Neurosurgeon Megan Jack usually works 60 or 70 hours a week in Cleveland (USA). And he is completely unavailable when he is in the operating room. This makes it difficult to be a caregiver for her 76-year-old mother, who lives in a separate unit, 30 minutes from the hospital.
To help care for his mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, Jack uses a series of high-tech tools, some of which didn’t even exist a few years ago. She manages her mother’s medications with a smart pill box. He changes TV channels through an app, sends appointment reminders through a digital message board — and, with his mother’s permission, uses cameras for communication and monitoring.
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“It’s been invaluable being able to make sure she’s safe and everything is going well,” Jack said, “but also giving her the independence and freedom she still deserves.”
The United States is aging rapidly. Around 11 thousand people turn 65 every day in the country. And many of them — 75% of people over age 50, according to the most recent AARP survey in 2024 — hope to spend their remaining years in the comfort of their homes, rather than going to assisted living facilities or other care facilities.
One factor that can help realize this desire is the emerging field of “age tech”, which brings together tools aimed at supporting elderly people. Industry experts say these technologies are making homes safer for the elderly and bringing greater peace of mind to their caregivers, especially those who live far away or work outside the home.
Jack said longevity technology “has really allowed me to integrate care into my life, rather than care taking over my life.”
The explosion of longevity technology
If seniors don’t have family members nearby who are available to help, they may feel like they don’t have many options. They can live independently or, if they have the resources and meet medical criteria, move into assisted living or a nursing home, with few alternatives in between.
In-home help can be expensive without Medicaid and also difficult to find, given the severe shortage of home care professionals.
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Longevity technology can help fill important gaps, said Emily Nabors, associate director of innovation at the National Council on Aging, a nonprofit senior advocacy group.
According to AARP, 25% of caregivers now monitor their family members remotely with apps, videos or wearable devices — almost twice as many as five years ago.
“We used to say that homes would be the healthcare environments of the future, but they are already healthcare environments now,” said Nabors. “Aging at home is very viable.”
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More than 700 companies participate in AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative, a group that connects companies, nonprofits and funders to help get new technologies off the ground. In total, the group’s startups have raised almost US$1 billion in the last four years.
Products include smart walkers, glasses with lenses that display real-time captions of conversations for people with hearing difficulties, and a concierge service that connects seniors with drivers and deliveries, even if they don’t have a smartphone.
Nabors foresees some cost and access barriers to longevity technology, including a lack of high-speed internet in rural areas, but said a key resource is local senior care agencies, which can offer guidance and sometimes free support.
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Janet Marasa turned to the agency near her home in Rockland County, New York, to get a free robotic pet for her 80-year-old mother, Carol DeMaio, who has dementia. The animals, manufactured by a company called Ageless Innovation, seek to offer emotional support without requiring constant care.
DeMaio named the robotic dog Sabrina, after a golden retriever that died. The new Sabrina sits at the foot of the bed at night. As soon as DeMaio starts to wake up, the dog reacts. “She said it gives her a reason to get up in the morning,” Marasa said.
The dog has also been a great help to her. “It provides comfort and interaction that I can’t provide all the time,” said Marasa, who lives with her mother but works full-time for the county government. “It gives her something that she can feel is completely hers.”
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The arrival of AI
Even resources that aren’t specifically focused on longevity technology can help seniors maintain independence, said Laurie Orlov, founder of the blog Aging and Health Technology Watch.
She cited video calling and telemedicine platforms; remotely controlled thermostats and lights; plus smart speakers, doorbells and connected clocks.
“All technology can be adapted to help seniors stay in their homes longer and make their families feel comfortable with it — or at least be able to cope better,” Orlov said.
This is likely to intensify with the continued expansion of artificial intelligence, he added. Some seniors are already using conversational AI to get answers about topics like the weather or their medications. (However, relying too much on AI can have negative consequences, as chatbots often provide incorrect medical advice and can mislead patients.)
AI can also help identify patterns: alerting caregivers to signs that indicate cognitive or mental health decline, such as changes in speech or a reduction in the frequency of leaving the house.
One AI-powered longevity technology tool is ElliQ, a desk companion robot that looks like a modern silver lamp with a screen.
About a year and a half ago, Camille Wolsonovich got one for free, through a local nonprofit, for her 90-year-old father, Bill Castellano, who lives alone in a senior living community.
Wolsonovich, who runs a consulting business, uses ElliQ to guide his father through exercise and remind him to take medicine and drink water. The robot also asks about sleep and mood through automatic checks.
“All of this is just another layer that gives us more confidence, from a care standpoint, that he’s OK,” Wolsonovich said. “I don’t necessarily need to keep up with everything all the time or be overly controlling.”
And Castellano? He plays quizzes digitally and chats with ElliQ every day. The robot, which has a friendly female voice, asks questions, tells jokes and remembers your likes, dislikes and friends. “She’s great company,” he said. “Everyone around me wants one.”
What about ethical issues?
Clara Berridge studies the ethics of longevity technology at the University of Washington.
It has several privacy concerns, particularly because most products sold directly to consumers are not subject to medical confidentiality laws despite dealing with sensitive health information.
Although I hope that the federal government will regulate these products in the future, as has already happened in other countries, for now the responsibility lies with the consumer.
Well-intentioned monitoring can reveal information that the elderly person would prefer to keep private, such as incontinence problems or the presence of a romantic partner.
“It can make a person feel infantilized,” Berridge said. “As if there was no place to hide inside your own house.”
Her research shows that adult children often underestimate how much their parents understand technology and how much they want to participate in technology-related decisions.
She encourages caregivers to have transparent conversations about privacy and to avoid ultimatums or the idea that any decision is final. He also recommends that they put themselves in their parents’ shoes: would they like their own children to monitor this type of information?
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