Left in the Internet Abyss: Why Language and Human Support Matter in a Digital Healthcare Era
I hear it in my consultation sessions all the time, and it is time to say it out loud: the way our society talks about aging is completely broken. The language used to describe older adults is too often laced with implicit bias, carrying a dismissive, un-affirming tone that reduces vibrant, autonomous individuals to mere checkboxes or clinical statistics.
Language matters. And right now, the starkest, most frustrating form of this bias is happening silently behind glowing screens in our healthcare system.
The Steep Learning Curve of a Screen-First System
Modern healthcare technology is incredibly complex. Today, patients are expected to manage a maze of smartphone apps just to answer simple, pre-appointment intake questions. But we cannot expect past generations to automatically know how to navigate these digital barriers.
Just to communicate with a Primary Care Physician (PCP), an individual has to log in at the designated website and navigate the many options within the online portal. The print is small, the interfaces are far from intuitive, and even when you can finally figure out how to send a message, many times you have to return to the portal for the response. It is quite a complex navigation process if you are not familiar with it or have some functional need.
It is deeply concerning that vital laboratory results, medical imaging, and crucial test data are held exclusively in electronic portals. This shift has occurred with completely inadequate consideration for the human subject at the center—the very person who has a fundamental legal and moral right to their own health information. When a system forces everything onto small screens that are physically difficult to read, and hides data behind complex multi-step passwords, that information risks being permanently pushed into the internet abyss.
The Recommendation: True Age-Friendly Accessibility, Not Just "Onboarding"
The solution requires a complete shift toward human-centered solutions that include caregivers and ongoing technical support, instead of one-off onboarding directions. More importantly, we must push to make these tech platforms genuinely accessible to the changing needs of the older adult using them. This means creating simpler interfaces with fewer steps, prioritizing low-vision considerations for readability, and incorporating fine-motor skill adaptations.
Until the tech industry and hospital systems design tools that respect these physical realities, older adults face a massive equity barrier in managing their own wellness. An older adult’s right to make autonomous decisions about their own body should never be dependent on their ability to update a phone app or navigate a website.
Bringing Clarity to the Process
As the healthcare system becomes digitized, it naturally creates a deep sense of feeling invisable and anxious for both the older adult trying to retain their independence and the family caregiver trying to support them.
My goal at the Healthy Aging Hub is to help families step back from that complex digital landscape, look at the big picture, and find practical ways to make managing medical timelines, portals, and records less chaotic. Navigating a complex health transition can feel overwhelming. If you want to review your care timeline, organize medical records, and explore practical, structured ways to make managing decisions easier, you can learn more about scheduling a virtual Aging & Care Consultation.
— Victoria Corrigan, Founder and Consultant at Healthy Aging Hub