My 78-year-old father refuses to use a smartphone because he says a landline is the only phone a person actually needs to answer. But he lives alone, and last winter he fell in the bathroom and lay there for four hours before a neighbor heard him. I bought him an emergency pendant with GPS and a fall sensor, and now I'm the one wondering if I've helped him or just watched him more closely. Does assistive technology for elderly people actually extend independence, or does it quietly turn family members into remote monitors who feel better about not being there?