Technology and Aging – Epic Fail or Match Made in Heaven?

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How many times a day do you observe someone on their cell phone, scrolling through emails or setting a date in their calendar?  Or how about taking a picture, asking Siri a question, or looking for directions?  I often wonder how I got by without my phone or computer without all of this technology!  Have you ever seen a couple or family in a restaurant not talking to each other and focused on their phones instead?  Or someone using his/her phone to avoid asking a stranger for directions or doing a google search to learn about a business instead of just calling?

I appreciate technology, I really do and I, like most, am quite dependent on it to organize my personal and work life.  But do we use technology to enhance our life or to replace it?  Is technology getting in the way of our relationships with others?  When it comes to providing care and support for another person, is technology helping us manage things in a way to preserve autonomy?  Technology seems like a good thing, right?  But is it?  Are there ways in which technology is replacing human contact?  This week’s guest on Caregivers’ Circle, David Dring, Executive Director of Self-Help Innovations discusses the benefits and pitfalls of technological advances related to aging.