The Tools Were Never the Problem

Sixty-nine dementia caregivers were asked what they needed. Fifty-three percent said access to resources. Not more apps. Access. Twenty-eight percent used something to track medications, in a group where nearly everyone manages medications. And not one of them used technology for emotional support, though the app stores are full of it.

The reflex in this category is to answer caregiver strain with more product. This survey suggests the strain is not a tooling gap at all: it is a fit gap, an awareness gap, and a cost gap wearing a tooling gap's clothes. Build something a caregiver cannot find, cannot afford, or cannot use at 2 a.m. with one hand, and it may as well not exist.

The researchers add a line worth keeping. The emotionally meaningful parts of caregiving should not be automated. The caregivers ranked expressed gratitude and moments of closeness at 72 percent, the highest in the survey. Those are not features. They are the reason anyone stays.

Software can carry the logistics. It should not try to carry the rest.