Being holed up with a broken ankle this month has made me grateful for the world’s well-developed dedication to e-commerce. I ordered groceries, booked dog walkers, even rented a scooter.
I’m doing pretty well, thanks to helpful friends and having a phone/computer, internet connection and credit card. It’s very different from where I might be if I was very old, had a major or chronic medical issue, or lacked financial or tech resources.
What we need, though, and what we’re going to need a whole lot more, isn’t a more efficient way to get burritos delivered.
The even bigger challenge is that real solutions probably aren’t going to make a lot of people rich. Which means, realistically, that few people have incentives to throw all their resources behind these challenges or make them a life’s work.
While in a cast I’ve been very fortunate to be able to work normally. But underemployment, the inability to work at all, and resulting poverty are all too familiar to those for whom the world tends to be an accessibility challenge.
Makes me wonder how tech could help people people who can’t work in traditional ways. I mean, wasn’t that many years ago that it would have seemed ludicrous to say I could put in an honest day’s work from the comfort of my couch. That boom is coming … maybe?
When I was getting my cast, the nurse was saying it’s usually a good idea for people to be accompanied to appointments. To help them get around, have another set of ears to get instructions, etc.
But some people like me come alone, and not everyone is fortunate enough to be reasonably young, with good hearing and memory, and fluent in English.
How do we make sure everyone comprehends instructions correctly and can do what they need to (at the right time, frequency, or dosage) to recover? Record conversations on a cell phone? Print out a sheaf of paperwork? There are drawbacks to these options, too.
Not to mention that a doctor’s visit is just one piece of a puzzle that could include getting to the appointment(s), filling prescriptions (and making sure one doctor’s orders aren’t at odds with another’s), picking up equipment, completing more forms, remembering to take medications or do exercises …
That’s just the medical side of things. Meals, cleaning, and additional home care services could all be needed. There’s no centralized way to tackle all of these needs. Googling is not the best we can do here. Better tests to detect cancer are awesome, for example, but how well do we help people while they’re getting treatment?
It can be overwhelming for both patients and caregivers (often family). Plus, helpers often already have full-time jobs, families and homes to manage. We don’t do so well supporting them, either.
If you can’t afford to hire/buy/reserve/rent everything you need … good luck. Access to community services is no faster or more streamlined, and may not even be targeted to your demographic (e.g. I’m not a senior.)
In western cultures we don’t tend to live in big family groups anymore. Increasing numbers of women are remaining single and living alone, and women have always tended to live longer than men.
People who don’t have someone to help out or advocate for them have an issue, especially if they have cognitive or communication challenges.
All of this is a problem that will likely grow over time.
Right now, the oldest of the Baby Boomers are in their 70s. There are way more of them than there are of … pretty much everyone else. They’re going to need care and services from … somewhere? Someone?
Japan saw this population gap and dearth of necessary care workers coming and, as The Guardian describes, tackled it just as we might expect: with robots. The Japanese government is hoping that by 2020 80 per cent of elderly people will accept robotic assistance with mobility and other care issues. 2020 is only two years away. How long would it take us to catch up? What’s our strategy?
Robot assistants don’t address another big issue raised in The Guardian article: “In the interests of lowering cost and complexity, these types of robots do not yet resemble humans or talk to users.”
Disappointment aside that we’re not getting an army of C-3POs, perhaps even a person-ish robot to interact with would be better than nothing? Maybe there’s an app for that?
Social isolation is a serious issue for a lot of people, exacerbated when it’s difficult for you to even leave home (or get out of bed). Hell, the UK recently created a ministry to address the issue of loneliness.
It’s serious business. People who lack solid social ties have poorer physical and mental health and die earlier. Those studies aren’t super new, but our society isn’t getting any more community-centric. Factor in issues like what excess screen time does to young people’s mental health, and the complexity expands and multiplies.
I’m not sure what tech should do about solving a problem it had a big hand in creating. Or if we should even trust it to try.
I’ll be back on my feet soon, but this experience has given me a big mental checklist and questions about the future.
I think tech can address a lot of these issues, but it’s an uphill battle. It can also be hard to relate if you’re young, able-bodied, and have a good job.
And let’s face it, these tend to be “someday” problems (like climate change used to be … remember?). As a species, we’re not good at “ounce of prevention” strategies. Or “pound of cure,” to be honest...
“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members” (Gandhi). Which brings to mind an inquiry from another robotic sidekick of sorts: “Just what do you think you are doing, Dave?” (HAL 9000).
M-Theory is an opinion column by Melanie Baker. Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Communitech. Melle can be reached @melle or me@melle.ca.
