I have noticed with alarming frequency the great difficulty many seniors were having with technology in its various forms at the centers, mostly with sign in, pay your bill machines, and credit card machines where you punch in tip percentage, name, etc.
There is the variety and further complications given the different technical machinery from store to store. I have encountered four different credit card machines, with only one guide at my favorite coffee cafe.
In the rush to self-service, cutting back employees, and wanting data-payment technology, the needs of seniors are often totally disregarded, and no assistance is available to ease the natural confusion. Thankfully, this is not the case at stores where ample help is always available to assist with self-checkout and payment.
Many businesses need to think about and be sensitive to the needs of the aging, first of all for respect, and secondly, for allowing the technologies to work as intended, not gumming up the works, making people embarrassed, confused, and or harassed because of the normal hearing and seeing issues most 65 and older people experience when confronted with a slew of technologies and/or no help as they move from store to store.
Please, let’s be kind, considerate, sensitive to, and well aware of the needs of this growing population who may not be as agile or comfortable with technology; a growing and important element in our lives, but surely not something to diminish peoples’ quality of life.
Vinnie Linares
Kula
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