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You understand the routine: You visit your parents for the holidays and will be put to work as their personal IT consultant, fixing anything that has gone awry since you were last there. So it may seem counter intuitive to suggest layering more tech on top of what your parents already have, but hear me out: Smart technology can act as assistive devices to help make a senior's life easier while also ensuring you have easier access to assist them when needed. Here are some considerations of ways you might add a little smart tech to an elderly parent's life.
Voice assistants like Siri, Google, or Alexa aren’t only a way to make life easier by providing information you’d otherwise have to look up; they can also act as accessibility devices, and even more importantly, safety devices. Consider that if you have smart lights throughout the house, you can ask your assistant to turn them on when you get up in the middle of the night, so you’re less likely to trip. In many cases, you can also use that smart assistant to request help. Siri can call 911, and Alexa and Google can get 911 service help if you pay for a subscription.
Still, it’s also nice to remove some labor- all these assistants can report movie times, help find out store hours, and even assist in placing a grocery order. As seniors get comfortable with the assistants in their home, the way they likely have on their phone, you can begin layering in other automations and devices.
Some of the major physical labor of maintaining a home and yard can be accomplished by robots, and as people age, it’s important to acknowledge that relieving some of this labor can help people stay in their home longer. Robot vacuums and mops won’t completely relieve you of all floor cleaning, but they can go a long way to help on a daily basis. The same is true for robot lawnmowers. Once these machines are set up, they can largely operate on their own, and you’ll want to ensure you are alerted if either of these machines don’t get back to their docks. You don’t want a lawnmower to be stolen or a vacuum to be tripped over.
There are a raft of countertop appliances now, from smart toaster ovens to air fryers, microwaves, and steamers. It may seem trivial to add smart tech to these devices, but they can serve two very important purposes. Many of these devices manage the cooking for you, which means that you can’t overcook (or start a fire). The device simply shuts off when the cooking is done per the food you choose. Second, these devices make it much easier to make fresh food, which can become cumbersome as you age. They handle everything for you, from the ideas to instructions and then, the cooking itself.
The premise of a video doorbell is that you don’t need to come to the physical door to converse with the person on the other side, and you can see who is there and what’s been left behind. This effectively means less having to walk back and forth to the door and feeling rushed to get there, which can lead to falls, but also means your parents can’t be pressured to open the door by someone on the other side.
Smart tech isn’t simply about mitigation, it’s also fun. Throw the sprinklers onto an automated button, so your dad can turn them on if he needs to get someone off his lawn. Add smart holiday lights that your parents can play with to make all kinds of different light displays year round. Remember that you need to be able to offer support from afar, so you also want to be an administrator on the home account for whatever you set up.
