Tech Is Not Just for the Young

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SPEAKER_00: 0:11

Hello and welcome to You Still Have Time, the podcast where we talk about all kinds of things related to aging. I like to call it aging successfully. We'd like to welcome back all of our regular listeners, if we can be so bold as to say that. Both of them. And also welcome any of you who are listening to us for the first time. We're calling this episode today Tech is not just for the young, because you know it ain't. We're your host. I'm Hope. And I'm Harold. She almost forgot that, you know. I f I forgot my name. Well, I forgot what I was gonna say. Right. But thanks to Harold's technological wizardry, you'll never know where where that happened.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05

It's a good thing. Um go ahead, Harold.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09

No, no.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10

What were you gonna say?

SPEAKER_02: 1:11

No. No, I'm I'm I'm not gonna all I was gonna say is that we we call this episode Technology is not just for the young. And we had run into some well, we had wanted to do this episode quite a while. And we first um I guess we had a little hiccup because in trying to set up this podcast, we ran into some technological issues. But we got through them. We got through them, and what we want you to get from this podcast is that technology is here to stay, and you can get through it also.

SPEAKER_00: 1:43

Yeah, uh, you know, and and we're not saying that you have to use every technical thing that's out there. We certainly don't. We're gonna talk about stuff like Alexa and Siri and stuff. That's not in our house. We don't know those people. We I don't know Alexa or Siri. Do you think we've heard about them, but we we have heard about them from other people, but we don't know. And and we know that there's value in using them, but we just haven't gotten to that point. But we are gonna discuss some things that we found helpful to us, and then you know, we also realize that the uh the technology is here to stay, and we're kind of being forced to learn how to do things in a new way. So we just wanted to talk about that a little bit and pass on some information to you, and then you can make your own decision.

SPEAKER_02: 2:35

I think that our audience, for the most part, uh remembers times without cell phones and without email. And we also remember as it was being implemented, we thought, I know I did. Well, what do I need a cell phone for? I have a phone in the house. If somebody wants to call me, they can call me at home. Now everyone has a cell phone, and everyone has an email address, and some people have too many email addresses, but that's an for another podcast. But but what we're saying is that m most of these new technologies do appear somewhat uh challenging or uh or very difficult at the outset, but over time we can all learn them. And as we go through some of the things that we have found to be helpful, uh I think that, you know, we hope that maybe we remove some of the uh the fear from the new things.

SPEAKER_00: 3:28

Yeah, and so in in preparing this episode, we said, oh, you know, well, not everybody is afraid or has a fear of learning new things. There are some people who like jump right on it. You know, a new thing comes out and they're there. I don't know, at the head of the line at the Apple store when the newest, you know, Apple phone comes out and they spend thousands of dollars to get it.

SPEAKER_02: 3:54

And then there are those folks who don't adapt to the new uh devices or the new toys until they're absolutely forced to, when they no longer can use uh the TV that they used to because the knobs broke off or something, or the you know the types. I mean, we had an old television that our kids would come over and say, Why do you still have that? Because it works. That's why we still have it.

SPEAKER_00: 4:17

No sense throwing it out if it if it works, but then it stopped working.

SPEAKER_02: 4:20

Yeah, but then it stopped working. But yeah, so you we we've you know, and you have the people in the extremes, and but the most of us are in the begin in the middle of that. Either we would like to try something new, but it just seems so difficult, and you know, like I it just needs some help to be able to learn how to do it.

SPEAKER_00: 4:38

Or or we're comfortable where we are. It's it's okay. Yeah, it's not the most modern way of doing things, but we can still do them that way, and we know how to do them and we're comfortable with it. But unfortunately, sometimes we are forced out of our comfort zone. And some of the ways that we found technology to be most impactful in our lives, the number one area is around the area of health. Because there were so many devices and I don't know. Um I I'm not I'm l at a loss for what kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02: 5:19

I mean, we saw we saw we saw uh an AARP uh study that said seven it was a survey, 70% of older people have some sort of a chronic health issue, whether it be high blood pressure or diabetes, but only 20% are using technology for monitoring them. And I I know for me, I I I don't have diabetes, but I do have a high blood pressure. And and I use one of these wear these tracking devices. Well, it's not a tracking, that's something from when you're in jail, right? When you're tracking devices.

SPEAKER_00: 5:54

That's a monitoring. You're being monitored. Your health, your health stats are being monitored.

SPEAKER_02: 6:00

Yes, right. Monitoring your health stats. Yes, thank you. Not tracking device. Um, but yeah, these wearable devices that are out there, you can really take advantage, whether it be monitoring your sleep, your heart rate, your blood pressure, your glucose level. There's tons of stuff that we just found out a lot about and doing research.

