NEXT AVENUE SPECIAL SECTION
Digital Ageism By Lisa Napoli
My cell phone started ringing just as I turned the key in my front door. George, my dear friend and neighbor, was calling. We had just shared a celebratory lunch, and an unwelcome surprise awaited him when he returned to his apartment. Building management had installed a new digital lock on his front door while we were out. And he didn't have the code. Management had been alerting tenants about the upcoming change via email and text — methods of communication my friend didn't use. As his eyesight had been faltering, George, 90, hadn't been getting online much lately. His sole lifeline to the world was his ever-ringing flip phone.
"Companies need to provide humans to talk with.”
After an hour, a friendly building maintenance person showed up to George’s door, extolling the virtues of the new system as if he were a salesperson.
In the name of efficiency, more companies are driving customers to conduct business digitally. QR codes for menus in restaurants. Apps for everything, from banking to health care to routine maintenance requests. The presumption that everyone's life is fully digital — and that everybody is, or wants to be, comfortable with screens — shuts out many who may not be deft with the technology, or even have access to it. One person's efficiency tool can be another's obstacle, said Dr. Caroline Cicero, a gerontology professor. "I don't think we should assume that everyone, young or old or middle-aged, is better off using an app," she said. "Companies need to provide humans to talk with.”
"People just love these new digital locks," he said, ignoring the addled state of the tenant before him.
"Can't I just have a key?" George asked, pointing to the old-fashioned keyhole above the keypad. "There's no way I'll remember the [code], much less be able to see those numbers." In the meantime, I rooted on the countertop for a pen, and began writing out cheat-sheets. Sticking a piece of paper in George's wallet, I also made a record of it for myself.
"This is your new key," I said, trying to feign optimism.
Read more of this story on Next Avenue.org
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SEPTEMBER 2023
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