By John Brown, CSA
CEO, Oasis Senior Advisors Austin & Central Texas | Founder, Senior Industry Services
For decades, when people thought about technology for older adults, they often pictured a medical alert pendant: press a button after a fall and someone calls for help.
That world is changing quickly.
Today, technology can help an older adult control lights without getting out of a chair, remind someone about medications, detect a fall, connect family caregivers from miles away, provide virtual access to healthcare, recognize changes in daily routines and even use artificial intelligence to help people better understand health information.
There is now a name for this growing intersection of aging and technology: AgeTech.
And for older adults, families, caregivers and senior-care professionals across Austin and Central Texas, AgeTech is becoming much more than another technology trend.
It is beginning to change how we think about aging itself.
Older Adults Are Already Living in a Technology-Enabled World
One of the first misconceptions we need to leave behind is that older adults don't use technology.
The numbers increasingly tell a very different story.
According to AARP's most recent technology-trends research, smartphone ownership among adults age 50-plus rose from 55% in 2016 to 90% in 2025. Adults 50-plus now own an average of seven technology devices. Thirty-five percent own a home assistant, while 27% own smart-home safety or security technology.
They're spending money on technology, too.
In 2025, 71% of adults 50-plus purchased technology, with AARP estimating total spending of approximately $94.5 billion, or an average of $756 per person. AARP has also projected that technology spending among Americans 50-plus could reach $120 billion by 2030.
Separate research from AARP and the Consumer Technology Association found that 80% of older Americans already own at least one type of technology that can help enable aging at home, and more than half expressed a high likelihood of purchasing additional emerging technologies.
So AgeTech isn't something we're waiting for.
Much of it is already sitting in our homes, on our wrists and in our pockets.
What Exactly Is AgeTech?
AgeTech is broader than healthcare technology.
It includes technologies and services that can support independence, safety, health, communication, caregiving and quality of life as we age.
Some products are specifically designed for older adults. Others are familiar consumer technologies finding new applications.
Think about what is already possible:
- An Apple Watch or another wearable may detect a fall.
- Alexa and other voice assistants can provide reminders or control compatible household devices.
- Ring and other video doorbells can help someone see who is at the door without rushing to answer it.
- Medical-alert devices can connect an older adult with human assistance.
- Medication technologies can provide reminders or help caregivers track adherence.
- Some sensors can monitor aspects of activity or daily routines.
- GPS technology can support families dealing with wandering concerns.
- Telehealth can bring healthcare into the home.
- AI can help people organize questions and better understand complicated information.
No single one of these replaces good care.
Together, however, they are creating another layer of support around older adults and their caregivers.
That is the larger change the senior-care industry needs to understand.
From “Help, I've Fallen” to “Something Has Changed”
Falls provide a good example of how dramatically technology is evolving.
According to the CDC, more than 14 million Americans age 65 and older—approximately one in four—report falling each year. Falls are the leading cause of injury among adults 65-plus.
About 37% of older adults who report a fall also report an injury requiring medical treatment or restricting their activity for at least a day.
For years, the technological response was primarily reactive:
A fall happens → the person pushes a button → someone responds.
Automatic fall detection improved that model by potentially recognizing an event even when someone couldn't press a button.
Now another question is emerging:
Can technology help us recognize changes before the next crisis?
Some monitoring technologies are designed to identify changes in activity, movement or daily routines that may signal something deserves attention.
That does not mean the technology can diagnose a condition—or reliably predict every fall or health event.
Instead, technology may provide another piece of information that tells us:
Something is different. We should pay attention.
That's an important distinction.
What AgeTech Means for Families in Central Texas
The technology becomes much less abstract when we think about actual families.
An adult daughter may live in Austin while her father lives in Georgetown. A son in Round Rock may be helping his mother in Temple. Another family may be trying to support parents in Lakeway, Buda, Kyle, San Marcos, New Braunfels or a more rural part of Central Texas.
Technology can make that distance easier to manage.
It might help an adult child communicate with a parent, receive an alert, arrange virtual healthcare, monitor a front door or make everyday household tasks easier.
But technology does not eliminate the need for a reliable local response plan.
If Dad falls in Georgetown and his daughter is 45 minutes away in South Austin, knowing about the fall is important.
Knowing who can actually help Dad is equally important.
That's the difference between having technology and having a support system.
