Older Adults Are Obsessed With These Five Tech Topics
Fitness wearables and password managers are among the hottest topics for people ages 50 and up
Fitness wearables and password managers are among the hottest topics for people ages 50 and up
The residents of a retirement community in the heart of Amish country are proving what experts on ageing have been saying for years: Older adults are as keen on new technologies as anyone else.
Willow Valley Communities, a 2,600-resident campus in Lancaster, Pa., has a tech centre staffed by volunteers. People can drop in for tech help or get their computers fixed. It also has an active computer club and an Apple products group that offer resident-taught classes.
The challenges of the pandemic accelerated tech adoption among older adults who, initially, just needed ways to communicate with far-flung loved ones. People ages 50 and older each spent an average of $912 on technology last year, up from $394 in 2019, according to the AARP.
But barriers remain as older Americans go beyond the video call. There is a lack of training programs and a concern that products aren’t always designed for an ageing populace, the organisation says.
At Willow Valley, many of the residents are focused on technology that can keep them active but won’t open them up to scams or frauds.
“Older adults aren’t into tech for tech’s sake,” says Jeff Weiss, chief executive of Age of Majority, a consulting firm that helps companies market to older adults. “For them to want to use and adopt technology, there has to be a practical reason.”
During my conversations with ageing experts and Willow Valley residents, these five topics came up again and again:
Wearable devices for tracking health and fitness are the hottest technology among older adults, according to leaders at several aging-tech organisations and companies. The AARP says 28% of older Americans own a wearable and 77% of those people use it daily.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people ages 65 and older need at least 150 minutes a week of moderate to intense activity, such as brisk walking, as well as strength and balance exercises.
Trish Macvaugh, a 76-year-old Willow Valley resident, began swimming competitively three years ago. She uses her Apple Watch Series 6 to log her heart rate and more particular stats, too. There’s her “swolf” score, the number of strokes taken plus the time it takes to swim a certain length, and her “VO2 max,” the maximum amount of oxygen she takes in during intense exercise.
“I can compare all of that to what I was doing a month ago, and it’s really encouraging to see how much I’m improving,” says Ms. Macvaugh, who is planning to compete in her second National Senior Games this summer.
A retired professor of English and women’s studies and mother of two, she also uses her Apple Watch to track her walking steadiness, as well as her performance when lifting weights and using the elliptical machine.
For tech advice, she turns to fellow resident Susan Culbertson, a 76-year-old retired computer-software trainer. Last fall, Ms. Culbertson created classes at Willow Valley to teach others how to use Apple products. The classes have gotten so popular, they’ve occasionally run out of seats for people in the conference room where they take place.
Using the iPhone’s Health app and tracking Apple Watch metrics—beyond just step counting—are top subjects. “People want to stay fit as long as possible,” Ms. Culbertson says.
Many residents at Willow Valley use voice-activated home assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Nest Audio. They’re rising in popularity among older adults across the country, with one in three older adults owning one. Approximately 60% of the older adults who own a home assistant use it daily, the AARP says.
As with other age groups, older adults use home assistants largely to play music, ask questions, check weather or traffic and set alarms or timers.
Ms. Culbertson says that Willow Valley residents are very interested in streaming movies and shows and that many residents no longer watch network television. She recently taught a class on how to use Apple TV.
Older adults are fuelling the growth in video-streaming and subscribing to multiple services, including Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max.
They’re also combining their interest in streaming content with their interest in fitness. Older Adults Technology Services from AARP, a nonprofit that teaches tech to older adults, streams free fitness classes via Zoom. Its stretch classes have been wildly popular, says OATS Executive Director Tom Kamber.
Al Williams, president of Willow Valley’s 845-member computer club, says password protection has been a hot topic among older people since news broke that the password manager LastPass was hacked.
Mr. Williams, an 83-year-old retired engineer, recently gave a presentation on choosing strong passwords and using password managers. (My colleague Nicole Nguyen says physical security keys—little dongles that you plug into a USB port or tap on your phone when logging into an account—offer even more protection.)
A recent poll from Age of Majority found that only 37% of people ages 55 and older use a password manager.
Older adults have fallen prey to all kinds of scams conducted online and by phone.
OATS from AARP offers free online classes for older adults who want to burnish their digital skills, including one later this month on how to protect your personal information online.
