Tech Training for Older Adults

Michael Hughes 00:07
Hello, and welcome to The Art of aging, which is part of the abundant aging podcast series for United Church homes. On this show, we look at what it means to age in America, and in other places around the world with positive and empowering conversations that challenge, encourage and inspire all to age with abundance. As part of our aging innovators series. I’m pleased to have Liz Hamburg on the show today. And I got to say, Liz is one of those people that is really comfortable starting new things. She’s got over 20 years of experience starting and growing innovative organizations around the world, many of which place things like volunteer terrorism and positive societal change at its core. Her current project, if I can call it that letters, is CanDoo and it’s an organization that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing over the last three years to the work that United Church Holmes has done with the TechStars future of longevity program, and can do I know you’ll do a far better job talking about it than I will live was formed to support really digital equity, particularly amongst older adults with remote tech support and training to help foster use of technologies that will help people stay healthier, more independent and connected. So Liz, welcome.

Liz Hamburg 01:17
Thank you so much. It’s great to be here and great to talk about what’s happened that can do tech and how we’ve evolved since you and I first met, as you said now, just about three years ago.

Michael Hughes 01:26
Yeah. And really, I think the overarching theme of this podcast is dispelling myths. I mean, there’s a lot of myths about older adults and their use of technology. And I think that, you know, you’ve definitely got a ton of perspective on that quick plug on our site. By the way, I do want to remind everybody of our Ruth frost Parker symposium that happens in October every single year, the roof, Rob Parker center is the part of the United Church homes that really is our advocacy and thought leadership work, particularly around ending ageism and ages beliefs. That’s the subject of our 2023 symposium that we happen in October. And please find out more information about attending either in person or virtually, at United Church homes.org/parker-center. All right, all that business is out of the way. Let’s, let’s just start off with this. I mean, you’ve got an amazing history of entrepreneurialism, which I can pronounce. He cut. You know, you could be doing a lot of things, obviously, with your talents wouldn’t really brought you into this world around technology training for older adults.

Liz Hamburg 02:37
Yeah, well, like so many people who come into this space mine was a very personal journey. And I was inspired to start candy tech by my dad. And you know, I know so many of us in this industry have said it’s happened because of a parent or a loved one a grandparent. For me, my father literally lived next door to Best Buy. And he was like the first guideline for every gadget you can imagine. And he never knew how anything works. So you know, he was a lawyer by training, he became a photographer, very smart man. But he was constantly calling geek squad or, you know, go to the Apple Store. And you know, and he needed that help. And so one day he actually bought me my first Alexa and he bought himself an Alexa and one day he left me a voicemail, where I still have it. It’s actually on our website. Now I managed to think to save it all those years before. And he said Alexia has gone out of town. He called her Alexa and he’s like, I don’t know where she is. I don’t know what to do. You know, she maybe she’s on vacation. Like I’ve tried her three times, call me back. And so he was kind of joking, but he really wasn’t joking, because he really needed Alexa for something. He really couldn’t get ahold of her. And he wasn’t going to, you know, call Geek Squad to have someone come over. And so that was really what got my brain thinking is, you know, you’d mentioned in the intro, I’d been an entrepreneur for many years, and I was thinking about, you know, what’s my next business and the light bulb kind of went off for me to say there’s got to be a better way because as he got older, and you know, he passed away a few years ago now at almost 90, but he had, you know, macular degeneration in the end, he had some cognitive issues. He had some mobility issues, and it was very hard of hearing and we’re hearing aids and so the traditional support wasn’t cutting it for him. And as I started looking at how we were improving his experience, he managed to stay at home and age in place, you know, with my mother, they are in some aids, but we were putting podcasts on we were you know, connecting his hearing aids to his phone. He was listening to audiobooks as his you know, macular got bad and he couldn’t read. We were adjusting screen contrast so that it was you know, black screen and white blond. And so I started thinking about these ways that we were improving his life and proving his family and his caregivers lives. And really looking at the gaps out there for support and we started off as you know, we’re geek squad for seniors kind of that let help when you need help by it, what quickly evolved as we started, like literally right before the pandemic was that people needed training. And you mentioned it or digital literacy, they needed that digital literacy training as much if not more than the support. And so that’s what’s really evolved for us as a combination of helping older adults learn how to use their technology, and at the same time fixing what’s not working?