Texas Is Investing in This Future
AgeTech isn't just something being developed in Silicon Valley.
Texas itself is investing in it.
The Texas Healthy Aging & Technology Initiative at UTMB Health, also known as Texas Age-Tech, is supported by a two-year, $5 million grant from the State of Texas. Its goal is to develop intelligent, cost-effective home-based technologies that help older Texans and their caregivers support safe, independent aging at home.
The initiative is exploring areas including artificial intelligence, robotics, fall detection, medication management and home-based rehabilitation.
That's significant.
AgeTech isn't merely a prediction about the future of aging.
Texas is actively investing in developing that future.
AI Is Entering the Aging Conversation, Too
Artificial intelligence may be one of the fastest-changing parts of this story.
AARP reported in 2026 that among adults 50-plus who use AI, 41% have already asked an AI-powered tool a health-related question, and 62% said they were likely to do so during the following 12 months.
But AARP's research also reveals an important trust gap. While many older adults are willing to ask AI health questions, relatively few have shared—or say they're likely to share—personal health documents such as medical test results or insurance statements with AI tools.
That's important.
Adoption and trust are not the same thing.
Older adults and caregivers are experimenting with AI, but that doesn't mean they're ready to turn over sensitive healthcare decisions or information to it.
Nor should AI be confused with professional healthcare.
AI can help someone organize questions for a physician, understand terminology, locate resources or make complicated information easier to digest.
But AI can also make mistakes.
And it cannot physically help someone bathe, transfer from bed, prepare a meal or provide the supervision someone experiencing significant cognitive decline may require.
Information is not the same thing as care.
Best Buy Is Making a Major Bet on AgeTech
One indication that AgeTech is moving into the mainstream is what Best Buy Health is building.
Best Buy Health explicitly describes its work around AgeTech and helping people live more independently.
Depending on the program and individual needs, its enabling technologies can include medical-alert devices and smart-home technologies such as video doorbells, smart plugs, smart hubs and other assistive devices.
But the technology itself may not be the most interesting part of Best Buy's model.
Through Geek Squad Health, Best Buy Health provides services such as installation and setup, education, troubleshooting and ongoing technology support.
That addresses one of the fundamental challenges facing AgeTech:
The best technology in the world isn't very useful if the person can't—or doesn't want to—use it.
Best Buy Health also offers AgeTech solutions for consumers as well as Medicare Advantage plans, Medicaid programs and senior-living organizations.
That's no longer simply about selling gadgets.
It's an example of technology becoming part of a broader support infrastructure around aging.
We'll examine Best Buy Health much more closely in the next article in this series.
Amazon Is Approaching the Future From Another Direction
Amazon Health provides a very different example.
Amazon isn't currently one unified senior-care platform, and Alexa and Ring should not be confused with Amazon's clinical healthcare services.
But Amazon's healthcare ecosystem now includes One Medical, Amazon Pharmacy and Health AI.
In 2026, Amazon expanded Health AI within its U.S. shopping experience. Amazon says the system can provide personalized health guidance and, with permission, take actions such as connecting people with virtual care, booking appointments and helping manage prescriptions.
Amazon also reported that One Medical virtual-care visits had nearly tripled year over year, with a majority coming through Health AI.
Within One Medical, Amazon has introduced AI capabilities designed to help members understand lab results, book appointments and manage medications while connecting people with clinicians when professional expertise is needed.
Step back and look at the larger trend:
AI. Virtual care. Primary care. Pharmacy. Home delivery. Voice technology. Smart homes.
Services that once existed in completely separate worlds are moving closer together.
That does not mean Amazon has created an integrated senior-care system.
It means the boundaries between consumer technology and healthcare are becoming less distinct.
Our third article will take a deeper look at what Amazon's growing healthcare ecosystem could mean for older adults and caregivers.
What I've Learned From Remote Monitoring
Through my work with Senior Industry Services and Oasis Senior Advisors Austin & Central Texas, I've also had the opportunity to see remote-monitoring technology used with older adults firsthand.
That experience reinforced something important for me:
Information only has value when someone knows what to do with it.
Technology might identify that someone's routine changed.
It might show reduced activity.
It might generate an alert.
But then what?
Should the family call?
Does the person need additional assistance?
Should an appropriate healthcare professional be contacted?
Have the person's care needs changed?
Technology can provide information.
People still have to respond to the person behind the information.
