Technology makes many spheres of people’s lives, such as communication, shopping, and traveling, a lot easier; however, its utilization is correlated with some rather negative impacts on the psychological and physical state. The implementation of technology in health and elder care has its benefits and challenges. No certain decision on whether those modifications in the healthcare system are appropriate or not can be made. Therefore, people need to find the answer for themselves.
From my point of view, technology is not the answer for taking care of our seniors, as with its utilization, the caretaking process gets even more compound. Older people usually feel lonely if living alone as their grown-up children have their own families, problems, and responsibilities.
For people of great age, it becomes more difficult to move. Therefore, long distances often cannot be reached. Hence, they can only communicate with their friends via social media or mobile phones, which is not the best option as the sight gets worse and regular headaches to occur. The only offline interaction is with the caretaker, and if even this person is replaced with robots, the mental and psychological state of elderly people will decrease much faster. In the situations when elderly people move to nursing houses, the number of communication opportunities increases; therefore, robots as caretakers do not seem to produce a negative effect.
The other innovation in technology is the so-called wired home which is basically a system that controls all technical devices inside the house. In my opinion, such houses are quite useful and save time as people can manage, for example, to open the garage without getting out of their car. However, when applied to healthcare, they produce almost the same effect as robotic caretakers. Wired houses help to perform various actions such as turning on the TV or heating the kettle, which allows elderly people to serve themselves easier. This is correlated with the lack of physical activity and the needlessness of an actual caretaker, though.
In my opinion, wired houses are a good modification of people’s lives, but firstly elderly people cannot usually afford them. Secondly, this innovation does not solve the most urgent problem of retired people – loneliness. Thirdly, in the case of our seniors, the lack of movement has a big impact on their physical condition and health. Therefore, I consider wired houses as a feasible option for household chores fulfillment, but it cannot be applied to taking care of our seniors. To my mind, elderly people should be surrounded by caretakers, their families, or friends but machines.
With the development of technology, more and more devices are being implemented in elder or health care. Innovations are proof of society’s progress in various spheres of people’s lives. From my point of view, regardless of the risks and challenges that usually accompany modifications, changes in elder care are an important part of the future development of society. I support innovations in elder care as long as they bring more benefits than risks.
For Example, supportive mechanisms for water delivery or elevators do not harm the patient’s health in any way. However, robots that tend to fully replace people currently and in the nearest future are not trustworthy. Additionally, machines cannot take care of other people because of their absence of emotions. Only those who have feelings and emotions can understand other people’s pain and treat them accordingly, with support. In my opinion, some supportive devices can be applied to elder care. However, caretakers cannot be substituted with robots under any circumstances as this will lead to emotional and physical stagnation.
In 2050 elder care will not have changed much in comparison with its current state. I can imagine that some advanced mechanisms and technologies will be utilized. For Example, mechanisms that could pass older people a glass of water or a meal, automatic cleaning devices, or tools for evaluating blood pressure or doing the overall medical check-up. Erabak’s (2019) idea of robots in nursing houses monitoring patients with dementia and reporting immediate information to the staff. I think that mostly innovations concerning healthcare processes optimization will be implemented, but everything regarding interpersonal relations will remain the same.
Reference
Erebak, S., & Turgut, T. (2019). Caregivers’ attitudes toward potential robot coworkers in elder care. Cognition, Technology & Work, 21, 327-336. Web.