Experts say a coming wave of older consumers is about to supplant young people as the tech industry’s core customer.
But in the fast-changing world of ageing and technology, what’s happened over the past half-decade pales in comparison to what’s coming in the next.
Few projections are backed with as much confidence, or by as many scientists, investors and educators, as is the notion that older people and high tech will soon be BFFs. By 2032, Census data projects that America will have more people ages 65 and older than it will have people who are 18 and younger. By the late 2040s, nearly one in four Americans will be what is retirement age or older. And by 2050, people age 50 and older will comprise more than 40% of America’s population, or more than 160 million people.
But, for now, the specific definition is loose. By some measures, Ben Franklin’s glasses were an early version of age tech. And by all measures, many newer, computer-oriented devices – voice-activated biosensors that track speech patterns to tell physicians or other caregivers about early signs of depression or dementia, for example – also are age tech.
“I use AirTags to know where my wife is,” said Wade, a longtime fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Association of Southern California who said he now is also a full-time caretaker for his wife, whose dementia symptoms have become more severe.Generator Ventures’ Kaplan said his company sees this end of the age tech market as smart business because many of the devices are sold to health providers and, as such, are covered by insurance.
Kaplan, among others, said the market will “open up” when people now in their 40s and 50s hit retirement age. But he noted that costs will be key to the development and popularity of artificial intelligence, and every other age tech product. For now, some segments of the age tech market feel repurposed. This includes items that once were sold as toys that now are sold as calming devices for people battling severe stages of dementia.
For decades, tech product advertising has suggested that youth is a stand-in for innovation, creativity and intelligence. But old age? It’s typically meant the opposite.“No, I haven’t felt like the kind of person that’s being talked about when it comes to tech advertisements,” said Myra Solano Garcia, 64, of Los Angeles, who said her tech use centers on the Internet and Zoom.But the former opera singer , and a former vice president at the University of La Verne, waves off that problem.
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