(long tweet warning) This thread and I want to discuss the issue of the elderly and feeling like second hand citizens. It is DISGUSTING to me that medical providers now shove everything online. My mother was never technologically oriented and now that both her memory and eyesight are failing, she's given up using a computer or cell phone, let alone a smart phone, at all. It causes her genuine distress to have to try to do so because it makes her feel like she is stupid. Every medical appointment is check in through whatever branding the medical provider has slapped on EPIC. There is a massive push to have all visits be virtual. My mother cannot navigage that at all. And, again, making her do so makes her feel stupid and small. As you can imagine, I take that well. No, do not hand my mother a tablet and say here just do this. She can't. She is not cognitively and physically capable of doing that and asking her to do so is just flat out mean. It's also pushing off work from staff to the patient but that's a whole other discussion. My father, bless him, tries to do the check ins and he sorta kinda knows how to use the messaging system. What my father does not know, because I do not tell him as I do not need to hurt his pride, is that all his medical providers call me to ask to clarify what on earth he sent them since his typing is so atrocious. He cannot do virtual visits unless it is set up either first thing in the morning so I can log him in before heading off to work or at a time I can run down during my lunch hour (bless my work for being incredibly understanding of my having to come in late/take long lunches). All the robo calls to confirm appointments come to my cell phone because otherwise my parents wouldn't even get the calls due to the robocall blocking that is set up on their landline. Even something as simple as watching television can be a problem since they'll accidentally hit a key on the remote and that switches the input and they have no idea how to switch it back, even though I have typed up instructions for them in 45 point font so they can read it easily. Fortuantely, my parents have me, someone who is at least moderately tech savvy. I take care of the digital lives that are forced on them. If they did not have me? I do not know what they would do. This enrages me. My parents should not be pushed to the very edges of interacting with society just because they can't use a smart phone. Yet here we are. /fin