This past Christmas, I helped my parents pick out a water filter. All of the latest “smart” models come with a smartphone app that promises to monitor filter life, track water quality and automatically request service. Yet my father, age 75, and mother, 67, rejected them in favor of a nondigital model.
“Every time it gets updated or I forget how to use it, we have to call you,” my dad said.
As an only child living 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers) away, I didn’t need to believe. My parents are getting old and don’t need traditional care – they cook, drive and keep their house in order. Instead, I provide what I call technology care: helping them with theirs Digital activities of daily lifeFrom online banking to booking theater tickets.
But with the shift towards technical industries Artificial intelligence agents And Generative user interface – With the promise of making devices smarter than ever before – I’m gearing up to make this invisible workload heavier, not lighter. In addition to being a tech savvy, I am a computer scientist Those who study human-computer interaction.
Technology is caring
Technology is caring Helping someone use digital tools. While it’s not entirely new — people have long helped grandparents program VCRs and parents’ desktop computers to connect to the Internet — the stakes have changed.
Today, digitalization is ubiquitous. Helping with these tools is no longer just occasional unpaid tech support—it’s a form of continuing care to maintain independence. For example, even the simple act of clipping coupons has gone digital – Marginal for older adults Those unable to navigate Store apps to access these discounts
People often see older adults as resistant to technology, but in recent years — especially since the Covid-19 pandemic — That busted the myth. While gaps in internet access and device ownership remain, they are no longer major barriers to technology access.
The emerging crisis is not about access, but effective use. Many older adults are now online and willing to use these tools, but They need frequent help From family, friends or community.
Invent
The problem isn’t just that devices and apps are getting complicated; It is that they are constantly changing. Frequent software updates and shifting interfaces can be frustrating for all users, but they turn familiar tools into foreign concepts for older adults.
This unpredictability is set to accelerate. take it Generative user interfacewhich designers can use to dynamically create an interface in minutes. Pair these with AI agents, and the system can take on the role of designer, taking independent action based on how it perceives the user’s intent or need.
If the “Pay Bill” button is in a different place every third time you open a certain app because an AI decided to optimize the interface, you might feel disabled forever if you can’t quickly identify it. Although the industry calls this personalization, it’s an ongoing goal for an older adult.
This relentless pace of change—even when intended to be helpful—is in direct contrast to age-related cognitive changes And this dynamic is going on with the new generation of seniors. They may be more willing to adopt new tools than the last, but that’s not the same as wanting to use technology when the rules are constantly changing.
To navigate a brand new or changing interface, your brain depends Fluid intelligence: Ability to reason, solve novel problems and ignore flying distractions. Unlike the knowledge that people accumulate over time, fluid intelligence naturally declines with age.
When an app updates or an AI optimizes a layout, it forces the user to discard their hard-won mental models and start over. For an older adult, this is not just a minor inconvenience; This is a taxing task for their working memory.
As an older adult participant in a study my colleagues and I conducted:
I had a computer on my desk in 1980, well, when nobody else did. So it’s not a foreign language, but the changes that are made with little or no explanation, and then the things you know how to do either change or disappear entirely, that’s the thing that drives me, and I’ll tell you, every older adult in America nuts.
Help the helper
I believe the way forward is to stop treating technology support as an afterthought and start designing technology for the caregiver. Training and encouraging digital literacy for seniors Designing technology for all users Important but not sufficient; It is important to develop tools for sharing the burden.
Two promising avenues are emerging. First, cognitive accessibility features – such as AI assistants Find the buried button or providing Real-time technology support – Can offload tasks from caregiver. Second, tools for caregivers are simply beginning to transcend Control access to device properties For capabilities such as allowing authorized access Banking As a co-user, or Recording personalized instructions.
These tools also need to be tailored: Family caregivers need different tools than community helpers like libraries and senior centers.
In the age of AI, innovation shouldn’t be a tax on the aging brain — it should help bridge the digital divide.
Debalena ChatterjeeAssistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago
Reprinted from this article the conversation Under Creative Commons license. read on Main article.
