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Sometimes the greatest hurdles when growing old are technological. Seniors often lack the muscle memory or ingrained experiences to properly use modern conveniences. But that doesn’t mean those experiences cannot be made more accessible with some basic tools and aids.

Bluetooth hearing aids – An old medical device, with a modern twist. These hearing aids can connect to audio sources via Bluetooth, allowing persons with hearing impairment to get the sound directly from the source. By connecting wirelessly to your stereo, computer or TV, the wearer can hear their media clearly without boosting all other sounds around them. Many such hearing aids can also boost the clarity of spoken words, helping those with conditions like auditory neuropathy or tinnitus.

Vertical Mice – 90 degrees can make a world of difference. Vertical mice function just like normal mice, but are ergonomically designed to alleviate stresses on the hand, wrist and forearm. They’re often used by sufferers of carpal tunnel syndrome or chronic wrist tendonitis, but they can be extremely beneficial for arthritis sufferers, too. 

Digital Magnifiers – These relatively inexpensive items combine a camera and a screen to help magnify small text or objects for the reader. They have several advantages over your basic looking glass, including the ability to take still images, and even to digitally highlight or sharpen text to make it easy to read. Some now even have the ability to ‘read’ text and convert it to speech on the fly. This is a tremendous aide for persons with compromised vision who don’t want to stop living life to its fullest. 

Large-Button or Simplified TV Remotes – We take the remote control for granted. I’m sure a lot of people reading this may never have used a TV without one. But as you grow older, they can become a problem. For starters, the buttons are getting smaller and harder to press in modern remotes. A remote with larger buttons and ergonomic casing can help with that. But then you get to the issue of too many buttons. Modern remotes have so many functions which the average user will rarely – if ever – utilize. In those cases, a simplified remote with fewer functions may be helpful. 

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

Most of us may be staying at home for everyone’s safety, but that doesn’t mean criminals aren’t still operating in full force. Here are some tips to help keep you safe & secure during these trying times.

• Scammers are out in force trying to use Covid to get into people’s bank accounts. Be particularly wary about clicking links in messages sent to you. Neither the IRS nor any state unemployment will send out random links via text message or email, and they will never ask you for critical identifiers like social security numbers over unsecured lines like that.
• We’re all ordering more online these days, and package thieves are having a field day. And many package carriers simply will not ring doorbells now, even though most of the population is home all day. So you have to take matters into your own hands with a motion detector, which will alert you when a package arrives so you can retrieve it quickly.
• While home break-ins are down, car break-ins are up. Make sure your car is locked and there are no items visible in the cabin.
• Since we’re spending so much more time there, our homes are dealing with added wear & tear. Make sure critical functions – particularly plumbing and heating/AC – are working well. Service techs are also booked more than typical now, so it may take longer to get a service appointment than usual. If you suspect something is wrong, act soon so it doesn’t become a crisis.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

Barely a day goes by without reading stories like this about seniors being taken advantage of by scammers. But, you and your loved ones don’t have to be victimized this way. 

Here are some general tips to help safeguard your elder loved ones:

Designate a financial “advocate” – Find someone – a spouse, a child, or a sibling – whom the senior trusts implicitly, and consult with them on significant financial matters. You can additionally add that person to major accounts, or share log-in information with them. This will allow the trusted family member to both monitor account activity, and make it easier to use those resources for the good of the care recipient. Younger, more tech-savvy people are often better at spotting fraud patterns than their elders and can help cut off scammers or identify self-destructive actions taken by the senior. 

Make a will, and have it updated every 2-3 years – Thinking about a will is never particularly pleasant, but it’s a necessary task. Knowing their affairs will be in order when they pass away can be a tremendous stress reliever for seniors. Gather up all major assets – real estate, investments, pensions, life insurance policies, etc. – and make sure they are included in the will. You will eventually need a lawyer for a will, and your state or provincial Bar Association can help direct you to a trusted estate attorney. 

Lock their credit – A senior having their bank account drained by a scammer can be awful, but having their credit ruined by identity thieves can be catastrophic. Compromised credit history can not only impact their ability to pay bills, but it can also prevent them from qualifying for aid and assistance programs, potentially including Medicare. A trusted family member should help the senior contact the three major credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – and arrange to have a lock placed on their credit. This will prevent access to their credit history and will prevent the opening of new credit cards, loans, bank & investment accounts while the lock is in place. The lock can only be removed via a password or other identifying information, which makes it much more difficult for scammers.