Michael Hughes 05:26
Yeah, and I gotta say, you know, first of all, I like to say to people, you know, if you ever wanted to understand older adults and their relationship to technology, go to your local Best Buy and stand by the geek Scott squat counter for a couple of hours, you’ll see a lot of come to life, and it sounds like, you know, with candy with taking us online with the model that you had, especially during this pandemic, it was kind of, you know, good timing for that, right?

Liz Hamburg 05:53
Yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, we started off in person in New York, I’m based in New York. And so we were going to, you know, launch in New York, and then expand to other markets. And so, you know, a few months after we launched the pandemic hit, and we, you know, quickly, obviously, shut down all of our in person, I was quite worried about what was going to happen. But we actually, in some ways, it really helped us scale, because we ended up moving to a remote only model, you know, today, we offer a combination of one on one, remote training and support with veterans here, which is all US based all over the country, we also offer group lessons. So that’s become a fun activity in a way to teach people as well as you know, keep them engaged. And then we have a growing library of on demand content, so that, you know, for people who want to sort of self drive through that library is available with hundreds of how to guides videos, and you know, for people who need those quick reminders, they can do that, because we found that not everyone, you know, learns in the same way. And so they need to learn at their own pace. But definitely being able to be virtual, and all over the country now has really helped us scale.

Michael Hughes 06:57
And I gotta say, you know, when you look at just society and how it kind of, you know, layers technology against older people, I mean, the things that I generally, you know, we generally see are you know, the befuddled older person trying to use the Alexa I remember actually centering, let people keep sending this to me to Saturday Night Live Alexis over, it was actually kind of funny. And you’ll see that the bifida or it’s kind of like BS, you know, oh, I’m wearing a VR headset, oh, my gosh, look, I’m living in the future with flying cars. And it just seems like, you know, the technology industry? I mean, with the age wave with everything going on right now. I mean, let me ask you this. What, what sort of misnomers Do you see out there when it comes to older people that say, over the age of 75, and their ability to acclimate and use new technology?

Liz Hamburg 07:53
Well, first of all, I would say it’s not a one size fits all, you know, we have people that are incredibly sophisticated, you know, former professors of technology, and they’re great, and they just need to learn how to use some new app or download something new. But we also work with people who are terrified of their technology, very smart, you know, very sophisticated, accomplished people who have a real visceral reaction, you know, they’ve said, my heart starts beating, you know, my hands are shaking. And I don’t know, if you saw there was a Pew research study that came out several years ago. Now, that said, almost 75% of older adults are frustrated by an upgrade of their technology, and very often need someone, help them set it up and show them how to use it. But the good news is that if you do set it up and show them how to use it, you know, then they’re off to the races. And so we have really seen that with the right training, and with the right support, people can get really comfortable with their technology and get excited actually about, you know, the window, that it opens to the world.

Michael Hughes 08:56
Let’s talk a little bit of those those outcomes. You know it because you’re right. I mean, I think, first of all, you know, I like to say that a lot of the people we’re seeing, at least in the United Church homes who we serve, may have been people that have retired and let’s say the late 2000s. And what was around in the late 2000s, the internet, smartphones, you know, things like that. So these are not people aren’t just naive about technology in general. But the Pew study is really interesting, because it’s I don’t know what happens, you know, as we get older, I mean, I know that for myself, new things come at me, they come at us faster. You know, people like to slow down, by the way. Hello to my mother, who’s one of them. There’s apparently my biggest fan on this podcast, who told me when I visited last week, he did please slow down your speech. So even moms and white too fast. So that’s the thing bit for this thing. It all kind of comes to us so quickly. But you know what, why is it so important though, to make sure that older adults you know, Have these connections out, you know, have this comfort with technology. And what sort of benefits have you seen once people are connected and are able to use these things?

