Tech-Aid for the Elderly

“Oh my god this laptop is driving me crazy, I’m going to lose it”. “Why am I not able to post this article?”. “Why is my camera not working?”. These are some of the phrases I hear on a daily basis when my aunt tries to use her laptop for conducting online classes.

This is an example that highlights a gap in our day-to-day life, especially amongst the elderly, which is the technological inability to use a digital device. Technology has been a boon for some of us and a bane for others. Digital technologies have advanced more rapidly than any innovation in our history – reaching around 50 percent of the developing world’s population in only two decades and transforming societies. Technology has made our life so easy and has given us so many facilities, which we could never have imagined before. At the same time technology has not only improved the standard of living of human beings but has brought revolutionary changes in the field of development of the country and the world. From simply using your mobile phone on a daily basis to handling digital payments, everything requires technology but sometimes it can be a little problematic to adapt to all of these changes. Change is inevitable but it is also something that takes a while to normalize. I think every one of us faced a few challenges while adjusting to this digital environment. Activities ranging from joining online seminars to completing submissions online, all of us took a fair bit of time to be knowledgeable about the day-to-day use of technology but those who have suffered the most when it comes to advancing with technology were probably people like your next-door elderly couple whose children are settled abroad, they could be your grandparents, your homemaker mother and even your 40-year-old cousin who might be technologically shy. Keeping health issues like visual impairments and hearing limitations, knowledge about technology is extremely important and the lack of this factor affects a lot of individuals in the basic type of technology which is communication technology.

While technology in itself has been progressive, it has adverse effects on the lives of the elderly and senior citizens. Slowly, this became extremely hurtful for the elderly as they were unable to cope with the technological changes and felt extremely isolated from the real world. A survey conducted by HelpAge India in 2021 revealed the following data:

Upon reading the above statistics and identifying this problem, it is evident that we need a solution to this problem. Everything can be looked at from an entrepreneurial view and some companies did attempt to tap this market by helping individuals adapt to technology. But none of them catered to the target audience which was senior citizens. It almost went unnoticed until in 2015 one company from Albuquerque, New Mexico came into the picture.

Teeniors, a start-up company, took the responsibility to match tech-savvy youth with senior citizens to help assist them in their day-to-day digital problems. The tech-savvy youth (also known as Teeniors) coach seniors on how to use a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, etc, and any other technological needs. Founder Trish Lopez thought of this brilliant venture and pitched this idea at a start-up weekend for women entrepreneurs in 2015 after realizing that her mother faced the same issues. Trish believed that patience and listening are some of the fundamental skills young people learn and they would be suitable for this job. The program served more than 3000 seniors in New Mexico and even went on to start a nonprofit side to their program to help seniors who could not afford to pay. So far, the nonprofit has won $115,000 in grants from Comcast, Facebook, Hewitt Packard, Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico, the Albuquerque Community Foundation, and the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association.

So, what are the problems we are tackling here? There is a widespread idea that seniors are not technologically advanced, but that is not entirely true. Instead, it has been recently observed since the pandemic that seniors tend to resist learning more about technology. There could be several reasons for it ranging from their unfocused nature towards adapting to the technological changes or their willingness to accept the fact that the world is changing and swiftly becoming tech-dominated.

Teeniors help to tackle this problem we just discussed. If an individual signs up with Teeniors to avail assistance, tech-savvy youth will be assigned to each subscriber to assist, help and guide for all digital and technological problems ranging from simply using the mobile to helping them pay their bills online. These tech-sevaks would have to follow an individual approach for solving the exact problem and satisfying each and every customer. The underlying communication style has to be patience and respect.

Apart from their success with having a nonprofit arm in 2018, their business model comprises a subscription-based platform. On this platform, a senior can signup with Teenior and can decide on particular assistance packages according to their requirements. One can choose from the following packages :

• In-Person Coaching (our office or your home)

• In-Person Group Event (i.e., senior center)

• Virtual, 1-to-1 Coaching (live, online)

• Virtual, Group Class (live, online)

From a monetary perspective, each Teenior coach will be provided a stipend according to the assistance they have provided and for how much time they have provided the said assistance.

Personally, I feel that the involvement of youth is a great initiative and should be promoted more often. We spend so much of our time just in the world of technology that we forget that a life outside of it exists.

Yesterday I got a call from my grandmother and she explained how she was unable to connect to the wifi on her tablet. I helped her out and after the call was over I thought that just a simple phone call could solve such a hassle for her. The world is getting progressive day by day and in this fast-moving environment, simple and easy assistance like this can go a long way. We should start connecting with our elderly again, make up for the time we lost during the pandemic and make them feel a part of our world. After all, they’ve been there for us our whole lives, they’ve provided us with unconditional love every step of the way and I think it's time we complete our responsibility and help them feel better about themselves.

When we think of it, a startup like Teeniors can do so well in the United States, why wouldn’t it flourish here in India? I feel that India has all the resources and manpower to tap this area and thrive from it. We have knowledgeable youth, an employment gap to fill and an enormous target audience to assist. We can start operations from old age homes in particular cities which can act as a training opportunity for the youth and then, later on, expand our operations in other cities. The establishment of a full-fledged database would be the next operation and catering to the needs of seniors online will be our next step. A similar subscription-based model as Teeniors but expanded over a much larger scale involving workshops, orientations, day-to-day visits, and customer query phone calls. Not only will this help a large number of people in need of help but also encourage the youth to get more employment opportunities to impart their knowledge to the elderly.

Looking at everything from a business, emotional and social point of view, we can all agree and come together to fill this gap in society. We should work towards making the world of technology as easy and accessible for our elderly as it is for us. This small effort can go a long way and can help bridge the gap of digital inability that seniors face.