[Chapter-delegates] Seniors and Technology

[Alejandro Lengua]

I wonder if there is any fund that promotes improving the interfaces of
devices such as Google Chromecast or Apple TV to make them more
elderly-friendly.

On Tue, Jun 30, 2026 at 12:39 PM Glenn McKnight via Chapter-delegates <
chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

> Hi All
> FYI article on providing technology to seniors in Japan
>
> https://www.texastribune.org/2026/06/26/texas-japan-seniors-technology-monitoring-devices/?utm_campaign=Newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sendgrid
>
> TOKYO — In Shibuya, home to one of Tokyo’s busiest train stations and
> shopping destinations, seniors can choose a monitoring service
> <https://www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/kenko/koreisha-seikatsu/koreisha-zaitaku/mimamori_sa-bisu.html> and
> the city will install it and pay for the service subscription for up to a
> year.
>
> They can pick Hello Light <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBiWrhjlYc>,
> an LED lightbulb that autonomously sends text messages to caretakers when
> the light hasn’t been turned on for a while.
>
> Or, MaBeee <https://mimamori.novars.jp/>, a battery that powers TV
> remotes, lights and other small devices and alerts family members when they
> are not being used.
>
> There’s also Bocco <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXJhBE_39Qo>, which
> can store medication reminders, transmit weather alerts and tell when the
> home is too hot or too cold. A nod to Japan’s affinity for anthropomorphic
> packaging, the messaging device is shaped like a small snowman.
>
> “One of the biggest problems we have in Japan, in this [elder care]
> industry, is the gap between the demand and the supply because there are a
> growing number of elderly people but we are understaffed,” said Masaru
> Yamaoka, general manager of Panasonic’s Smart Aging Project
> <https://news.panasonic.com/global/press/en251215-4>, one of many
> divisions housed within Japan’s corporate brands focused on technology for
> the aging population.
>
> Finding sustainable, low-cost ways to care for the elderly population is a
> problem Texas is all too familiar with and Japan, home to the world’s
> largest over-65 population at 36 million
> <https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/09/16/japan/society/japans-elderly-population/>,
> is beating Texas in solving.
> Chronic workforce shortages along with rising costs to care for a growing
> older population have prompted Japan — from companies to local governments
> — to heavily invest in technology to make it easier for family members to
> remotely monitor the elderly. The country’s aim is to keep aging residents
> in their homes, rather than in an expensive nursing home, for as long as
> they can.
>
> Texas shares the same goal. Keeping older Texans healthier in their own
> home not only costs both the healthcare system less, but most people prefer
> it.
>
> “I’ve never heard anyone say, ‘Gee, I hope I end up in a long-term care
> facility,” said Karen Fingerman, director of the Texas Aging and Longevity
> Center at the University of Texas at Austin. “If you’re going to have all
> this technology, which most of us have some, at least, wouldn’t it be
> better if it were more usable and it were designed as you get older to have
> the ability to help you stay in your own home?”
>
>
>
> Glenn McKnight, MA
> Virtual School of Internet Governance
> Chief Information Officer
> www.virtualsig.org
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