The result is not merely digital exclusion, it can be social isolation at precisely the time connection can be most important.
This is Dementia Action Week (September 21–27 ), so it is worth asking how technology can help people living with dementia stay meaningfully connected, without creating another burden for the nurses and carers already holding the system together.
In a recent conversation on the Emerging Tech Unpacked podcast, registered nurse and CareWindow co-founder Fiona Symons described how isolation can compound quickly when someone enters residential aged care.
When her father moved into care after his mobility and cognition declined, Symons saw this first-hand as COVID restrictions arrived. Family visits became brief interactions through windows, while ordinary contact with loved ones suddenly depended on staff availability and the limitations of unfamiliar technology.
Her experience reflects a wider challenge: when technology is difficult to access or use, it can become another barrier to connection for older people at a time when connection matters most.
A phone or tablet may technically enable a connection, but it is not automatically accessible. A resident may not remember passwords, navigate small icons, hold a device steady or recognise which button starts a call. When technology fails at the point of use, families can feel helpless, residents can become frustrated, and staff are left to bridge the gap.
Staff do the best they can, but often while managing everything else. Nurses and carers are not simply task-doers. They’re constantly observing residents, responding to changes in health and behaviour, administering treatment, supporting personal care, reassuring families and helping people retain as much independence and dignity as possible.
What’s more, in dementia care, they also bring the patience, de-escalation skills and emotional awareness required when a person is confused, distressed or frightened, all within the context of rising standards and greater regulatory compliance burdens in aged care. This is why the nursing workforce must be at the centre of the technology conversation.
A tool that requires multiple logins, constant troubleshooting or staff supervision is not freeing up capacity. It may be well-intentioned, but it’s adding another small responsibility to a shift already shaped by competing priorities. Enough “small” responsibilities soon become a significant drain on the time available for direct human care.
The alternative is to design technology around real life in aged care.
Dementia-friendly technology should be intuitive, familiar and reliable. It should work with limited mobility, vision changes and cognitive impairment. It should make it easy for a family member to call or share a moment without requiring a nurse or carer to act as a technical intermediary every time.
That could mean a resident seeing a daughter overseas without needing to manage a smartphone, watching a grandchild’s school performance, joining a birthday celebration from bed, or having a familiar face appear when they are unable to leave their room.
Symons shared examples of this from the early use of simple video-connection technology, in which residents could connect with family or participate remotely in experiences they otherwise would have missed.
It helps preserve identity and the sense that the older person, or a person with dementia, is still a parent, sibling, friend, music lover, sports fan or active member of a family, rather than being defined simply as a recipient of care.
Technology will never replace a nurse sitting beside a resident, noticing distress, sharing a laugh or providing soothing reassurance. Nor should it be used as an excuse to under-resource the workforce. But when it is designed with residents, families and frontline staff in mind, it can remove barriers to connection and give staff more time for the work only humans can do.
The test for aged care technology should be simple: does it make it easier for residents and families to connect while protecting time for nurses and carers to provide care?
If it does, it is not just a digital tool. It is a practical response to loneliness.
- Lucy Lin is an innovation and strategic communications leader, speaker and host of Emerging Tech Unpacked, a podcast exploring the people and ideas behind emerging technology.