I believe that human layer will become more important—not less—as AgeTech becomes more sophisticated.
AgeTech Isn't Another Senior-Care Silo
For those of us working in healthcare and senior services, this may be the most important point.
I don't think AgeTech should be viewed as another separate category of senior care.
It's becoming a technology layer running across the care continuum.
A person can use fall-detection technology at home, in independent living or in assisted living.
A family caregiver can use technology while Mom lives at home and continue using technology after her living environment changes.
Home-care providers increasingly encounter monitoring and communication technology.
Hospital and rehabilitation professionals may encounter technology as families prepare for a return home.
Senior-living communities are adopting technologies intended to support residents, families and staff.
Healthcare itself is becoming increasingly digital.
That means professionals throughout senior care need at least a working understanding of what's changing.
We don't all need to become technology experts.
But we do need to understand what these tools can do, what they cannot do and when they may be appropriate.
Before Choosing AgeTech, Ask These Questions
This is where I think families and professionals should slow down.
Don't start with:
“What device should we buy?”
Start with:
“What problem are we trying to solve?”
Then ask:
- Does the older adult understand and want the technology?
- Who will install it, teach them to use it and troubleshoot it?
- Does it require Wi-Fi, cellular service, a smartphone or a subscription?
- Who receives an alert—and can that person actually respond?
- What happens during a power outage or connectivity failure?
- What information is collected, where is it stored and who can access it?
- Does the technology actually reduce a risk, or simply notify someone after something happens?
- What happens if the technology identifies a problem?
- What additional human support might still be needed?
Those questions matter more than the number of features on the box.
Sometimes Care Needs Change
Sometimes technology, family involvement, home care and other resources can help an older adult remain safely independent longer.
When that matches the person's needs and preferences, that's a wonderful outcome.
But technology cannot solve every problem.
A smart home can't physically assist someone with bathing.
A sensor doesn't provide hands-on help with transfers.
An AI assistant cannot provide appropriate supervision for someone wandering because of significant cognitive changes.
A medical-alert device doesn't relieve an exhausted spouse providing around-the-clock support.
And monitoring a problem doesn't necessarily solve it.
Sometimes changing care needs mean additional in-home assistance, respite, adult day services or other resources should be explored.
Sometimes assisted living, memory care, a residential care home or another senior-living option becomes part of the conversation.
That isn't a failure of technology.
It means the person's needs have changed.
And recognizing that difference may become one of the most important skills families and senior-care professionals develop as AgeTech grows.
The Future of Aging Is Still Human
I don't believe the future of senior care is technology replacing people.
I think it's much more interesting than that.
It's a daughter sleeping a little better because Dad has a reliable way to call for help.
It's an older adult maintaining independence because their home works better for them.
It's a caregiver having better information.
It's a healthcare professional recognizing a concern earlier.
It's technology taking some burden away from people so people can spend more time doing the things technology doesn't do very well:
Listening. Reassuring. Helping. Caring. Making difficult decisions together.
And sometimes it's recognizing that technology is no longer enough.
The challenge facing our industry isn't whether AgeTech is coming.
It's already here.
The challenge is learning how to use it thoughtfully without losing the human relationships at the heart of good senior care.
Sources & Organizations Referenced
This article draws on research, public health data, and information from organizations helping shape the conversation around aging, technology, and healthcare, including AARP, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and UTMB Health’s Texas Healthy Aging & Technology Initiative. We also reference Best Buy Health and Amazon Health as real-world examples of how major organizations are bringing technology, healthcare, and aging-at-home solutions closer together.
These organizations represent different pieces of a much larger shift—from research and public health to AgeTech, smart-home support, artificial intelligence, virtual care, pharmacy, and aging at home. Their approaches may differ, but together they illustrate why technology is becoming an increasingly important part of the future of aging and senior care.
Senior Industry Services and Oasis Senior Advisors Austin & Central Texas are not affiliated with or endorsing the organizations or products referenced unless specifically stated. They are included for educational purposes and as examples of developments shaping AgeTech and senior care.
Coming Next in the AgeTech & Future of Senior Care Series
Best Buy Health and the Future of Aging at Home
John Brown, CSA is CEO of Oasis Senior Advisors Austin & Central Texas and founder of Senior Industry Services (SIS). My work connects older adults, families, healthcare professionals and senior-care organizations across Central Texas with resources and senior-living options as care needs change.