SPEAKER_00: 6:23

Yeah, and I just want to say that Harold just became uh one of these wearers in the past few months. Right. You know, I had been wearing a Fitbit, which, you know, I had I don't even know why I got it. I don't know why it was in, you know, it tracks how many steps you you take and it it tracks your sleep, how well you slept the night before. And just just a couple of months ago, actually, right, Harold?

SPEAKER_02: 6:48

You you decided Yeah, yeah. Because because I'm watching the statistics on yours, and I thought it would be helpful because I wanted to know what my blood, not my blood pressure, but my uh heart rate was during exercise. So that's one thing that I think of of value. Uh some of the other things that I've found out, I don't use either of these devices, but uh they sound good. They have smart pill dispensers. Now, I I mean, assuming that you take a pill or two, I know I we do. Uh we take a pill or two a day. And sometimes you forget whether or not did I take the pill yesterday or did I take the pill today? Well, these devices will automatically dispense the the whatever you set it up to, and it will let you know that, hey dummy, you didn't take your pill yesterday.

SPEAKER_00: 7:36

Well, it won't say dummy, but it and and that's something you you just learned in researching for this podcast, because I had never heard of it. Right.

SPEAKER_02: 7:46

They they have smart pill bottles that will you will keep track of when they've been opened. So if you need to keep abreast of multiple prescriptions and multiple pills, and you know, uh you have to take this pill in the morning and this pill in the afternoon, I mean, yeah, you could do it without these smart devices, but why avoid it if there are tools out there to make it easier for you?

SPEAKER_00: 8:10

Right. So, you know, healthcare probably is the number one. And that and I guess I don't know if we should mention here, but but as an aside with healthcare, uh, I'm sure all of you have tried to make a doctor's appointment. And many times now you can't just call. Well, you can call, and maybe over the phone they'll give you a date and time, and then they'll ask you for your email, and then they'll send you this whole, you know, you got to check in before you get to the office, and if there's a copay, you gotta pay. Now, right now, you don't have to do it that way because you know when you get to the doctor's office, yes, they'll hand you a clipboard and a piece of paper and a pen, and you can fill that all out and you can pay there. But it takes extra time. And while I always say we call our podcast, you still have time, we don't you don't want to waste some of that time on stuff you don't have to waste it on. And stuff you don't have to waste it on. So becoming familiar, and I think sooner or later, probably sooner than we think, we're not gonna have the option. You're going to have to check in online. And well, I mean, we'll we can we can talk about some other scenarios that we've experienced, but let's continue to go on through the devices. And I I don't know if I mentioned Alexa and Siri earlier, but they're not residents in our house. We don't have either. We we know about them and we know that they can be useful. And after doing this research, I'm thinking about maybe trying something out, but they can be very useful for especially people I would think living alone.

SPEAKER_02: 9:55

Right, exactly. You know, you think about um again, we're going back into the annals of old TV, late night TP TV, you remember the clapper? Clap on, clap off the clapper. Well, I mean, Alexa's really an updated version of that, I guess more sophisticated than the clapper. But but the point is, these voice-activated devices give you or give us independence. We can do things just by uh using our voice that might have required uh opening up uh laptops and going to screens. I mean, we all have issues.

SPEAKER_00: 10:32

Well calling somebody or either right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02: 10:36

You know, for people who fall, you know, you know, you could just read you know, call 911 or call a relative to s so you don't have to have to have the phone at your side all the time. So I think those are some of the real major advantages of of these voice-activated devices. They really, I mean, I had the core of it, it allows us to live independently. And I think that's what we all want. I mean, we want to maintain our independence for as long as possible.

SPEAKER_00: 11:05

And, you know, the other areas of security. You know, we've all seen like these ring videos. You have the video, you can see who's at your door before you go go to the door. And you know, security is something that everyone is concerned about. So it it's just another way that technology is making our it it it's a change, definitely. Uh, and it's not always, in my opinion, a change for the good, but it's a change and and it's it can be a useful change for a lot of people. So you have to decide whether or not this is where you want to go. Of course, there is the uh, I guess the age-old issue. Well, you know, it's one of the categories that we had. Yeah, you like all this stuff, but how do you learn it? Where do I like, you know, for those of you who have younger people in your lives, relatives or neighbors or whatever, and they're willing to help you sort of set things up and can answer your questions, that's a great idea. But I take the cue from my dear husband Harold here, who learns almost everything, including how to do this podcast, on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02: 12:21

The University of YouTube. If you want to learn anything, we had a runny uh faucet in the kitchen in the bathroom. I've never fixed a faucet before. I went to YouTube and they'll walk you through every step.

