I recently met with a client in Mill Valley who just wanted to take the ferry into the city for a museum exhibit.

In years gone by, she would have walked up to the window, handed over some cash, and received a paper ticket.

This time, she was met with digital reader for a Clipper card.

“Where do I get the app/card?”

“How do I install it on my phone?”

“How do I have the card pay for me?”

The “gate” wasn’t a physical turnstile at the ferry terminal; it was an app.

We are living in the era of the “Digital Gatekeeper.”

It’s the transition from a world of physical buttons and human interaction to a world where a smartphone is the mandatory “key” to public life.

Whether it’s the SMART train, a restaurant menu, or a MyChart health portal, the message being sent to our senior community is clear: If you don’t have the app (AND the requisite knowledge of how to properly use it), you don’t get the service.

For many seniors, this isn’t just about “learning a new trick.”

It’s about a fundamental erosion of autonomy and an inability to fully participate in a rapidly changed world.

When a simple task, like paying for a parking spot in San Rafael, requires downloading an app, creating an account, verifying an email, and linking a credit card, we have replaced a five-second physical action (dropping coins in a meter) with a five-minute (or much longer) digital ordeal.

This “App-ification” creates a real sense of “Digital Anxiety.”

I see it in the way my Senior Tech Tutor clients hold their phones (often with a gripped tension), concerned that one wrong tap will lock them out of the very thing they are trying to access.

The shift toward an “app-first” world isn’t going anywhere, but we have to recognize that “modern” doesn’t always mean “easier” for everyone.

For many of my clients, a smartphone is a tool they use to stay in touch with family and friends, not a digital swiss-army knife they want to use to navigate every second of their day.

My goal as a tech tutor isn’t to change how the world is designed, but to change how my older Marin neighbors feel when they encounter it.

Senior Tech Tutor Marin works with clients on the “muscle memory” of opening the camera, downloading the app, tapping the link, signing in to the account, and navigating these new interfaces with a sense of calm rather than dread.

It’s about making sure that the tech in your pocket serves you, rather than making you feel like you’re serving the tech.