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+--- Thread: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " (/showthread.php?tid=178986)
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"High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - SteveG - 05-05-2015
Actually practical and useful, OR it's a smart home spying on you.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WATCHING_OVER_MOM_AND_DAD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-05-10-19-43
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Each time 81-year-old Bill Dworsky or his 80-year-old wife Dorothy opens the refrigerator, closes the bathroom door or lifts the lid on a pill container, tiny sensors in their San Francisco home make notes on a digital logbook. The couple's 53-year-old son, Phil, checks it daily on his smartphone. If there's no activity during a designated time, the younger Dworsky gets an automated email, so he can decide whether to call or stop by. "This is peace of mind, really," he says of the system he installed last year.
"Advances in low-cost sensors and wireless networks are fueling a boom in the so-called "smart" home. And companies are looking beyond home security and temperature control to creating products for Baby Boomers trying to balance caring for aging parents and respecting their independence. "..
These systems often use simple, inexpensive components such as accelerometers that know when an object is moved. Others use small power sensors to track electricity use or contact circuits that tell when a door is open or closed. Companies like Lively, Evermind and BeClose charge $50 to $300 for a set of sensors and $30 to $70 a month for wireless monitoring. Each promises to safeguard clients' personal information.
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - Robert M - 05-05-2015
Steve,
And, you have to convince the parents to allow the sensors in their home. Good luck with that.
Robert
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - C(-)ris - 05-05-2015
Robert M wrote:
Steve,
And, you have to convince the parents to allow the sensors in their home. Good luck with that.
Robert
Or you just put them in while they aren't looking....works for the government in the name of public safety.
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - SteveG - 05-05-2015
Robert M wrote:
And, you have to convince the parents to allow the sensors in their home. Good luck with that.
Robert
That's partially covered in the article. A good dose of "what if you fall or get sick or die" could sway many minds.
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - datbeme - 05-05-2015
Hmmm...I see other applications for this technology. I bet my teenager would never again forget to flush the toilet if a tweet went out saying "I forgot to flush the toilet at 6:40 a.m. on May 5, 2015."
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - SteveG - 05-05-2015
datbeme wrote:
Hmmm...I see other applications for this technology. I bet my teenager would never again forget to flush the toilet if a tweet went out saying "I forgot to flush the toilet at 6:40 a.m. on May 5, 2015."
As datbeme wisely points out, there may be more money in spying on the kids.
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - Robert M - 05-05-2015
Steve,
Like I said. Good luck with that. My father-in-law refuses _any_ assistance. No cane (and he needs one). No emergency pendant (and he should have one). No GPS locator for his car (and he needs one!), no home health aid (and he desperately needs one!). You name it, he needs it and refuses it. The only reason he uses a walker is because he fell and injured himself several times. Despite that, he still only uses it a little bit of the time.
The "what if you fall or get sick or die" doesn't work when the person who needs the assistance and monitoring has Stubborn Old Man Syndrome (aka SOMS). I'm using the word stubborn because it's the nice way of describing it. Other words come to mind and they are most assuredly not appropriate for use in the forum. And, to take it a step further, he can't understand why my wife and I are frustrated to the extreme when he complains about all of his problems, the vast majority of which could be avoided if he accepted even a teensy bit of help. SOMS. My father-in-law's case of it will probably kill us before it kills him.
Robert
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - richorlin - 05-05-2015
"Dad, we found this nice assisted-living facility for you. You're going and that's final or we won't be coming around any more"
Tough-love for parents.
Robert M wrote:
Steve,
Like I said. Good luck with that. My father-in-law refuses _any_ assistance. No cane (and he needs one). No emergency pendant (and he should have one). No GPS locator for his car (and he needs one!), no home health aid (and he desperately needs one!). You name it, he needs it and refuses it. The only reason he uses a walker is because he fell and injured himself several times. Despite that, he still only uses it a little bit of the time.
The "what if you fall or get sick or die" doesn't work when the person who needs the assistance and monitoring has Stubborn Old Man Syndrome (aka SOMS). I'm using the word stubborn because it's the nice way of describing it. Other words come to mind and they are most assuredly not appropriate for use in the forum. And, to take it a step further, he can't understand why my wife and I are frustrated to the extreme when he complains about all of his problems, the vast majority of which could be avoided if he accepted even a teensy bit of help. SOMS. My father-in-law's case of it will probably kill us before it kills him.
Robert
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - cbelt3 - 05-05-2015
richorlin-
Easier said than done.
This may sound odd, but a 'push to call' sort of phone can be sold to Mom or Dad as more of a "I'd love to talk to you anytime". If you can handle the random phone calls just to chat. We got my FIL a cell phone after my MIL passed away. He liked to call at random times just to chat. My wife made sure they talked every single day.
My mom lives with my sister and their umpteen children (well, I guess technically they live with her). So she's never alone, which is nice. But she's independent as all get out, wicked smaht, and will kick the butt of anyone that tries to put her in 'a home'.
Re: "High-tech sensors help kids keep eye on aging parents " - Lew Zealand - 05-05-2015
Robert M wrote:
Good luck with that. My father-in-law refuses _any_ assistance. No cane (and he needs one).
Ah, that sounds like my father and father-in-law. Both fell. One died 5 years later, one died 5 days later. 5 years later for my dad was only because of my mom and her ceaseless care and patient advocacy. Without that it would have been 6 months or so.
Just an anecdote.