SPEAKER_00: 12:37

And the same holds true for when you're trying to learn how to use Siri or Alexa, uh, when you're trying to learn how to attach a photograph to an email, uh, when you're trying to learn to how to fill out things online, when you're trying to learn, we haven't even talked about all the other things that technology is useful for, from ordering your food, online.

SPEAKER_02: 13:03

Online shopping, online banking. Right. And and another one that we we talk about, and I know people may be hesitant, but just money transferring, whether it be Zenmo or Zell, I mean, you find a lot less a lot of people are not carrying cash around and they're just moving money via these apps.

SPEAKER_00: 13:25

Right, and there are certain apps on your phone. I think Harold, you use one on your phone, right, to pay for things. Right, right, right. With Apple Pay. Apple Pay. I don't I don't have an Apple phone, so I don't use Apple Pay. I mean, there there is uh comparable one for for Android users, but I I haven't yet used that. But it's becoming more and more prevalent. So when you when you go into a store and you know people aren't pulling out cash anymore, like, oh, here's the Apple Pay, and you just scan whatever it is, and it's paid. They're just the just so much out there, and it can feel a little overwhelming. And that's why uh we recommend, you know, like you know, figuring out what's most important to you and how what would be most helpful to you if you want to take a chance and learn some of these things.

SPEAKER_02: 14:22

Yeah, I I I think again the bottom line of this podcast, our goal is don't be fearful that you can't learn a new technology or thinking that it's gonna go away because we we're moving to a situation technologically where more and more is being done t technologically. So you won't be able to interface with a person. Oh, I want to the experience I had. So we were uh had a a friend son over.

SPEAKER_00: 14:53

It's like a godchild.

SPEAKER_02: 14:54

Yeah, like a godchild a couple not too long ago, and I don't go to McDonald's. So he won't, of course, he's well, 12 years old, and I think everybody's 12 and under. That's that's their main source of it, uh nutrition. So we go to a McDonald's. Now, the last time I had been in the McDonald's, there were people behind a counter where you went and you looked up on the you know to order your food and you told a person. So we go into the McDonald's, and all I see is this like kiosk. And I look like a deer looking at a new fence. What that was a cow. That was a cow. Well, they they get the metaphor. And so I'm looking at this thing and like, how do I order? What do I order? I don't even know what these things are. Of course, he just goes and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Okay, here it is. And like, wow, I feel old.

SPEAKER_00: 15:47

And and a friend and I had had an experience, almost the exact same experience, but we didn't have a 12-year-old with us to help us out. So we we stood there, two well-educated, relatively sophisticated women uh trying to order. And okay, so we figured out, you know, you touch this, we want this, and here's a total. And we're trying to figure out how do we pay for this? You know, what do we do? So finally we said, you know what, we're just gonna and then we're gonna go to the counter to pay for it. So we put the order in and and we go to the counter and we said, Oh, can we pay for it here? Oh no, we don't have a register, you have to pay at the machine. So we went back and tried again with no success. And we said, you know what, let's go. We're not that hungry.

SPEAKER_02: 16:40

So uh the bottom line is that they are McDonald's is not going to put people behind the counter for people like us. So either you learn how to use the machine or don't eat at McDonald's, and that might be a better idea.

SPEAKER_00: 16:54

But but even even even I know Yeah, it's not McDonald's is not the only place it's right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02: 16:59

I mean, sure. You go to restaurants and they don't have menus, you have to scan it. You have to, you know, okay, now I gotta get my computer. Do I have to code on? Do I have a scanner on my phone? These are the things that we are are being faced with. And yes, you can still maneuver without these skills, but it's going to become more and more difficult.

SPEAKER_00: 17:22

Yeah, because you know, you know, not only McDonald's, but certainly other corporations are are moving that way. And government agencies are moving that way too. So information is online. They want you to fill things out online. You know, everything is online, so you just really have to kind of, you know, okay, uh get comfortable. But as we said, you have to assess your level of uh comfortability and you know, and desire what do you want to, you know, oh I don't need that. I I don't need to learn that. But interacting online can do more than and and learning about technology can do more than just check your health and help you pay your bills. It can it it can help you stay engaged. You know, we did a whole two-episode podcast on on staying engaged, and um but it can be used to like learn new skills online, right?

SPEAKER_02: 18:23

Right. Uh and and certainly keep it in, like you said, keeping in touch with family members using the various uh social uh platforms out there.