Review subscriptions and other recurring charges – This probably holds true for all of us, but it’s particularly true for seniors. Go through all credit cards & bank statements for recurring expenses. Things like magazine & newspaper subscriptions, club dues, out of date service contracts, auto-renewing extended warranties, and more small recurring charges can add up to a pretty penny. Find out which are still useful, and spend an afternoon canceling the rest.  

Have a frank conversation about scam avoidance – As we age, our ability to “sniff out” scams and fraud often begins to fail. Tricks and ploys which wouldn’t have made a dent in their earlier years suddenly begin to succeed. At this point, the financial advocate or other loved ones need to step in and have a conversation about ways to avoid these pitfalls. These include: 

• Do not buy anything from people who call or come to the door. No matter how good they make a deal look, cold-callers & door-to-door salespeople are all too frequently unethical or downright criminal.
• Never, ever buy gift cards for any reason. All too many scams now revolve around the purchasing of gift cards, mainly because the cards are easily transferrable and non-refundable or disputable. By refusing to buy any gift cards, they can protect themselves against many of the most common and damaging scams in practice today.
• Make sure their computers, if they use them, have modern anti-virus and anti-malware programs active & updated. 
• Set up a password with the family. Pick a random word out of the dictionary – or even better, a word which has meaning to the senior – and tells it to close family, and only close family. Write the password somewhere that casual visitors or aides won’t see it. If a family member really does need help, they can supply the password. If they don’t, you know that call or message isn’t genuine. 

You cannot protect someone from all scams, but these are just a few simple actions that can help protect your loved ones against the fraudsters out there. 

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

In the year 2020, we have so many choices for entertainment that we are paralyzed by the options available. But our senior loved ones grew up in a simple era, one where there may have only been three television stations to watch (if that many). That lack of options means people from that era tend to have very similar cultural touchstones. Everyone watched MASH, Ed Sullivan, and Gunsmoke, and that common thread can be something to help senior bond. The only problem is finding those shows nowadays. Some shows – Jack Benny or classic Doctor Who, for example – are unwatchable simply because no copies exist of many episodes. But, many of the most popular shows of the era are available through one of the primary streaming services.

The following is a selection of  classic TV shows, and the streaming services they can be found on:

Netflix: The Andy Griffith Show, Cheers, Star Trek, Gilligan’s Island, The Addams Family, Hogan’s Heroes, Bewitched

Amazon Prime: The Carol Burnett Show, Mission: Impossible, The Brady Bunch, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Green Acres, Car 54 Where Are You.

Hulu: Sesame Street, The Beverly Hillbillies, Lost in Space, Mister Ed, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy.

These streaming services can be accessed through any computer, or set top streaming devices like Apple TV, Roku or Amazon Fire. Pairing these devices with the smpl Universal Remote will make them even more accessible to your senior loved one.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

Winter is still raging, but that makes it the perfect time to help your senior loved one take an annual look at their financial health.

• Examine credit card & bank statements for recurring charges. Many seniors have services they signed up for ages ago, which they no longer use. Sometimes they’ve forgotten about the charges or just never found the time to cancel the service. Taking the time to compile a list of these charges, and to cancel the unused ones, will be worth the effort.
• Check credit reports. – Seniors, in particular, are frequently the target of identity thieves. A quick, occasional look at their credit report can help spot identity theft before it gets out of hand. You may want to consider helping your senior loved one to lock their credit. This will prevent new lines of credit from being opened without their explicit OK.
• Assemble & organize their regular payments. – Make a list of their principal, monthly payments, and assemble the most recent bills with their associated canceled checks or charges on a credit card statement. You may be surprised how many bills may slip through the cracks, or possibly be double-paid. Spending a couple of hours making a spreadsheet of these charges can help prevent a financial disaster down the road.

These sorts of financial checkups should be done every 6 months to a year, with more comprehensive checks done every few years.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

From Yahoo News & Reuters, news of what – hopefully – can be a new treatment for Alzheimers.

“Eli Lilly and Co said on Monday a trial of its experimental Alzheimer’s drug donanemab showed it slowed by about a third the rate of decline in a combined measure of cognition and function in early-stage victims of the disease.

The drug is an antibody designed to remove clumps of the Alzheimer’s-related protein beta amyloid from the brain.”

As always we shouldn’t get too excited yet. The study involved fewer than 200 subjects, with a 500 person follow up study set to begin soon. But maybe a little excitement is warranted.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.