Mr. Williams says Willow Valley residents are interested in this, too. He plans to give a “Scammers and other invasive species” presentation to teach people to recognise social engineering.
Teaching tech to a span of older adults, ranging from 55 to over 90, requires a certain skill. “The main thing we have to do,” he says, “is to talk about tech in terms of solving a problem, not as a lecture.”
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There are Corvette fans for whom the base US$68,300 car is plenty powerful enough. After all, it produces 495 horsepower and can reach 60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds. But hold on, there’s also the approximately US$115,000 Z06—with 670 horsepower and able to reach 60 in 2.6 seconds. These split seconds are important for busy people—and for marketing claims. And if that’s not enough go power, there’s the even more formidable 900-horsepower ZR1 version of the Corvette, starting around US$150,000. The hybrid E-Ray, at US$104,900, is pretty potent, too.
But if they’re still too slow, fans of American-engineered muscle can consider the exclusive Texas-built Hennessey Venom F5, a limited-edition carbon-fibre hypercar. Ten years ago, the Hennessey became the world’s fastest production car, defeating the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, with a top speed of 270.49 miles per hour.
That world title is much sought after, and is currently held by the Sweden-built 1,600-horsepower Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, with a two-way average top speed of 277.8 mph. But Hennessey is still very much a contender. The company is hoping the 1,817-horsepower F5 (with 1,192 pound-feet of torque) can exceed 300 mph on the track this year.
Hennessey’s previous Venom GT model (introduced in 2010) was based on the Lotus Exige, with a GM LS-based engine, and was built by partner Delta Motorsport. Spokesman Jon Visscher tells Penta , “The new Venom F5, revealed in 2020, is a 100%bespoke creation—unique to Hennessey and featuring a Hennessey-designed 6.6-litre twin-turbo V8 engine boasting 1,817 horsepower, making it the world’s most powerful combustion-engine production car.” Leaps in performance like this tend to be pricey.
This is a very exclusive automobile, priced around US$2.5 million for the coupe, and US$3 million for the F5 Roadster announced in 2023. Only 30 Roadsters will be built, with a removable carbon-fiber roof. The 24 F5 coupes were spoken for in 2021, but if you really want one you could find a used example—or go topless. In a statement to Penta , company founder and CEO John Hennessey said that while the coupe “is now sold out, a handful of build slots remain for our Roadster and [track-focused] Revolution models.”
Only 24 Revolutions will be built in coupe form, priced at US$2.7 million. There’s also a rarefied roadster version of the Revolution, with just 12 to be built.
The Venom F5 coupe weighs only 3,000 pounds, and it’s not surprising that insane speeds are possible when combined with a hand-built motor (nicknamed “Fury”) created with power uppermost. The V8 in the F5, installed in a rear mid-engine configuration, has a custom engine block and lightweight forged aluminium pistons, billet-steel crankshaft, and forged-steel connecting rods. Twin turbochargers are featured. The F5 can reach 62 mph in less than three seconds, but top speed seems to be its claim to fame.
The driver shifts the rear-wheel-drive car via a seven-speed, single-clutch transmission with paddle shifters. The interior is not as spartan or as tight as in many other supercars, and is able to handle very tall people. The butterfly doors lift up for access.
“With 22 customer Venom F5 hypercars already delivered to customers around the world, and a newly expanded engineering team, we’re focusing the Venom F5 on delivering on its potential,” Hennessey says. “Breaking 300 mph in two directions is the goal we aim to achieve toward the end of this year to claim the ‘world’s fastest production car’ title.”
Hennessey says the car and team are ready. “Now the search is on for a runway or public road with a sufficiently long straight to allow our 1,817-horsepower, twin-turbo V8 monster to accelerate beyond 300 mph and return to zero safely.” The very competitive Hennessey said the track-focused Revolution version of the F5 set a fastest production car lap around Texas’ 3.41-mile Circuit of the Americas track in March, going almost seven seconds faster than a McLaren P1.
The Revolution features a roof-mounted central air scoop (to deliver cool air to the engine bay), a full-width rear carbon wing, larger front splitter and rear diffuser, tweaked suspension, and engine cooling. It’s got the same powertrain as the standard cars, but is enhanced to stay planted at otherworldly speeds.
Consumers are going to gravitate toward applications powered by the buzzy new technology, analyst Michael Wolf predicts
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