Technology To Grow Old With

Meeting people on the web is not only for the youth of today: already, millions of people over 65 are dating online at sites such as www.seniorfriendfinder.com and www.match.com. Perhaps in the future, it will be common to find older people networking, finding love or gaming using the internet. No longer will grandfathers spend time in their garden; instead they could be living virtually as a character in an online society like ‘Second Life’.

Homes of the future

But in addition to spending time in cyberspace, many older people will want to enjoy the comfort of their home despite not being quite as fit as they used to be. To deal with the physical problems of the elderly, many researchers around the world are busy developing ‘smart homes’ that could be available in about ten years. Sensors will be scattered around the home, telling the resident if the fridge needs to be stocked or if a window or door has been left open. This technology aims to give older people greater independence and security. Also, families and carers can have greater peace of mind with monitoring systems that analyse patterns of activity and alert them if someone has left the house or is motionless for too long.

However, if this ‘Big Brother’ technology is to take off, then there are also privacy issues to consider. According to Stephen Brewster, a professor of Human Computer Interaction at the University of Glasgow, people have to look at what information should be recorded and who has access to it. “There is a lot of potential, but this technology has to be used carefully,” he says. Researchers also have to overcome the number of false alarms generated by the sensor system, which relies on people’s movements being completely predictable, which is not always the case.