r/TechForAgingParents

JubileeTV was a lifesaver for me when caring for my mom. She lived in Texas near my brother while I was in Michigan. After her debilitating stroke, even starting a conversation through other devices took 10 minutes. JubileeTV changed everything — the daily check‑ins made the world of difference. I could control her TV, help her get to the right screen, and even remote video call her through the system. She loved Columbo, and JubileeTV made it easy for us to talk about her shows again. It restored connection her stroke had taken away.

During her end‑of‑life period, JubileeTV let me check in every day and know exactly when it was time to fly down. Seeing when staff came in and out of her room gave me real peace that she was being cared for.

Now I’m helping a friend’s mother in a nursing home, and I’m shocked JubileeTV isn’t used at all.

Why hasn’t it reached nursing homes? Families could benefit so much from the peace it gave me.
If there’s anything I can do to help, I’d even lead a JubileeTV Warriors group here in Ann Arbor to spread the word.

Tom

Elderly parent is developing occasional issues with figuring out how to answer the phone or keep it turned on and charged. Is there such a thing as a "phone" that connects automatically?

I’m trying to find useful tech for helping my parents stay active and independent without overwhelming them with gadgets.

Things like simple fitness trackers, medication reminders, sleep tracking, or apps that help with appointments seem useful, but I’m not sure what actually makes a difference.

What tech have you found genuinely helpful for an aging parent, and what ended up being more hassle than it was worth?

I am 54 and a home health nurse by profession. My parents are 85 (dad) and 84(mom). They live independently in their home, drive, pay all bills, cook, clean, and even travel a few times a year. They are starting to slow down and get a little forgetful. My father has opened links from suspicious phishing emails several times. Each time he tells me or my brother about it and we have both advised him to call one of us if he gets an email that seems phishy. He agrees to do that but then a few months later we hear of another one. So far I don’t know of any negative consequences, but he is likely to try to hide it out of fear of being exposed as not making good decisions.
I am not super technologically savvy but can learn new skills as needed. Does anyone know of a way to filter email so that he doesn’t get these Phishing expedition emails?

Update: My brother just texted me to tell me that he has been having my dad send him the emails in question and apparently my brother opened one and clicked on the link and now thinks his phone has been hacked. My brother likes to smoke weed and makes some pretty stupid moves when high. I feel like I have 3 mentally compromised family members that I have to manage. So fun!😵‍💫

My parent lives alone and is on medication for a chronic condition. I worry about whether they’re actually taking it every day. I call to remind them but I honestly have no way to know. Anyone else deal with this? How do you handle it?

Hi everyone!

I’m a pharmacist and Android developer, and I’ve been working on a small project motivated by a problem I’ve seen with older adults: keeping track of daily medications.

I built a free app that allows you to schedule medication reminders, take a photo of the medication box or blister pack to easily identify it later, and, if a dose isn’t marked as taken within a configured period, notify a family member by SMS.

The goal isn’t to replace medical care, but to provide an additional layer of reassurance for family members who worry about whether an aging parent has taken their medication.

I’d love to hear from people in this community who help their parents with technology.

Would something like this actually be useful in your situation? What would make you trust or use a tool like this?

random question for people who have older parents or grandparents do they ever ask you for help with things online like banking, hospital appointments, government websites, paying bills, passwords or filling forms? what do they usually ask you to help with? what is something they struggle with the most? how do you normally help them like do they send screenshots, call you, give you their password or you have to do it for them? is there anything you keep helping them with again and again? and have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to help them but couldn’t because the website/app wouldn’t allow you to?

I’m not trying to sell anything btw 😭 just genuinely asking out of curiosity and trying to understand how other families deal with this

My mom lives alone in Delhi, I’m in Seattle for work and it’s been eating at me. She’s 68, sharp mentally, but I worry constantly. Calling her daily is something I genuinely try to do, but between work and her odd sleeping schedule, I probably manage 4-5 times a week at best.

A friend mentioned there are services now where an AI calls your parent regularly, in their language, remembers their conversations, and sends you a quick note about how they seem. Honestly my first reaction was “that sounds dystopian.” But then I thought, she talks to the TV more than she talks to people some days, so maybe?

Has anyone actually used something like this for their parents? A few things I’m genuinely unsure about:

**•**	Do elderly parents actually warm up to it, or do they reject it immediately?  
**•**	How long before it stops feeling weird to them?  
**•**	Does the AI actually remember context across calls or does she have to repeat herself every time?  
**•**	What happens if she sounds unwell, does anyone actually get notified?

Also what’s the right price point if you used this or I should be willing to pay?

Would love to hear from people who’ve been in the same boat, whether you found a solution that works or gave up on the idea entirely.

Not looking for “just call her more” answers, I know, I try. Looking for whether tech has genuinely helped anyone here.

My dad has had arthritis in his hands for a few years, but I don't think I really understood how much it was affecting him until I noticed how often he'd avoid typing anything longer than a couple of lines.

Emails especially. He'd either keep them incredibly short or ask my mom or me to type something for him.

He never made a big deal about it, but I could tell having to ask bothered him.

We tried getting him into voice typing before and he hated it. He'd spend so much time correcting things afterward that he'd decide typing was easier, even when typing hurt.

Recently we gave voice typing another shot on his laptop and something finally clicked. He still has to speak a little more deliberately than he'd like, but he's actually using it voluntarily now.

A few days ago he wrote an entire email without calling anyone over to help.

Tiny victory, but he was ridiculously pleased with himself. And I realized I hadn't seen him willingly write that much in quite a while.

Anyone else has had something like this happen with a parent or a grandparent that some accessibility setting or piece of tech unexpectedly gave them a little independence back?

Would love to hear the small wins.

okay so basically i have the average south asian parent—used to be kind of abusive but not so much now, was abused by their in-laws, has bipolar disorders, still emotionally abuses their children, sort of traditional values but pretty progressive for her generation, was denied a job opportunity bc of traditional in laws and has a tendency to give up and get angry easily.

after a lot of pretty traumatic events, now my parent is trying to get back into the employment field and stuff (specifically medical but thats irrelevant), but the thing is all the small programs, etc. my parent has been finding for experience require technological skills.

my parent is not technologically inclined at all, they have no experience with computers etc., and well my siblings are very impatient so aren't helpful at all when it comes to teaching my parent and end up taking their anger out on my parent (pls dont blame them, its completely fair for their situation).

anyways i feel super bad and really want to help my parent out, any tips on teaching old people (with anger issues, who give up super easily, with mental issues, also some memory problems) how to use technology? i really want to help and im willing to do anything. video tutorials dont really help because i dont think my parent cares enough to pay attention, or like my parents attention span just isnt good enough, sorry im not too sure. also like im really good with technology so i think i could help my parent out you know?

thank you! (also this is under this subreddit because my parents is definitely a toxic narcissistic parent and stuff and im pretty sure my parent's inability to learn has got to do something with that personality trait. also im pretty sure my parent has mental issues but everything is undiagnosed because, you know, south asian mentality)