Aaron is a reporter based in the Chicago area who specializes in environmental and/or technology issues. He doesn’t understand the difference between mostaccioli and baked ziti; thinks it might be a marketing scam.
There’s been a lot of focus on screen addiction amongst teens. Should we also be considering how older adults use their phones and tablets?
Fact checked by Shannon Sparks
Smartphones are proving to be a deleterious match for seniors. The good news: Seniors have become much more tech-savvy over the past decade and in the post-pandemic period. But that’s also the bad news.
Concerns about “digital dementia” — a term used to describe potential cognitive effects linked to excessive use of digital devices — have fueled debate about how technology affects the aging brain.
“What we are seeing is the result of factors we loosely attribute to loneliness and isolation,” says Anita Pindiur, a Chicago-area health expert who runs the Way Back Inn, an addiction recovery center in Maywood. “When you’re older, you’re not as mobile as you used to be. Going online makes it easier to still feel engaged, to feel like you’re part of a community, without ever having to leave your home.”
Chicago resident Steven Ferris, whose name we changed to protect his privacy, feels frustrated with his dad’s phone use, especially around Ferris’ young children.
“His phone comes out at family dinners, and I have to remind him repeatedly to put it away. That’s what I’d expect of a teenager, but not my 80-year-old dad,” Ferris says. “I feel like it’s his knee-jerk reaction. His brain wonders about something, and he immediately takes out the phone to search for it.”
When the grandchildren are at the table, Ferris says his dad will pull them away from the meal to show them random videos on his phone. Recently, he was showing them a video made with artificial intelligence (AI) of a plane appearing to turn around on an aircraft carrier. “You think it’s going to fall off, but it doesn’t. He fell hook, line, and sinker for it and wanted to show them,” Ferris says. “His generation is particularly prone to the AI slop stuff.”
Ferris says he took for granted that his dad would show more self-control and awareness of the digital pitfalls. “It’s like candy or something. They didn’t grow up with this stuff, so they may not know to treat it with caution,” he says. “The newness really works on them. And they have a lot of time on their hands to go down these rabbit holes.”
Gambling away time and money
While many older adults lose time on social media apps such as Instagram and YouTube, another form of online engagement has become frighteningly easy and ubiquitous: gambling.
“We know seniors are very technologically able,” says Tim Fong, MD, a psychiatrist in Los Angeles who specializes in addiction. “The app companies have made it easy. And now, it’s so much easier to gamble than to find the game on TV. Your grandparents can’t understand all this streaming stuff, but they definitely can understand how to log onto DraftKings.”
Fong says that research is very limited in how, or if, gambling companies specifically target seniors.
The companies behind gambling and social media apps engineered them to keep eyeballs locked in for as long as possible. Every minute a senior spends on the app equals money for the company behind the app.
Pindiur says, “The gamified design [of apps] is intended to keep you engaged and keep you on the screen for as long as possible. And nobody is asking, even loved ones: What do you do all day? How much money are you spending?”
Although many older adults have life experience managing finances, Fong says he’s had clients or known cases of seniors who lose their entire life and retirement savings to gambling and struggle to recover those finances in retirement, without decades of career ahead.
Even if families suspect their loved one has a problem, Fong says, they could still be afraid to address it, either out of respect or because they don’t want to take away their source of entertainment.
“I’ve had a few cases where the kids and grandkids of a senior gambling addict said they knew but didn’t want to confront them,” Fong says. “Their parents or grandparents were really successful, put them through college, and now you have to tell them not to gamble? When they have nothing to do all day? Older adults are increasingly using digital devices to access online gambling, games and social media platforms to cope with the stressors of aging.”
Digital escape
Fong says he discusses the challenges of aging and how easy it is to spend a lot of time on screens with his parents, who are still alive and live in the western suburbs of Chicago. Their main outing each day is to the grocery store.
In contrast, apps offer an escape. “These apps are so seductive and tempting, and it’s a slippery slope.
Just keep the feed feeding. It’s frictionless,” Fong says. “I’ve had patients who told me they didn’t even know how much money they were spending, or losing, until they looked at their bank statements.”
Excessive screen time hurts older adults’ caregivers, too. Fong says he has multiple caregiver clients who became addicted to screens.
“Caregiving is a stressful job,” Fong says. “They may start out playing video games [like Candy Crush] on their phone. It’s not like smoking or using drugs while on the job, which obviously violates standards of care. Instead, they can be on their phone watching a game with a person who they are caring for, and then Candy Crush becomes Golden Dragon Casino or FanDuel.”
Getting seniors to ease up on their phone use is complicated, and research is ongoing. Most current studies of screen use and addiction in older adults have come out of China.
Pindiur says preventative tools and education would help. But, she adds, “We also need to explore what else we could be doing. I know our senior clients really want to be as socially active as possible. Whether it’s spending extra time outside barbecuing or just being together in a safe environment.”
In-person time together may take more effort, coordination, and time, but consider the benefits that motivate you and your loved one — whether that’s memories made or money saved.