Liz Hamburg 10:09
Well, we’ve seen tremendous benefits. And we’ve also seen the world changed, I was just with a neighbor of ours who’s 92 years old, still actively working, he actually installed his own new air conditioner, which was amazing. We’re like, don’t lift that thing, you know. But he measured everything, and he installed it. And it happened to be the same one that I recently bought, and it comes with an app. So you can download the app and turn your air conditioner on or off or adjust the temperature from, you know, anywhere in the world. And so here’s this very smart, sophisticated man still working. But you know, I had to help him download the app and show him how to turn his air conditioner off and on. And so I think that the world is really changing, whether it’s, you know, medical, telehealth visits or accessing your medical records, you know, paying your bills, online, cars, you know, we had another neighbor, also in her late 80s, who just bought a new car, and she’s like, it’s driving me crazy, I don’t know how to turn the air conditioner off and on, there’s no AC button anymore, you know, you have to go to the menu and use the mouse. And so I think that all of this is saying that technology is here to stay. And it’s trying to make people’s lives better, or easier. But there is a barrier, because you have to learn and you have to download, and you have to remember another password. And so I think that we’ve seen, I know that we’ve seen tremendous benefits of being able to use technology, to improve health outcomes to improve lives to decrease social isolation. But at the same time, you’ve got to, you know, it’s not because people are stupid, or, you know, even necessarily, you know, not technically savvy, but so many of us need that help, to just be able to understand new things,

Michael Hughes 11:52
I’m guessing that you don’t get the sense that the folks that are in charge of making new devices or technologies or so on, you know, include people over the age of 75, just for example, in their user groups, you know, when they’re doing their design work for UX design, things like that.

Liz Hamburg 12:09
It’s kind of unbelievable, you know, that’s one of the things we have a ton of data. And you know, if anyone out there is listening, whether you’re, you know, Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, we’ve got tremendous data on, you know, what people are calling us about? And you’re absolutely right, I don’t know, if you’ve seen the new, you know, Apple TV remote, it’s very sleek, but I had to look around for you know, there’s a voice button that you can push to say, you know, Hey, open this movie, or play this song, or whatever it is, and they put it on the side with a teeny tiny little very slim thing and barely looks like, you know, the symbol is not even a microphone, and I had trouble finding it. And once I found it, you know, explaining to a client, okay, it’s there, and you have to push the button. And I mean, it was literally almost impossible. And so what, you know, they’re trying to make things sleeker and sleeker. But at the same time, it’s becoming more and more complicated to actually learn how to use

Michael Hughes 13:03
and it is kind of, you know, aimlessness feet when you think about it, because, you know, we’re thinking about, you know, our, you know, our bodies evolving and, you know, grip strength. And even for people who may have, you know, at any age, we’d have functional limitations. You know, that’s why, you know, Churchill’s really does want to advocate for universal design work where, you know, if you design for the extreme cases, and the middle usually takes care of itself. And that’s what sort of your with anything? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Liz Hamburg 13:31
Absolutely. I mean, one of the things that our team has learned, you know, over the last few years is that older people’s fingerprints, you know, and if you’re using touchpad, sometimes it literally doesn’t work for some weird, well, not weird, but whatever physiological reason. Your, your grip, you know, gets sort of rubbed off, right, so that your ability to use touchscreens becomes more complicated. You know, and so, we never knew that before. But you know, now we keep telling people, you know, touch this button or swipe here, and it’s literally not working, it’s almost like you have like water on your hands, if you’ve ever tried to use your phone, you know, when your hands are a little bit wet. So those are the kinds of things that we’re trying to help people, you know, overcome. But these are real, you know, physiological challenges to using technology.

