Senior Planet: The Year in Review

Each year, we ask Tom Kamber, Executive Director of OATS (Older Adults Technology Services) from AARP to offer his thoughts on the year in Senior Planet.  Here’s his report.

Dear Friends, 

It’s tempting to look around and bemoan everything that’s wrong with the world. But at OATS and Senior Planet, we know that there are inspirational things being done by amazing people every day. Some small, some large – all important. For instance, this year… 

• Angie helped a total stranger save $50 on medication. 

• Debbie and Yuko became friends and launched a podcast that celebrates aging. 

• Dwight used google drive to digitize his favorite recipes – allowing him to donate over 50 cookbooks. 

• Mr. Zhang set up emergency notification on his smartwatch, it saved his life when he fell. 

All of these individuals are Senior Planet participants who have applied the skills they learned in class to help change the world around them. And they are not anomalies. I can’t tell you the number of times a participant has told me how they are using what they learned to help friends, family and neighbors solve their problems.  

It’s because of dedicated and generous community members like Angie, Debbie, Yuko, Dwight and Mr. Zhang that OATS reached new heights in 2024, with accomplishments including… 

• Older adults participated in Senior Planet classes over 600,000 times, a milestone that was shared nationally in AARP’s 2024 Achievements.  

• We launched a podcast, Aging Rewired, that covers the intersection of technology and aging. In each episode, host and older adult journalist Sheila Solomon welcomes guest speakers with unique perspectives on aging in the digital world.  

• The Senior Planet licensing program continues to work with local organizations across the country to offer our curriculum completely free of charge. We now work with 489 locations and 145 active partners! 

• AI has revolutionized the way we operate, but many seniors have yet to embrace this new tech. To bridge this new technological gap, we published a comprehensive Guide to AI, developed seven classes about how to integrate AI into daily life, and even received a grant from Open AI and Microsoft to support this work.  

• We expanded the type of programming offered to participants by launching the “Expert and Insights” series, bringing in a variety of experts to discuss topics from brain health, to genealogy, to decluttering, to dating at 50+.  

• Senior Planet curriculum kept expanding to meet today’s needs! We debuted 95 new live curriculum modules throughout the year. Topics cover everything from understanding Reddit, Online Genealogical Research, Understanding Internet Plans, AI & Disinformation, and much more!  
• While these new and exciting curriculum offerings have been of clear intrigue to participants, we also saw older adults engage in foundational classes throughout the year at strong numbers, making up 30.2% of all engagements. 

• And our expanded offerings didn’t stop at new class materials – we published 72 videos in 2024 and grew our subscribers on YouTube by 55%. Online visitors viewed our library of content 283,089 times (that’s a lot of eyeballs).  

• We got some seriously stellar press, such as coverage from TechCrunch, CBS New York, Next Avenue, and Business Insider, and we had an article published in Nonprofit Quarterly. We also held a Satellite Media Tour about using Tech for Travel that garnered 23,509,622 impressions. 

• We received awards including a Silver Telly Award, a Communicator Distinction Award, and two AVA Digital Awards for our work. 

• And finally, OATS from AARP celebrated 20 years of empowering older adults through technology! 

All of this is made possible because of our fearless and fervent community members. That’s why we chose “Accentuate the Positive” as our Giving Tuesday theme this year. Because we know, when people are given free access to the technology training they need, the good stuff doesn’t stop there. It keeps building.  

As we prepare to close out the year, I hope you can take a moment to celebrate these milestones with us, and if you choose to, donate to help keep them going. All of us at OATS are looking forward to another exciting year to come. Here’s to a healthy, secure, and connected new year! 

All of us at OATS are looking forward to another exciting year to come. Here’s to a healthy, secure, and connected new year!

Warmest regards,

Tom Kamber

Executive Director,
Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) from AARP

 

Tom Kamber is the executive director of Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) and Senior Planet from AARP.  He is a leading expert on aging and technology and is regularly featured in national media.