Tech That Actually Matters - Part 2: The Stuff Worth Your Time | Full Episode Transcript
- Michael Routhier
- May 12
- 6 min read
In Part 2 of Tech That Actually Matters, we get into the technology that genuinely makes a difference in daily life; video calling, medical alert systems, medication management apps, and the growing category of tech you can safely ignore. We end with something that has nothing to do with gadgets at all, but everything to do with why this conversation matters. Full transcript below, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, welcome back to Tech 4 Grown-Ups, and I hope you are having a great start to your week so far. Today's episode is going to be actually the second part of a series that we started about a week ago called Tech That Actually Matters. And stick around to the end because the end will surprise you.
Now, last week, we talked about tablets, smartphones, smart speakers, and if you haven't heard part one yet, go back and start there because it'll make this one land better. Today, we're getting into the stuff that I think genuinely matters most, and we're ending with something that has nothing to do with technology at all, but everything to do with why this conversation needs to keep happening. So let's not waste any more time and get right into it.
Now, the first one I want to start off with is video calling. That's the first one. I want to start here because nothing else comes even close.
If I had to name one single piece of technology that has had the most meaningful positive impact on the daily lives of older adults over the last 10 years, it's this. FaceTime on iPhone, Google Meet on Android, WhatsApp on either of those platforms, and Zoom for bigger family calls. They're all free and they all work well.
Now, I was talking with a woman in our community a few weeks ago. She's 81 years old and she lives about four hours from her closest family. And she told me she used to go weeks without seeing her daughter's face.
Then her grandson set up video calling for her and that changed everything. She said, and I'm going to quote her here exactly because I haven't forgotten it. She said, I feel like they didn't move away anymore.
And that's it. That's the whole thing. The difference between a phone call and a video call, seeing someone's face, watching a grandchild laugh, being present with someone you love who lives far away.
That's not a small thing. It's not a feature. And it's a, it's really a lifeline for many people, if not all.
Set it up, learn it once and then use it constantly. Now, medical and safety tech is the next, the next category here. And this category has gotten remarkably good and it doesn't get nearly enough attention that it deserves.
Such as like on the Apple watch has fall detection. If you have an iPhone, the Apple watch has built in technology that automatically calls emergency services and sends your location. If it detects a hard fall and you don't respond now for anyone living alone, that's a meaningful safety layer.
Not perfect. It, nothing is, but it's real. Now my next category is going to be the medical alert systems.
Now, if you remember, as I do the old commercial, uh, I fall in and I can't get up the old button on a lanyard, it still exists and it still works for people who want something simple, but newer systems from companies like lifeline and bail are medical. Now they include GPS fall detection and two way voice communication in a much smaller, much less conspicuous form, not something that announces itself to everyone in the room. Now another category that I really like, and I really would like you to pay attention to this one because it's important is medication management apps.
Now Medisave, it's free. It works on both iPhone and Android. Now, this one is sends reminders when it's time to take something, but it also tracks whether you've taken it.
And to me that I think it's worth its weight in gold. And now this one will get you, it can alert a family member if a dose is missed. That's outstanding for anyone managing more than two or three medications, which is most people over 65.
This is one of the most highest value apps available to you. And now, now this category is the stuff you can safely ignore. Okay.
I had to include this because no one ever talks about this part and I think it really matters. You don't need the latest flagship smartphone. You do not need a $1,400 phone, a model from two years ago, let's just say like the iPhone 14 or any model from the Samsung galaxy a series.
It does everything you actually need at a fraction of the price. You do not need a smartwatch with 50 features you'll never use. Now, unless you specifically want health tracking or fall detection, a basic watch still tells time perfectly well, and it doesn't need charging every night.
You do not need the senior friendly. Now, this is the one that gets me version of mainstream app, the version of mainstream apps. It's there.
Almost always inferior. Learn the real lab. I promise it's not as hard as the senior specific version implies because it's, that's just a marketing technique that they use.
It's a fear technique and I can't stand it. The rule I use personally, if it sounds like it solves a problem you don't actually have, it probably doesn't solve the problems you do have now the real barrier. And this is the part I really want you to hear after years of doing what I do, talking with adults, 60, 70, 80 plus about technology.
I've noticed something consistent. The barrier almost never turns out to be intellectual. It's not that something is too complicated for them.
It's that nobody ever took the time to explain it clearly without being condescending without assuming the outcome before the conversation even started. Now I had a man reach out to me about a month ago. He's 79 years old.
He's a former engineer. And I really enjoyed the conversation. And he told me he spent an entire career building complex systems that most of us couldn't even begin to understand.
And he told me he had been afraid to ask anyone for help with his phone afraid because he didn't want to seem like he didn't know what he was doing. A former engineer, decades of expertise and experience, still afraid to ask a question about his phone. That is not a technology problem.
That is a culture problem. And it's one that has real consequences because when people feel embarrassed to ask something, they don't ask. They would rather stay stuck and face that embarrassment.
They stay dependent on whoever happens to be nearby and they lose the confidence in themselves around technology and that loss of confidence, it spreads elsewhere. Now I've seen it happen and I've watched it happen to people who are absolutely brilliant in every other part of their life. Raising family, having had these awesome careers, but there is one clear explanation for this.
And all you need to do is have a clear explanation, one patient demonstration and one person who can genuinely believe you can do this. That's usually all it takes. And that's why the show exists.
So here's where I land at the end of these two episodes. Technology isn't something that happened to younger people and left you behind. It's a set of tools.
Some of them are worth your time. A lot of them are not. And the ones that are, they're accessible.
They're learnable and you deserve to have them working for your life. Not a simplified version, not the Fisher price edition, the real thing. Now I want to ask you something before you go today.
What piece of technology has made the biggest difference in your daily life or, and I think this one might get some honest answers. Is there something you've been quietly avoiding because you weren't sure how or where to start and didn't want to admit it? What I want you to do is drop it in the comments, wherever you're listening from and come find me at tech for grownups.com. There is no judgment. And I genuinely mean that because if you're asking that question, someone else's too, that question, it could become the next episode.
So I want to thank you for today. I'm Michael, and this is Tech 4 Grown-Ups. Listen, take care of yourselves.
And I will talk to you in the next one. Have a great day.
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