About this episode

Angela Cearns discusses the challenges and strategies for older adults navigating technology amidst cognitive changes.

For aging adults and people experiencing memory changes, everyday technology can be confusing, frustrating, and difficult to navigate. Angela Cearns is the founder and CEO of AsKevin, which offers workshops and digital coaching to help older adults and those with cognitive challenges — including Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease — better understand and use technology. In this conversation with Being Patient’s Mark Niu, Cearns identifies three core struggles facing people with cognitive challenges in the digital world: the constant distraction of notifications that makes it hard to keep track of information, the self-doubt caused by frequent software updates that change familiar interfaces, and the shame that comes from needing to ask family members for help. Cearns, a former head of product management at Amazon Prime and chief e-commerce officer at Pizza Hut International, shares practical strategies for simplifying devices, turning off unnecessary notifications, cleaning up contact lists and focusing on tools that keep people connected. She also highlights the growing threat of multistep scams targeting older adults. While technology can bring risks, Cearns…

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