Dr. Kerry Burnight is the Chief Gerontologist at GrandPad, a company that designs simple and easy to use electronic tablets for people 75 and older.
New technology presents a wealth of opportunities for connecting with others. Family members across the world can video chat from mobile phones at a moment's notice, and long-lost friends from elementary school can easily reconnect. But Dr. Burnight believes that for all mobile devices have added to the world, new technology is isolating older demographics. In fact social isolation, leading to loneliness among the elderly, is one of the great scourges on society.
In this LLAMA podcast interview with Peter Bowes, Dr. Burnight discusses how GrandPads keep older family members easily connected with the rest of the family and the world. She also describes how older generations are left behind with technology, and why personal connections are so important to a person's health and longevity.