Staying Put: Aging In Place During COVID's Digital Age

For many, a supportive living community is a welcome transition that provides not only a safety net of health and well being but also a built in community of friends and peers. Some even characterize it as a return to the fun of college/dorm living for the golden years. In a quick about face, COVID has sent many retreating to be at arm's length and hunkering down with aging in place as a safe bet.

With that, we are all needing to opt for digital and distanced interactions - online grocery, zoom meetings, curbside pick ups, telehealth visits, virtual worship, online banking...... No group feels this more than the boomer+ population. Yet, what if all of those activities didn't represent convenience and ease of use? What if all of those activities represented frustration, fear of identity theft/financial loss, lost information, compromised health or just overall inadequacy? This is the dirty little secret that no one talks about when promoting the pluses of living in today's digital age. For most over the age of 50, digital apps and platforms can be sources of anxiety and frustration as they are created for a cohort a few decades younger. For the mature adult, a face to face interaction with a banker, physician or legal advisor is the preferred method of management for the important matters of finance, health and planning. Sadly, the state of the world today doesn't allow for person to person management. Digital is all we have in many instances thus leaving the boomer+ at the losing end of the learning curve. Did you know that only a mere 9% of those over the age of 65 use mobile banking (American Banking Journal)?