May 28, 2026 · 38 min · 13 segments
Technology has allowed us to stay connected more than ever — so why are so many older adults lonelier than ever? On this episode of Aging Forward, tech expert Scott Lien explains how technology…
Scott LienGuestChristina ChenHostNo entities detected.
We are more connected than ever through technology, yet loneliness is rising, and I find that so odd.
The smartphone has only been around about twenty years, and social media and some of the other tools have been around less than that.
And so you think about anything new, new innovations, whether it was electricity or the steam engine or airplanes.
In the initial phase, there's lots of churn as people figure out how do they manage this new thing.
The other, I think, is that technology companies, they tend to really focus on what they believe is the biggest part of the market, which is younger people.
The demographic that all tech companies kind of go after is that age twenty to fifty demographic, and everything that they build, they're optimizing for that group.
And so it's really just in the last few years of really seeing, like, wow, there's this huge market out there of older adults.
It's a big, important, valuable market, and people are just starting to wake up to that.
So I think we will see more products and services focused on and optimized for older adults.
But the third, I think all of us as the adult children of older adults, the caregivers, but for the older adults themself, we all have to manage these tools and don't let them manage us.
So we all know there's lots of things in the media about people getting addicted to their phone or to social media, and just like any addiction, we've got to manage that and don't let these things take over our lives.
And there's some really good emerging trends actually with young people that are turning off social media and limiting their screen time, and there's an amazing new cell company that's come out where they actually incentivize you to use your phone less.
So I think those are all positive trends, but it kind of comes down to us individually.
We need to manage these tools so they truly improve our lives, and they don't make our lives worse or more lonely.
We are more connected than ever through technology, yet loneliness is rising, and I find that so odd.
The smartphone has only been around about twenty years, and social media and some of the other tools have been around less than that.
And so you think about anything new, new innovations, whether it was electricity or the steam engine or airplanes.
In the initial phase, there's lots of churn as people figure out how do they manage this new thing.
The other, I think, is that technology companies, they tend to really focus on what they believe is the biggest part of the market, which is younger people.
The demographic that all tech companies kind of go after is that age twenty to fifty demographic, and everything that they build, they're optimizing for that group.
And so it's really just in the last few years of really seeing, like, wow, there's this huge market out there of older adults.
It's a big, important, valuable market, and people are just starting to wake up to that.
So I think we will see more products and services focused on and optimized for older adults.
But the third, I think all of us as the adult children of older adults, the caregivers, but for the older adults themself, we all have to manage these tools and don't let them manage us.
So we all know there's lots of things in the media about people getting addicted to their phone or to social media, and just like any addiction, we've got to manage that and don't let these things take over our lives.
And there's some really good emerging trends actually with young people that are turning off social media and limiting their screen time, and there's an amazing new cell company that's come out where they actually incentivize you to use your phone less.
So I think those are all positive trends, but it kind of comes down to us individually.
We need to manage these tools so they truly improve our lives, and they don't make our lives worse or more lonely.
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