How Games and Robots are Changing the Retirement Community
Maybe the idea for this video came after seeing commercials for Jitterbug, the cellphone for technophobic elderly persons.
“Costing only $10.00* a month this plan includes no free minutes. All 911 calls are free, but every non-911 call you make will be billed by Great Call, Inc. at $0.35/minute. There are no additional long-distance or roaming charges.” The asterisk means $40 a month for 300 minutes, but that includes 24-hour operator service. It produces a dial tone when you open it.
Apparently, it also has lousy battery life and muffled sound, but anyone who would notice that simply wouldn’t be purchasing Jitterbug in the first place. I don’t know the market figures, or how sales for this among seniors compare to say, the iPhone, but the existence of the Jitterbug seems itself so condescending. As if it’s badly designed on purpose, because seniors are believed to think of high tech as the office copier machines — something beige, with random knobs, and Times New Roman fonts. We are spoon-feeding them poor quality technology because it’s familiar; these things that wouldn’t look so out of place in 1993.
There are so many tech products for seniors. What the hell is MyCelery? It is computer-free email using a fax machine. Who under 65 has a home fax machine?
Jitterbug says they offer a “simplified cellphone experience.” Certainly there will be, if there isn’t already, an equivalent pc manufacturer with large markups and clunky designs just the same. Of course what they really could use is a mac. But try selling grampa the brand most closely associated with the hipster creative class. Why doesn’t Macintosh target old people? Or do they? They will once the Boomers retite — right around the corner in 2011.
They will be the first (semi-)technologically savvy retirees. Look at this sleek domain — www.rl.tv — “Retirement Living.” Yet, like the world’s worst domain name wowOwow, they could use the help of a graphic designer under 60.
The “technology” stack at most book sellers has dozens of seemly redundant, unnecessary references manuals on how to use Wikipedia. Somewhere some old person is going to Barnes and Noble or a library thinking, I’ve heard of this thing called ‘Wikipedia.’ I think I’ll read a book about it. Who else is buying “Laptops for Seniors”?
Geriatric1927 didn’t have trouble getting the hang of things. But really, the issue is an important one. Their impaired memory and physical frailty make seniors truly in need of technology. Here’s an article and video about optical sensors to oversee people as they pick up and use items. And a “memory mirror,” that tracks what medication is taken and when. This isn’t without some trepidation. AARPBulletin dispels fear of whether “iPods interfere with pacemakers.”
Almost a quarter of the Japanese population is 65 and older. And their children are having trouble keeping them entertained. Ifbot, the robot companion sold to assisted living facilities, didn’t go over too well. But now Japanese elders are serviced by more utilitarian robots.
Retires have leisure time and money. So maybe senior-oriented games are the next frontier. They love anything with “Brain Training” in the title, but what about MMORPGs? Here’s an interesting post explaining why “retirees should consider ‘Retiring to a MMORPG’ instead of ‘Retiring to Arizona.’” The average Second Life user, (I read somewhere? Anyone know this for sure?) is just shy of 40 — pretty old for a game community. Until then, there are Wii bowling tournaments in US assisted living facilities.
But better keep them away from The Graveyard
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