Michael Hughes 14:22
Wow. Well, but I mean, but then once the gap is, I mean, I never knew that about the about fingerprints grip, and that’s fascinating. And we sort of get into this idea of digital equity, I just want to, you know, just mentioned that, you know, no recording now in August of 2023 we’re at the cusp of a lot of the money that the jobs and infrastructure act is putting into the economy is gonna be made available. And the vast majority of that is going to you know, rural internet broadband connectivity and things like that, you know, you don’t have to drive to McDonald’s parking lot to do your homework anymore. But there is money carved aside for digital equity programs, we know that their term elderly, you know, residents in affordable housing, those are all groups that could benefit. And I know that from the studies that we’ve seen, you know, when people do have access to digital connectivity, you know, there are benefits in terms of the social connection. But interestingly, you know, the studies have shown an improvement in self care activity, which is so, so important for positive lifestyle and positive health outcomes. So, I mean, the work that you’re doing to foster that use of tech is so important. But to bring that to life, I mean, let’s, let me just maybe put a use case to you. Okay, let’s say that I would like to give a gift of, you know, a new iPhone or something like that to my dad? And how should I think about? And I know, everybody’s different, but in general, like, how would you support somebody and just maybe just discovering something like this for the very first time? And, and just really, you know, feeling good about diving in and using it?

Liz Hamburg 16:15
Yeah, that’s a great question. And we do a lot of work with people using new devices, for the first time, a lot of smartphones, a lot of tablets. So, you know, we usually send a how to guide. So we have sort of proprietary how to guides that are easy to read, in a larger font, very simple step by step instructions with pictures. And, you know, we’ll usually send that advance so they can print that out, or follow along. And, you know, the first thing that we’ll do is like, show them where the on off switches and where the volume button is, you know, so they’re very simple things that, you know, you kind of assume people know, but you know, very often, especially with the iPhone, half the time I forget how to turn it off and on, you know, you’ve got to push both buttons, you’ve got to hold it down, I push the wrong button, you know, is it the top one, the bottom one? So, you know, that’s step number one is learn how to turn that thing off, learn where the volume button is, you know, next step is? What do you like to do? You know, do you like to play cards? Do you like to, you know, have video chats? Or would you like to have video chats with your family? You know, do you take photos. So, you know, let’s find some things that are going to excite you, that you may not know you can do with your technology, whether that’s you know, playing bridge with friends, or Scrabble or backgammon, or whatever games you like to play with friends who may not be living in the same area or family members, there are ways to kind of get people excited, and engaged. And then the other thing is adjust for any accessibility needs. So I mentioned, you know, my dad, with the hearing aids, you know, connect hearing aids, if you need that, adjust the font size, or the screen contrast, if you need that, and really make sure that it’s accessible. And so, you know, those are really the first few things that that I would do. And then you know, the other thing is, if you ask an older adult, or really anyone, do you need, you know, an iPad or a tablet? The answer is, you know, no, why do I need that I’ve lived, you know, 80 something years without it? I can, I don’t need it. But if you say, Would you like to play cards with your best friend who lives in another state? Or would you like to, you know, see your granddaughter’s graduation that you can’t physically get to, if you can come up with a purpose, that technology is good for, then it opens up a window to being able to see the benefits of using it.

Michael Hughes 18:34
Oh, context really matters, right? Absolutely. Yeah. And I guess also quick wins. If you I know that I’m more likely to use something if I if it just offers me an immediate benefit. And, you know, something that’s really meaningful to me?

Liz Hamburg 18:49
Yeah, no, that’s right. And then you know, the other thing is, make sure that their support, so, you know, they may be embarrassed to call you or to call their grandchildren. And so being able to, you know, that is one of the benefits of can do or, you know, a service like that, is that, you know, if they have, they feel like there’s a number they can call, there’s someone who they can reach out to when they hit a wall, you know, then they’re not embarrassed because what ends up happening a lot is, you know, a kid will give a device to a family member, and then that thing will sit in a box, you know, for forever sometimes because they don’t feel like they have the strength or the support to be able to really figure it out.

