Linked Senior was invited to speak at the UCLA Center on Aging Technology & Aging conference on October 30th 2009in Los Angeles. The theme of the conference was “Living Longer and Better Through Technology”.
Part of the panel Living Well: Emotional Health and Quality of Life, Linked Senior discussed products that entertain, inform, enrich, educate, and promote active living, both for seniors living independently and those living in community care facilities. On-the-market options were also discussed such as sports and exercise, entertainment, and stress relief – all focusing on a healthy, more active, senior life.

As an introduction, the needs to open retirement senior communities were explained through social science theory from Michel Foucault with concepts such as power and study of social institutions. Then, current trends of the the consumer electronic market were described, especially the lack of design of products for our older population.
This served as a base to explain the story of Linked Senior and its objective of enhancing life in senior communities through better access to information and entertainment.

On the same panel were:
Dr Ernie Medina, CEO and Co-Founder, MedPlay Technologies, a company that provides Wii fitness and sports programs for seniors – it was great to see how standard computer and video games can be used for seniors once they are correctly introduced. They serve as a great platform for multi generational exchange while being a great way to exercise and entertain seniors
Bruce Cryer CEO, HeartMath, developers of the emWave stress relieving system. His insights on how stress is accumulated, how the brain functions with the heart and how it interacts with performance was showed how much there is a need for better management of stress amongst seniors.

The overall conference was a great platform for discussion on existing products and trends for the senior market. For people that are passionate about the well being of seniors, it was fantastic to discuss and exchange ideas, share experiences and best practices.
One of the most interesting aspects being that we’re seeing more and more product being developed for seniors using technology in a non threatening way.