High-Tech Aging: Tracking Seniors' Every Move
From that, a business grew. This year, the couple launched Adaptive Home, one of a growing number of startups that use monitoring technology to revolutionize elder care. These companies are also betting on a big market as the baby boomers enter old age.
Chris Bridgers says a basic package includes about a dozen motion sensors placed strategically around a house. They can provide adult children with a stunningly detailed rundown of a parent's day.
"They may know that their mother got up in the morning, that she's been to the kitchen, she's opened the refrigerator, she's taken her medicine," he says.
The sensors can even note when Mom makes her coffee and sits in her favorite chair. The idea is to alert children with a phone call or text message when anything unusual happens.
Lida Bridgers warns that every mundane habit will come to light with this kind of monitoring. Some clients, for example, insist that they're sound asleep all night.
"Come to find out, they're out of bed for two hours at night," she says with a laugh. "They're in the kitchen, the bathroom — the refrigerator was open three times. The kids don't need alerts because Grandpa wants a glass of milk!"
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"Well, it's frightening to me. It's like Orwell," says Nancy Schlossberg, a counseling psychologist who focuses on seniors in transition. She wonders if all of this monitoring really means it's time to consider assisted living. But, if a family goes the high-tech route, Schlossberg hopes they ask Mom and Dad first.
"It is really important not to fee l marginalized, not to feel degraded because you are old," Schlossber g says. "So, if the technology can make you feel good about yourself, that's fine. If it is a way of looking at you, inspecting you, then it isn't so good."