“Did it go through?”

This is the question I hear most often when a client goes to Safeway, Emporio Rulli, or Pet Food Express to practice using their newly set-up Apple Pay.

Often, there is a specific kind of stress that comes with the Wallet feature on iPhones and watches that Marin seniors use.

It’s the loss of the audible sounds of a cash register opening, cash being exchanged, and change being counted (except for the coins, which were dispensed by the coin machine 😊).

When you use physical money, your brain registers the transaction through touch and sight.

When you “tap” a phone or your watch, you are relying on a haptic buzz and a digital checkmark.

For many seniors, this lack of tangibility feels like a lack of security.

They grew up in a world where “possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

Giving up a physical credit card or cash feels like losing control.

There’s also the “performance” aspect.

Standing at a busy checkout line at Woodland Market, with a line of people behind you, trying to remember if you need to double-click the side button or look at the screen for FaceID, is a recipe for an elevated heart rate.

The challenge here is the “Safety Paradox.”

Statistically, Apple Pay is significantly more secure than swiping a physical card, but emotionally, it feels more vulnerable.

My job as a Senior Tech Tutor in Marin is to bridge that gap.

We practice “dry runs” where we might use the phone to pay for a small coffee when the shop isn’t busy.

We talk about how the phone encrypts the data.

But even with all the training, at the beginning I still advocate for having the physical credit card in pocket or purse, just in case.

Technology should be a convenience, not a source of public embarrassment.

We are moving toward a cashless society, but we must ensure we aren’t moving toward a “careless” one that ignores the comfort levels of its elder citizens in Marin.