg]

Sure, not all of them. Just the ones that act like it. If someone wants to act like a child, then they can be treated like a child, whereas if they want to act like an adult, I am more than happy to treat them like one - and in both cases, this is regardless of age.

Thank you, I 'preciate that. You, however, are not typical.

When you were 8 you went to school and took sports/violin/whatever because your teachers/parents wanted you to, not because you wanted to. You will find as you grow older that most people start treating you in that manner again. In controled care situations like nursing home they treat pretty much every resident that way. You will get a teddy bear pill reminder because that is what they want you to have.

In the meantime a targeted rant now and again may be just the whack upside the head the people who will be marketing things to me and the people who will be caring for me need to remind that, like bad generals, they are thinking about the last generation when "solving" the problems of this generation, even though they may well be deluding themselves that they are thinking of this one.

Are you really going to go on a tirade and start knocking over shelves if they put the pill reminder teddy bears on the shelf next to your normal pill reminder?

I'm not a two year old. I don't go on tirades. I'm a curmudgeon. I post rants. In RL they come off as Billy Connelly type comedy routines and people laugh.

KFG

I want an aware car

[Marxist Hacker 42]

And I'm only 36. I personally want- as a minimum- adaptive cruise control tied to a proximity alarm. I want infrared lasers shooting out 8 ways from my car, measuring distance- and a heads-up-display readout plus audible alarms.

This tech has been avilable since the 1980s, but we've yet to see it in consumer-grade vehicles. Why is that? I'm willing to bet mandatory use of such tech would save at least 2000-3000 lives every year on the highways; after all, it's not the speeding but the tailgating that kills you.

Re:I want an aware car

[jeffmeden]

The problem is those 3000 lives are YOUR fault, and thats the way they like it. If the car is as driver-centric as possible there is no chance for litigation claiming that a design flaw caused the car to operate the way it did. Addition of automation systems that have not seen EXTREMELY long trial periods are unacceptable risks for the motor companies. The sad state of litigation in America ensures that if a car company implemented a system that saved 2999 lives but was directly responsible for 1 death, it would be scrapped immediately and the producing company would be severely penalized.

Probably too expensive.

[Kadin2048]

Why is that? I'm willing to bet mandatory use of such tech would save at least 2000-3000 lives every year on the highways; after all, it's not the speeding but the tailgating that kills you.

There are lots of technologies out there that would almost certainly save lives if implemented, but aren't because they'd be too expensive.

In the scheme of things, human life has a measurable value, and it's not as high as some people would like to think.

Aware cars lead to less aware drivers

[everphilski]

Overly-aware cars lead to a false sense of security, which leads to drivers not paying attention to driving. Now, **some** amount of technology - rear-view cameras in the dash, for instance - are good as they augment your vision in areas where you cannot possibly see. Take for example the removal of stop signs Ejbay and Ipswitch. Drivers are forced to be more alert and people are safer because of it.

What did they do before technology?

[mcmonkey]

For the first time, though, this group will be composed of people who have grown up with technology.

Because of course, technology is a recent discovery. Fire was only discovered is the early 1920s, and as recently as the 1950s most Americans lived in caves and ate dirt.

Oh, and the world was black and white back then, too. When everything got colorized, old pictures and movies stayed the same, because they were color pictures of the black and white world.

Aware-Aware Car

[zumbojo]

So the elderly will have Aware Car, and the rest of us will need Aware-Aware Car to locate and avoid the masses of crazy old drivers in Aware Cars careening all over the highways.

Dark times lay ahead pedestrians everywhere.

This season's hot Christmas gift...

[Rob T Firefly]

Medicate Me Elmo!

Re:How about augmented humans?

[Eternauta3k]

I plan on playing Russian Roulette until I lose at the first sign of dementia.

*picks up revolver*
*pauses*
What was I suposed to use this for?