As healthcare costs rise and we grow older, we find ourselves at an impossible impasse; jobs that provide dedicated healthcare to people who really need it are not desirable.
- Caregiving jobs are hard.
- They don't pay all that well (for how hard they are).
- They can be emotional.
- They can be pretty gross (I say this as a non-health professional. I know I couldn't hang).
- There are a lot of people who provide caregiving (for free) at home, so they don't want to do the same 'work' when they go to work.
So what are we going to do?
Perhaps the future of dedicated healthcare is going to be robot-based.
Our generation is very interested in the quantified lifestyle. We measure everything and we love it. We're used to turning to electronics to help us solve problems (just think about how many problems your GPS has solved for you).
We're getting used to robots performing surgery; sometimes people are intrigued and sometimes skeptical but enthusiasm, concern and skepticism are normal anytime we make a big leap in technology.
Helper robots are being used because we need them now. It's interesting to see how people react to them. Sometimes they feel comfortable bossing them around. Sometimes they just need them to look human.
As it stands right now depressed people use the internet more so will we become depressed if we rely on helper robots? Or will we experience joy by having the undivided attention of 'someone' we love.
