In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Ian Philp, a paediatrics doctor who has been involved with policies enacted around medical care for older people and founder of Age Care Technologies, a company which aims to significantly improve the lives of 100 million older people by 2030.
We discuss some misconceptions about aging, and how a lot of younger or middle-aged people tend to bunch older people into stereotypes rather than approaching them with compassion as individually complex humans who have been shaped differently by their experiences into who they are in old age. This stereotyping also comes into effect with advancements in technology, with people discarding their ability to use new tech and claiming they are unable to adapt, without giving them the time they need to learn or adapt to it.
A lot of people look after relatives that need care in their older age, and we talk about some of the ways to ensure that those relatives don’t feel like social and economic burdens, as well as how to check you are doing well as the caregiver and when to recognise if you need help in any aspects of caregiving. At the end of the day it’s about approaching your care to them and to yourself with compassion and trying to improve the quality of life in old age as a society that is aging further each year.
Main Topics
- Aging Population
- Using Tech to Help Older People
- Age Care Technologies
- Improving Qualities of Life through Tech
- Compassion Through Tech
Guest
- Dr. Ian Philp – paediatric doctor, founder of Age Care Technologies
Main Questions
- Why has it taken so long to start investing in tech for old age?
- Why are the older generation often overlooked as being unable to adapt?
- What is Age Care Tech and how does it help older people?
- How do you recognise if you need help in giving care to an older relative?
- What is it like starting a business later on in life?
An Interesting Point
- Despite being a significant demographic in society, there is not a lot of policy or tech aimed towards improving the quality of life of the older population, largely because policymakers and tech founders tend to think of their own age groups or future generations first. People rarely start prioritising their ideas towards old age until they are at the precipice of it, but when old age is something most of us must go through, why do we not focus more on improving the experience?