On many of our walks, the topic of
technology often comes up –as in how to do something with our
phones, what exactly is "the cloud"?? And then who to contact when we
can't solve a particular issue. But it's also clear how important - if
not irreplaceable - our smartphones are to us. The joy they bring
when we can share photos of babies, pets; our group participating in
races; decorating and renovating, and of course all the many
travel adventures and destinations. And the use of our
"WhatsApp" group to stay in touch, and for many of us with family
across the globe, is a truly life enhancing communication tool - along with
video apps like Zoom and FaceTime.
This past week, I participated in a
webinar put on by the Life Institute at the Chang School of Continuing
Education at Ryerson (sorry TMU now) as part of their “Empowerment Speaker
Series". This one was on “Resilient Technology: Understanding
and Accessing Age Tech”.
Here are just a few takeaways that I thought would be of interest.
The new word of the day is “Gerontechnology” – except it’s been around for more than 30 years but definitely new to me
Canadian seniors as a group are one of the biggest
users of technology in the world. 87% use the internet every
single day. So gold stars to us!
And we’ve all heard about robots – or “social robots” is the term used.However, did you know there are now pet robots? These are lifelike cats or dogs and can respond in a very positive way, such as when they are being petted, and some are now able to recognize voice commands. You can appreciate that these can provide great comfort for someone who has had pets and/or lacks some socialconnection. And some of these pet robots are warm and have heart beats!
One of the speakers was a lady from the store “Best Buy”. Her role is focused on technology and health. And who knew that the store had created something called the “Best Buy Digital Citizen”. It’s a well-developed site that provides free courses and how to guides. Here’s the link:
https://digitalcitizen.bestbuy.ca/
And here’s a link to a recording of the actual webinar for anyone interested.
It also includes many relevant links to resources and organizations on
technology and aging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVpt8kniIBI
And when we’re on the trail, remind me to tell you about the technology out of Japan and the use of toilets as it relates to health. I'll bet you can't wait.......
