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Although she lives in Boston, my friend travels to Lowell several times a week to care for her elderly parents. Her phone alarm goes off periodically, no matter where she is, to remind her to make sure her mother has taken her medicine. She gets them to appointments, checks up on their medications, prepares their food, and discusses their treatment with multiple caretakers and specialists; but she cannot be there 24/7 and she worries about them. My own dear mother-in-law died four years ago after having a stroke in her apartment at an independent living facility for seniors.  When she didn’t come down for breakfast or lunch, a facility manager checked on her, but by then the damage from the stroke was too severe, and she was gone from us.  According to this recent article in the New York Times, new personal health technology could have saved my mother-in-law’s life, or at the very least, could help put my friend’s mind at ease regarding her parents’ care. As many of us live longer and have to face the inevitable health complications that go along with aging, perhaps these new technologies will allow us to “rage against the dying of the light,” a bit more.  If the technology—such as sensors noting you got out of bed and didn’t go anywhere prompting emergency personnel at your door—feels too Big Brotherish for you, consider it a tool to remain independent long “into that good night.” Anyway, it’s something to think about.