Michael Hughes 19:28
So, you know, there’s technologies, I guess, in the world of technology, there’s technologies that are very popular Alexa, Apple Watches, you got obviously you know, tablets, you know, computer anything you can think about and then there is this world of technology that seems like it’s more dedicated for seniors, you know, senior robots or senior companion. Where have you seen those? Where do you think that lands with older people?

Liz Hamburg 19:56
Yeah, I mean, I think there’s some really innovative, amazing thing robot adds, you know, pets, grand pads, you know, devices that are very simple and to Well, I mean, we are supportive of anything that improves people’s lives. But I will say that typically, those kind of devices or, you know, technologies are designed for people with cognitive disabilities, you know, cognitive decline. And so for the average person, the average older person, we really see that they like to use or prefer to use their own devices, so they prefer to use a tablet, or a phone or computer and then put an app or something on that, to be able to improve, you know, their experiences, but they don’t want to have two or three devices. You know, and I mean, I just had this conversation with someone where they need to monitor, you know, their, to check for AFib and, you know, monitor their heart rate. And so, you know, the question was, do we get an Apple Watch, or do we get this you know, newfangled device that, that will measure it, but you guys stick your fingers in it, you’ve got to remember to charge it, you know, it’s another device. And so, you know, we’re Apple is really winning in a lot of these cases is, it’s a one, you know, one shop, one size fits all, that does a lot of different things. And so it may not be perfect, but you don’t have to remember to charge something else, or, you know, take something else out or have something sit on your counter. And so that’s really, what we’re seeing is, of course, if you need a, you know, remote patient monitoring device that’s just for measuring your blood pressure or doing all that you if your doctor says you need it, but if you can have an app that is off of your phone, or your tablet, there’s a better likelihood that you’re going to use it, and remember to keep it charged.

Michael Hughes 21:45
That’s really good feedback, you know, just what I’ve what I’ve been thinking about is, you know, yeah, you know, you have maybe specialty devices, you know, they’re good for a specific purpose. But you may, it may be sort of a, you know, you’re not going to have the broad based appeal, sort of more of a closed circle than other things. And then I’m just thinking about man, everything is just getting so fragmented these days, you know, we’re just yearning for just a common platform. I mean, whether it be, you know, social media, you know, now we have threads we had it was with Twitter, and blue sky, and Mastodon, and all these other sorts of things that may or may not work out. And then just with streaming services, you know, I’ve got Apple, I’ve got Hulu, you’ve got Roku, you’ve got all of these different things for different shows. You know, I mean, I think everyone’s feeling it, you know, space is seems like a universal, not just people that might be older right?

Liz Hamburg 22:38
Now, that’s right. And the streaming services are a great example, you know, I have you started watching more and more on my iPad, even more than my television, because by the time I have, you know, my three remotes lined up, and I turn on the TV, and I turn off the cable, and I switch to the source, and I turn on the Apple TV. And to your point, I’ve completely forgotten, you know, what, if it’s on Hulu, or Apple TV, or Netflix or, and then you know, it takes too long, it’s much easier to go to my iPad, and just, you know, push one button at this point. So I think you’re right, that, you know, there’s so many options, which is great. But streamlining is really critical, unless, of course, and I will say huge caveat, if someone has, you know, cognitive decline, or some kind of, you know, limitation, there are wonderful hardware, and, you know, we’ll talk about hardware, because the software can really go on anything, but if you need to have a standalone device, like a grand pad, or you know, like something that is going to, you know, monitor something very specific, then 100%, you know, we’re all in favor of that.