SPEAKER_00: 18:31

I mean, I know that there are tons of them that Hope and I probably don't use, but certainly with something as simple as Facebook, you're able to keep in touch with family members who may not be local and you can see pictures and right and and of course if you want to share pictures, you're gonna have to learn how to share them, whether it's online or uh you know through social media or through your phone or through your email. But these are all things that you can decide to do. And I think we said earlier, Harold Harold learned everything he knows from YouTube. Yeah, most YouTube university. Absolutely, and YouTube University, I I know many of you have probably, as I do, recipes on YouTube and I play that, but YouTube is a tremendous educational source for anyone who wants to like you know kind of put their toe in the water of something something new.

SPEAKER_02: 19:30

So for the for those of you who say, uh, I don't need that because I got my granddaughter or my grandson or my son or daughter, yeah, yeah. You can use your grandson or your granddaughter or your what yes, you can do that. But we're encouraging you to show them that, hey, just because we're a little older doesn't mean that we can't learn these new things, also.

SPEAKER_00: 19:52

Yeah, because you know, when we were doing the research for this podcast, you know, I I would put in things like um seniors and technology. And I was very insulted, quite frankly, because there are so many, oh, um, 12 funny ways seniors react to technology and making fun of older people because they're trying to learn a new skill or they don't know what certain things mean. You know, what's Venmo? They don't know that. I mean, how many people that that we know and love, and we told them that we have a podcast, said, What's a podcast? So it it's not funny, and I don't think we should be made fun of for not being up on every single new technology that there is. But and and we don't have to use every single, but it's good to know that it exists. It's good to know the terms. I mean, when you hear chat GPT, you know, what's that? AI. And I oh, what's AI? Again, you can go to YouTube University and it will tell you everything about that. Yes. But it's also important because AI is being used to to dupe and scam people. So you need to be aware of all of these things, you need to be at least somewhat familiar with what they are and how they could be used. You don't have to use them all, certainly. Uh, we certainly don't, but it's always good to be informed.

SPEAKER_02: 21:25

That's a great, that's a great point because AI is out there and at a minimum, you need to be able to determine is this a real person or is this AI? And as it becomes more and more uh sophisticated, I think that we need to be able to say, wait a minute, that doesn't, I don't think that's a real person. I don't think I'm being answered by I mean, more than likely we're not being answered by a real person now. But you, if you're equipped with the expertise, at least you could make better decisions.

SPEAKER_00: 21:58

Right. And and using the technology, I I I think for me the main reason is saving time. Saving time. Yes, for most things you can still get somebody on the phone after you hold and after they say, Oh, well, we estimate that your wait time is 25 minutes. If you'd like to keep your place in line, we'll call you back when an agent is available. And then you have to sit around and wait for the next 25 minutes waiting for somebody to call you back.

SPEAKER_02: 22:28

Well, how about the ones where they play that horrible music? Your call your call is important to us. No, it's not, because if it was important to you, you wouldn't make me wait online for the la for the last 20 minutes. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00: 22:41

Anyway, we hope that something we've said today will encourage you to explore if that's what you're interested in. We hope that it it will you know, you're not alone in this. I mean, everybody out there, even some young people are struggling to keep up with all of the because some stuff is happening at a speed that really it it's it's hard to manage. So don't be ashamed if you have to ask for help.

SPEAKER_02: 23:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 23:08

You know, you know, do a little research online, you know, what what's chat GPT? And you know, you you know, get an answer and it'll tell you what it is. Whatever it is, we're just encouraging everyone to be as engaged as possible to to make their lives easier as we grow older. We deserve to have our lives made easier. It shouldn't be difficult. We shouldn't have to waste a whole lot of time with all of these changes, but it's gonna take a little effort on our part. So I think that's that's about it. You have anything else to say, my husband?

SPEAKER_02: 23:50

No, no. As usual, you can leave us a email address. Our email is in the uh in the notes. It's you still have time podcast at gmail.com. Uh you can leave us a voicemail message at speakpipe, and that's in our show notes. And um follow us wherever you listen to public.

SPEAKER_00: 24:12

Follow us. Yes, and please, we would love to hear from you. We would love to know what you think about it. If you have any ideas or suggestions for future episodes, please share them with us. That's one of the toughest things we do is trying to come up with. Oh, so what are we gonna talk about next time?

SPEAKER_02: 24:29

And tell your tell your friends, tell your friends, even the young friends.

SPEAKER_00: 24:33

Yeah, because there might be some helpful information that we're sharing for people who are not maybe over 60, but are, you know, I mean, we we have kids in their 50s who are thinking about re one of who retired already. Oh my god, this scary. Um, um, but you know, um I I hope that the information that we share can be useful to a a wide span of people, not just seniors, lucky people that we are. So, as always, we just want to remind you that you still have time to do all of the things that you might want to do and learn all of the things you might want to learn. Take advantage.

SPEAKER_02: 25:19

Take care.

SPEAKER_00: 25:20

See you next time.