Technology for Seniors: A Holiday Gift Guide

If you’re wondering what the best holiday gift for the seniors in your life could be, consider teaching them how to stay connected with technology. Ample research shows that technology has the ability to help seniors age in the comfort of their own homes, become more socially engaged, and also improve their mental and physical wellbeing.

A study by Brookdale Senior Living and the Stanford Center on Longevity found that 63% of seniors use technology to stay connected to loved ones, with 70% saying it improves their communications with loved ones. The same study found that those who do use technology such as computers and smartphones, reported feeling happier, healthier and more satisfied with life.

This holiday season, consider gifting some of the following tech items for an older adult in your life:

• Smartphone: These all-in-one devices can be easily tailored to seniors with touch-screen technology and large font options. They make it easy to stay connected, good for entertainment, and can be equipped with numerous health management tools and applications.

• Wifi: Make it easy for seniors to get the most out of their devices by connecting their home to the internet. This will give them access to an endless number of resources to help them stay connected from home.

• Tablet: Similar to the smartphone, these devices have tons to offer seniors, from health and active brain applications, to viewing photos, reading books and keeping in touch with family or friends. These also allow users to adjust fonts for easier readability.

• Telehealth: As a unique provider of telehealth solutions along with our end-to-end home care software platform, this option should come as no surprise. Telehealth technology, such as our remote patient monitoring devices, allow seniors to receive the care they need in the comfort of their own home. Consider a health and wellness device that ties into a system just like AlayaCare, where seniors and their families are ensuring they are staying out of the hospital and in the comfort of their own home.

While older adults haven’t always had the easiest relationship with technology, the number of seniors embracing electronic devices and gadgets is increasing.

It’s important to keep in mind that new technologies can be overwhelming for any user at first, so make sure that if you’re thinking of giving the gift of technology that you take the time to show your elders how the technology works and the benefits associated with it.

AlayaCare is a progressive home health care software vendor as well as an integrated pre- and post-acute telehealth vendor, allowing us to participate in unique data sets that allow us to make strides in artificial intelligence, big data and population health management.

Give the gift of telehealth to your home care clients this holiday season with AlayaCare’s Telehealth solution. Request a demo today.