Michael Hughes 23:37
And, you know, I mean, this is just it’s, I mean, I can see into my own future where, you know, and God willing, I’m going to be able to, you know, live into my 80s and 90s. But I can just see that there’s going to be I mean, I think this is just gonna be universal, there’s going to be something in the future that comes out, there’s gonna be something in the future, you know, I may be disassociated from, you know, what I use technology for, because I’m in a different stage in my life, you know, maybe they work doesn’t matter as much. But new things come up all the time. You know, and I just have to, and as new things come up, there’s also benefits and there’s huge dangers, you open yourself up to a whole bunch of earrings. New technology means a whole new bunch of scams. And just for listeners, I encourage folks to listen to a previous podcast with Cameron house and careful we talk about scams and fraud. But I mean, that certainly has to be part of your work. What does it mean? So it’s almost like there’s this concept of always trying to be a little bit of savvy around technology, you know, what are what are some good practices as we sort of, you know, encounter these new things in general to kind of be savvy to be purposeful to be excited, but but also careful at the same time.

Liz Hamburg 24:49
Well, thank you for bringing that up. That’s a really important point. So safety and security is our number one concern. I mean, from our perspective, all of our tech considerations are US based their background check. The reference check, you know, we record calls for quality control, we can go back, you know, if there’s ever God forbid an issue. So, you know, that’s number one. Number two is we have really great, I think, great, and we’re getting great feedback on classes on staying safe online. So we do these really fun interactive games, which I should have brought to test you because I’ve gotten a few wrong, where you’ll see an email and say, you know, is this real? Or is this a scam, and you have to really dig in to understand, you know, you have to right click and see that this is not the you know, whether it’s staples.com is not really staples, that’s calm and staples DOT, you know, xyz.com. And so there are really important things to look for, to make sure that you’re not being scammed. I mean, we just got a call over the weekend from a client that said, Oh, my God, you know, I just got malware on my computer, you know, what do we do? So we have the safety and prevention piece of it. And then we also are able to help people, when they unfortunately do click on the wrong thing, or, you know, they get the phone call from someone saying over Microsoft, you need to let us into your device. So we try to do preventive and prophylactic work. And then we also were there to clean things up. But it’s becoming for sure. More and more of an issue.

Michael Hughes 26:12
Yeah. And now that we’re getting into more AI enabled chat systems and things like that, you know, the ability to connect with people at scale and connect cheap, more a more inexpensively and all that is concerning. And but I would guess maybe that there’s a, maybe there’s a bit of a through line here with, you know, technologies. It’s more about how the interaction makes you feel, right. I mean, if suddenly you feel scared, if something makes you feel like you have to do something right away. If something is maybe too good to be if you get excited about something. I mean, if things are just kind of just out of the ordinary. I mean, that’s, I mean, I know there’s a whole bunch of scams that play on your just day to day. But I know that, you know, that’s often pretty telling, right? Is it just something just makes you feel like you have to act urgently on something?

Liz Hamburg 27:05
Yeah, absolutely. You know, in the phone call, where it’s your where the IRS or you know, your grandson, I mean, those are kind of old time scams that people are still reacting to, you know, the flip side is like, we have a partnership with a wonderful health plan in New York, you know, called health first. And so we do outreach calls to say, hey, we’re a partner of health first, you know, you can get free tech support and training, if you’re a health first member. And that word free, you know, I’ve done a few calls myself to test things out, and I had one guy say, it’s free, that’s too good to be true. And he hung up on me which, you know, which is actually right. Changed our script to say, you know, we never I tell our team don’t ever say free, because that is a trigger word, you know. And so it’s good, he was trained to well, because he, you know, he actually didn’t take the service that would have been beneficial to him. But it is a good reminder that if someone calls you and says, Oh, you’re getting something for free, you know, call us or let us into your computer, you really should not typically be doing that. Well, that

Michael Hughes 28:06
it’s also good to know that health providers health plans are starting to see the advantages of technology training, you know, for their members, and I’m guessing that the plan you mentioned is maybe also seeing this relation between increased digital literacy and improvement in in health outcomes, I guess, right?

