MY PARENTS ARE both in their seventies. Dad treats mobile phones like they’re radioactive waste, but mum is remarkably tech-savvy – and not just, dare I say it, ‘for her age’.

Still, as year-end comes around and mandatory admin needs doing, I’ve watched her confidence crumble as she grapples with online systems that are difficult to navigate for even the most digitally native amongst us.

Whether it’s managing taxes and pensions, submitting health expenses, or booking an NCT – many essential services are now digital by default and leaving many older people feeling locked out of their own lives. The problem isn’t that they can’t adapt; it’s that the rest of the world hasn’t bothered to help them make the transition.

This systemic failure is compounded by a deep-seated cultural hypocrisy. On social media, I’ve seen older people patronised for content – like when they’re photographed, without permission, eating dinner alone in a restaurant.

Yet, when a loved one asks for help navigating technology, I have seen them met with eye-rolling and impatience, or infantilised by the very helplines being paid to support. This flip from affection to irritation turns a simple request into humiliation and reinforces the cruel stereotype that they’re a burden for needing support.

To make matters worse, essential websites are often fundamentally unfit for purpose – portals crash repeatedly, demand specific browsers to work, or log users out after a matter of........

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