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I knew caring for my 88-year-old mom would be hard. I didn't expect to spend so much time on tech support.
Yahoo • • technology
Key Points:
- The author's mother, fiercely independent into her 80s, recently moved into an assisted living facility due to declining health, prompting the author to take on a significant caregiving role.
- Managing the mother's digital life, including multiple health insurance accounts and banking, has become a major and unexpected part of caregiving, complicated by two-factor authentication and forgotten passwords.
- The mother relies on a traditional notebook for passwords and cannot use modern tools like Face ID due to Parkinson's disease, highlighting how current technology often fails to accommodate older adults with physical or cognitive challenges.
- The author notes that digital security measures, while intended for convenience and protection, have inadvertently reduced the mother's independence and confidence by making access to essential services more difficult.
- This experience reveals a broader issue for many caregivers who must help aging parents navigate increasingly complex digital systems not designed with their needs in mind, underscoring the invisible labor involved in modern caregiving.