Liz Hamburg 28:26
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. It’s very important to and we’ve been, you know, with some very innovative plans and hospital systems as well, who we’re working with. And then you may have seen the news that came out in April around the Center for Medicare and Medicaid, US CMS, which just came out with a new requirement, in fact, for all Medicare Advantage plans to offer digital health literacy training for all of their members. And so, you know, that’s been a very exciting recognition for us that the health plans and particularly a are going to have to cover this because it is a game changer for people to make sure that they have, you know, the digital literacy training, to get on to telemedicine visits to research their health care to communicate with their doctor, as well as just you know, generally if we think about social determinants of health, you know, social isolation is a big one. And so that’s something that the plans are looking at very closely.

Michael Hughes 29:25
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, you know, in every one of our podcasts, we like to end it with kind of asking our guests three questions about their own perspective on aging. And thanks for being open to that. But I think before we break, is there anything else any other advice or tips or anything that you’d like to say about it? If you’re supporting somebody who may be trying to build new digital skills? Or are you you are seeking them out? What would be sort of the advice you always give?

Liz Hamburg 29:57
Yeah, I mean, I think that if you’re never too old To learn, you know, first of all, I think you need to meet people where they are. And, you know, the other thing I didn’t mention, but we take very seriously is use non technical jargon. You know, don’t assume that if you say open a browser window, and someone has no idea what a browser is, you know, so you need to start with the very, very, very basics. And then, you know, ultimately, it is that people can learn and can get excited about their technology. And you said it, right, you know, small wins are really great. So if you can get someone to, you know, send their first text or get their first email, or you know, do something where they can, you know, search for an old friend online, who they haven’t seen in 50 years, you know, those are really exciting things that, then get the wheels going to, you know, to want to do more. And we saw that with that, a client who had a Samsung watch, and she bought it for fall detection. And then, you know, the minute we set up the fall detection, she’s like, now what about sleep issues, you know, and so she started, you know, getting more and more excited about all the potential when she got over the initial hump.

Michael Hughes 31:02
That’s awesome. Well, Liz, again, thanks for, you know, you know, being a guest on our podcast. Oh, and real quick, before we get into our ending questions, where can we find you went in can do is it can do.com? Or how do you spell that?

Liz Hamburg 31:16
ca n, d, O two O. So I can do like, you can do it. But with an extra Oh, candy tech.com, ca n d. O T ch.com. Our phone number is 646-758-6606. We still have real people in the US answering the phone, if you want to call and you can also always chat with us online. Or you can drop an email if you’re an enterprise, and we do work with health plans with senior living communities, as well as directly with consumers. And you can reach us through gist partners at can do tech.com If you have a question.

Michael Hughes 31:52
That’s awesome. Right? Okay, can do tech.com? Right. Okay, our three questions. So question number one, was when you think about how you’ve aged? What do you think has changed about you or grown with you that you’ve really liked about yourself?

Liz Hamburg 32:10
Well, you know, it’s been interesting, as I’ve been an entrepreneur for many years, and I think that I’ve gained the confidence, and I’ve gained an attitude of I don’t care so much about what other people think so, you know, obviously, I want people that like me, and like my business is that I think there’s a sense of not being as worried about pleasing everyone, and sort of knowing, you know, trusting your instinct and trusting your gut.

Michael Hughes 32:37
That’s awesome. And I think I said this on another, I think another podcast, guests express something along those lines. But I think it was something I remember something that I think it was like Ann Landers or somebody said about, you know, when you’re in your 20s, you’re really concerned about what other people think of you, when you’re in your 40s. You don’t care about whether what other people think of you. And then when you get to your 60s, you realize they weren’t even thinking about you at all.

