--- title: "Senior Citizens Are Using an App to Order “On-Demand Grandkids”" description: "An app called Join Papa lets senior citizens summon \"on-demand grandkids,\" much like you'd order food on Seamless or a car on Uber." date: "2019-02-24" modified: "2019-02-24" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/senior-citizen-app-grandkids" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "apps" - "loneliness" - "seniors" - "Uber" --- # Senior Citizens Are Using an App to Order “On-Demand Grandkids” ![An app called Join Papa lets senior citizens summon "on-demand grandkids," much like you'd order food on Seamless or a car on Uber.]() *\Image: Pexels\* ## On-Demand A [new story]() in the *Wall Street Journal* looks at how senior citizens are using technology to fight loneliness — including an app, called Join Papa, that they can use to summon "on-demand grandkids" like you'd order food on Seamless or a car on Uber. "They’re all very nice and, you know, I’ll converse with them and find out what they’re doing and studying and so forth," Marilyn Sumkin, age 87, told the newspaper. "It’s for me a very important service." ## Gig Economy Join Papa pays college-age young people $10 per hour to help seniors by shopping, doing housework, or just hanging out, according to the *WSJ* — but charges $17 and pockets the difference for the ersatz grandchildren. One insurer, Humana, has even experimented with a pilot program in Florida that includes ten hours of week on Join Papa near Tampa, according to the paper. ## Crushing Loneliness At its root, according to the *WSJ*, Join Pap is an effort to use to technology to fight the "ever-more lethal crisis of loneliness" among America's seniors — who now include tens of millions of rapidly-aging Baby Boomers. For some, the app-enabled human contact is crucial. Sumkin, the 87-year-old who discussed Join Papa with the *WSJ*, told the paper that the Join Papa gig workers were, along with a bi-weekly stretching class, were her only human contact. *Editor's note: an earlier version of this story misspelled the insurer "Humana." It has been updated.* **READ MORE:** [On-Demand Grandkids and Robot Pals to Keep Senior Loneliness at Bay]() \[*The Wall Street Journal*\] ***More on seniors:*** [Advances in Longevity Are Forcing Nations to Redefine “Elderly”]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()