Shape Longevity for a Life in Full

I am incredibly lucky to live in an area in Arizona that offers a unique view of the future of aging in America. I invite the retailing, consumer facing, investment, and tech industries to take a deeper look at the day-to-day activities of an older person so they can design compelling programs, products, services, and solutions that will best fit the future needs of our country.

Take note. Here are my current and humble observations that help me visualize the impact of old age. The statements and analysis below are meant to report on a hard reality, not to criticize an older person.

Shopping gets slow.

It is fascinating to see how older adults take longer time to shop:

• They walk slowly through the aisles at stores, carefully inspecting and reading the label of products to seek the best value for their money, while forgetting that there are other shoppers who need quicker access to the aisle or shelf.
• Motorized chairs occupy more room and may pose a challenge for other customers pushing their shopping carts in tight aisles.
• At Fry’s, for example, older adults do their own self-checkout, and while admirable, they take more than double the time when compared to younger shoppers. Otherwise, they like to hold long chats with the cashiers.
• At Costco, when it opens its doors at 10:00am, a flow of gray heads rushes to get in first, yet they do it at a slower pace occupying the main aisles. They also tend to leave the shopping carts blocking other parking spaces because they can’t or are lazy to place the cart in the designated area.
• While older shoppers may spend more time in the store, they will not necessarily buy more goods since most are on a fixed income. They just need to pass the time.
• Older adults may have questions for customer service staff while the queue grows longer for other people waiting to receive a service.
• In-person shopping gives older adults an opportunity to go outside instead of being stuck at home feeling isolated.
• Thrifting is a leisure hobby, and estate sales are a way to socialize and find treasures.
• Alcohol and cannabis are in higher demand where older adults live. It is entertaining to see how one-serve alcohol is strategically placed near checkouts at grocery stores and pharmacies for easy carrying. At least part of life may be good in old age.

From the points above, it is critical to estimate the time an older person takes to navigate a store and shop with the purpose to design better store flows of shoppers alongside setting up proper staff productivity metrics to accurately measure store performance. Measuring what percentage of shoppers are 65+ and attributing double the amount of time to them to shop may provide greater insights in queue analysis.

Banking gets trickier.

Fintech is moving at fast rates, and it means that traditional banking may be out in this decade. Yet, older customers may help keep traditional banking going as it is more difficult for them to embrace banking Apps or the newer wave of innovative banking practices.

• Older adults prefer to stop by the counter to have an opportunity to chat with a teller since an older person may live alone or need to socialize. I admire tellers for their great patience.
• Staff from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office may pay a visit to a bank branch to recommend that an older person not wire money to a scammer.
• Older adults still get very confused with banking Apps and banking online thus making them easy prey to criminals.
• Surprisingly, it is difficult to find advanced ATM machines in bank branches found where an aging population lives.

I am looking forward to seeing the banking industry introduce more safety measures (paywall) to protect older adults from scammers. Every day, there are fraudulent transactions made in bank branches, and often both tellers and managers have little power to prevent an older adult from wiring money to a scammer. This situation is sad.

Transportation becomes an issue.

Mobility is one of the activities negatively affected by aging. Knowing when to stop driving is a difficult decision for older people. There are important considerations:

• Car accidents are an important safety concern in aging. The visual acuity, response time, motor ability, and drive agility decrease with age. Car accidents may be caused by older adults, and these types of accidents will continue to increase.
• The effects of certain medications can be a danger not only for older adults, but also for other drivers on the road.
• Silver alerts will become more common as mental health conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease cause older adults to wander in “unknown” locations to them and become lost.
• Adult children are usually the first ones to spot troubling issues with the driving of their aging parents. In certain states, adult children can report their parents to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to have their driving licenses revoked.
• Public transportation may not be dependable for older adults, especially in suburban and rural areas.
• If you have been to Phoenix, you may have noticed how thousands of older adults pass through Sky Harbor International Airport, especially during the snowbird season. This means that boarding planes take much longer due to airlines giving priority to older adults with mobility issues to board first. It may take at least 15 minutes of added boarding time, thus affecting scheduling issues with the flights. On top of that, medical conditions are becoming more a cause of concern for the safety of older passengers.