Liz Hamburg 33:00
So I love that, that that’s yeah, and the other thing I will say is the world is very small. So be very careful. Treat people with respect and dignity, treat people the way you would like to be treated. Because you never know, I was just with someone over the weekend. And someone came up to her and said, we were on jury duty together 10 years ago, and she was like, what I don’t remember. But you know, so people pop up in all different areas of your life, and you want to make sure that you know that you’re not doing something that’s going to come back to haunt you.

Michael Hughes 33:36
That’s so important. Yeah. And the platinum rule rule, you know, treat others as they would like to be treated, right. Yeah, absolutely. Right. Okay, so question number two, what has surprised you most about yourself, as you’ve age,

Liz Hamburg 33:50
I would say kind of, again, on similar lines, that, you know, as much as every once in a while, I think, well, maybe I’m not an entrepreneur, you know, maybe I should go the corporate route. This, you know, it’s such a hard, tough road, right? Every business you start, there’s ups and downs, and there’s great moments, and then there’s you know, and I would say that I’ve come to realize that at the end of the day, you know, I’m an entrepreneur, and I love starting things. I love that energy and excitement of you know, having that blank piece of paper and figuring it all out and then seeing the, you know, the results and building a team. And that’s been exciting to me. And ultimately, that’s, you know, that’s what I love. Wonderful.

Michael Hughes 34:28
That is so great. And lastly, question number three, is there someone that you’ve met, or someone that’s been in your life that has really set a good example for you and aging? You know, someone that has inspired you to what we call your age with abundance?

Liz Hamburg 34:44
Yeah. Yeah, you know, so I would say, my mom and her friends, my mother is going to be 88 next week. She would probably not want to that publicize too much, but I keep telling her she should be proud of it. She’s still working. She’s right. At a broadcaster, and she’s still on the air, and she’s now podcasting herself and doing all sorts of events and everything. And she just has an incredible, incredible energy. And she’s surrounded by by people who are still working, I managed our I mentioned our 92 year old neighbor, who’s still working and actively traveling. And there’s a whole group of people who are, you know, we’re just talking this week, and I would call them super agers, you know, when they’re in their late 80s, early 90s. Still working, still traveling is still extremely vibrant, you know, contributing to society, but also really enjoying their life. And so I do think people age, you know, at all different levels. And we work a lot with senior living, you know, and there are people that need that extra support. But there are people that are really inspirational where they have more energy, you know, frankly, than I do, and, and they’re really an inspiration to me.

Michael Hughes 35:54
That’s wonderful. That’s what Oh, and would it be okay, what would you give a club for your mom’s podcast?

Liz Hamburg 36:01
Sure. Well, she’s, it’s Joan Hamburg. She’s on W ABC Radio in New York. So it’s 770 W. ABC, and she’s on you know, you can find her on gist on podcast at John Hamburg or through the ABC. I think it’s W Abc New york.com.

Michael Hughes 36:16
That’s awesome. Well, listen, thank you so much for answering this. But thank you so much for just a great and very informative. You know, session here on our podcast. Thank you for giving your time, your advice. And thank you to our listeners, for listening to this episode of The Art of aging, which is part of the abundant aging podcast series we met at church homes, and we want to hear from you. What is your relationship with technology? Like, you know, what challenges have you experienced when acclimating to technology or using the technology? And what subjects do you suggest for future episodes of this show? Please send your thoughts at abundant aging podcast.com You can also give us feedback when you visit the roof frost Parker Center website at United Church homes.org/parker-center. And I mentioned our annual symposium that happens in October, our 2023 symposium is around and being ageism. And Liz again, tell us again where we can find you.

Liz Hamburg 37:14
i You can reach me at partners at Candy tech.com ca n d o tech.com. And I would be delighted to speak to any of you and thank you, Mike. It’s been great. I really appreciate this opportunity that continue to spread the word and as we like to say you can do it and we can help. So we really believe that with the right training and support anyone can learn how to use their technology.

Michael Hughes 37:37
That is wonderful. You can do it. Thank you for listening, and we’ll see you next time.