e.Digital

Last spring, I installed a Live!y home monitoring system in my 86-year-old mother in law’s apartment. This system uses Bluetooth sensors that communicate with a cellular hub; I plugged the hub into a wall socket, then placed sensors on her pillbox, keyfob, refrigerator, and bedroom door. I got reports telling me when she took her medicine, left the house, took a nap, or opened the fridge. It was a breeze to set up and managed to strike the right balance between respecting her privacy and providing useful information about her activities.

(Photo: Live!y)

Related: How to Keep an Eye on Your Aging Parents Without Annoying the Crap Out of Them

Earlier this year, Live!y added a simple smartwatch to its monitoring system that acts as a panic button in case your parent needs help. It also includes a basic step counter and medication reminder. It’s a nicely designed piece of hardware, with an attractive face (available in black or gray, digital or analog), a waterproof case, and a rubberized wrist strap that’s easy to get on and off.

(Photo: Live!y)

When your parent presses the big orange button on the side of the watch, she gets a phone call from Live!y asking if she’s al lright. If she says she needs help, or she doesn’t answer, Live!y will call her emergency contacts or immediately summon 911 services to her location, depending on which option you choose.

In my limited testing the watch worked pretty well. Calls arrived within two minutes of pressing the button. Lively’s iOS or Android app let you see how many steps its wearer has taken each day, when she’s left the house, and whether the sensors have moved. (An update coming in a few weeks will allow you to view 14 days of activity.) But that’s about it – there’s no monitoring of sleep or other vitals.

Right now the watch needs to be within 1500 feet of the hub in order to issue an alert. Starting next month, you’ll be able to pair the watch to an Android phone, so elders can issue alerts from anywhere. (Support for iOS will come in the third quarter.)

Later this year, seniors will be able to remove the watchface from the band and wear it on a magnetized clip somewhere on their torso, says Live!y co-founder David Glickman. That’s when the watch turns into an “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” warning system, using its internal accelerometer to detect a sudden drop and issue an alert.

Related: Here’s What Happens to Your Data After You Die

Live!y is pretty slick, and at $50 for the kit (plus $28 to $35 a month) it’s more affordable than many elder monitoring systems. But unless your aging parent is a complete shut in – or totally smartphone phobic – I’d wait for the version that connects to a phone, so your parents can summon help from anywhere.

Age before beauty

I believe the tech revolution will eventually embrace older Americans, for two reasons: There are a lot of them, and they have money to spend. Boomers already account for a third of all mobile technology purchases and 40 percent of all online sales, according to data collected by AARP Media Sales. As our population both grows older and people live longer, those numbers