Statistics on car accidents by demographic alongside projections of an aging population will help authorities and car companies set up transportation policies, regulations, and solutions to protect drivers. Moreover, car manufacturers may offer added sensors in cars to help older adults drive safely. For example, turning on the autonomous driving setting if the car senses a medical emergency with the driver; or enhanced sensors for self-correct lane or obstacle sensing to help older drivers not to scratch or dent not only their car, but also the ones from other people. Autonomous vehicles are an exciting possibility for public transportation. Here in Arizona, May Mobility has been experimenting with the offer of autonomous rides to older adults living in Sun City. This initiative is a workable solution to provide a safe mobility choice to older adults and where there is no reliable public transportation.

A digital life can be frustrating.

I cannot stress this more, but legibility in Apps is an absolute must for older adults.

Apps with tiny fonts are not reader friendly for older adults, and only cause frustration. As tech companies rush to tap into the health tech and monitoring space, it is imperative that they offer the best user experience for aging eyes and dexterity.

The same applies to shopping Apps. The App interface must include the choice to make the mobile screens more legible without sacrificing cumbersome scrolling or chopped content. It is not an easy task, but it is highly needed. Digital commands enhanced with voice activation using AI are the way to go. This approach would help millions of older adults who are visually impaired.

Why is it that mobile connectivity is bad in one of the largest communities of older adults in the country? I don’t know the exact reason, but I suspect telecommunication companies do not have an incentive to invest in setting up towers or fiber optic in areas where older people live because they are not technology driven. This is unbelievably frustrating. If the tech industry expects people to check their health with the latest mobile apps and connected devices, I am afraid that they may have challenges if the mobile and broadband infrastructure is not properly set in place.

Health can be disregarded.

“You are already old, so there is no other help I can offer. Just take your medication to manage your condition”. I have heard this phrase so many times when I interact with older people in Sun City. They complain that they are not properly heard by healthcare professionals. Older people are asking for better medical options to preserve their health and feel let down when healthcare providers offer certain medical interventions to younger people instead. The thinking goes, why spend so many resources in someone who is closer to death? As horrible as this sounds, it is the reality.

“Death body found” is a common news reporting occurrence in local newspapers where older adults tend to live. At least 27% of the adult population 60+ live alone, and this figure will increase in years to come. Sadly, I expect to see more of those notices in years to come.

Another critical issue of concern is not having access to clean bathrooms. According to the Urology Care Foundation, at least 33 million Americans suffer from urinary incontinence, most over the age of 50. While incontinence products are available to manage the condition, the problem comes when there is an urgency to use a bathroom while out of home. Unfortunately, the homelessness situation in cities and municipalities has forced the closure of clean public bathrooms due to safety reasons, thus leaving behind people who really need to have access to them.

Healthcare is at the core of concern for an aging population. Healthcare is expensive in the USA. Fixed incomes are shrinking due to inflation and socioeconomic forces. The rising costs of healthcare will place a financial burden on the children of older adults, thus affecting the prospects of a better life for aging Gen X and Millennials. An approach could be how to give the best tools to adult children to deal with the health of their aging parents without breaking the bank, or their savings. It is not an easy task. I see here in Arizona how adult children must move their aging parents to a location near them, or deal with the upkeep of their parents’ homes, or plan estate sales.

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Connect with me to discuss the implications of an aging population and to provide you with deeper insights, trends, and ideas on what is to come in the world of longevity, so you and your organization are prepared for an aging society.

Monica Feldman is the Founder of Longevity Ruler, an advisory firm that stretches your mind about what it means to live longer.

I authored this article in my own words. No AI. Excuse my typos. I’m only human.