Virtual reality opens doors for older people to build closer connections
in real life
[December 26, 2025]
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) — Like many retirement communities, The Terraces
serves as a tranquil refuge for a nucleus of older people who no longer
can travel to faraway places or engage in bold adventures.
But they can still be thrust back to their days of wanderlust and
thrill-seeking whenever caretakers at the community in Los Gatos,
California, schedule a date for residents — many of whom are in their
80s and 90s — to take turns donning virtual reality headsets.
Within a matter of minutes, the headsets can transport them to Europe,
immerse them in the ocean depths or send them soaring on breathtaking
hang-gliding expeditions while they sit by each other. The selection of
VR programming was curated by Rendever, a company that has turned a
sometimes isolating form of technology into a catalyst for better
cognition and social connections in 800 retirement communities in the
United States and Canada.
A group of The Terraces residents who participated in a VR session
earlier this year found themselves paddling their arms alongside their
chairs as they swam with a pod of dolphins while watching one of
Rendever's 3D programs. “We got to go underwater and didn't even have to
hold our breath!” exclaimed 81-year-old Ginny Baird following the
virtual submersion.
During a session featuring a virtual ride in a hot-air balloon, one
resident gasped, “Oh my God!” Another shuddered, “It's hard to watch!”
The Rendever technology can also be used to virtually take older adults
back to the places where they grew up as children. For some, it will be
the first time they've seen their hometowns in decades.
A virtual trip to her childhood neighborhood in New York City's Queens
borough helped sell Sue Livingstone, 84, on the merits of the VR
technology even though she still is able to get out more often than many
residents of The Terraces, which is located in Silicon Valley about 55
miles south of San Francisco.
“It isn't just about being able to see it again, it's about all the
memories that it brings back,” Livingstone said. “There are a few people
living here who never really leave their comfort zones. But if you could
entice them to come down to try out a headset, they might find that they
really enjoy it.”
Adrian Marshall, The Terraces' community life director, said that once
word about a VR experience spreads from one resident to another, more of
the uninitiated typically become curious enough to try it out — even if
it means missing out on playing Mexican Train, a dominoes-like board
game that's popular in the community.
“It turns into a conversation starter for them. It really does connect
people,” Marshall said of Rendever's VR programming. “It helps create a
human bridge that makes them realize they share certain similarities and
interests. It turns the artificial world into reality.”
Rendever, a privately owned company based in Somerville, Massachusetts,
hopes to build upon its senior living platform with a recent grant from
the National Institutes of Health that will provide nearly $4.5 million
to study ways to reduce social isolation among seniors living at home
and their caregivers.
Some studies have found VR programming presented in a limited viewing
format can help older people maintain and improve cognitive functions,
burnish memories and foster social connections with their families and
fellow residents of care facilities. Experts say the technology may be
useful as an addition to and not a replacement for other activities.
“There is always a risk of too much screen time," Katherine “Kate”
Dupuis, a neuropsychologist and professor who studies aging issues at
Sheridan College in Canada, said. “But if you use it cautiously, with
meaning and purpose, it can be very helpful. It can be an opportunity
for the elderly to engage with someone and share a sense of wonder.”
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Mike Holtshouse and his father, Jim Holtshouse, watch video through
Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio
retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP
Photo/Terry Chea)
VR headsets may be an easier way for older people to interact with
technology instead of fumbling around with a smartphone or another
device that requires navigating buttons or other mechanisms, said
Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign who is examining the use of VR with older adults.
“The stereotypes that older adults aren’t willing to try new technology
needs to change because they are willing and want to adapt to
technologies that are meaningful to them,” Bhowmick said. "Besides
helping them to relieve stress, be entertained and connect with other
people, there is an intergenerational aspect that might help them build
their relationships with younger people who find out they use VR and
say, ‘Grandpa is cool!’"
Rendever CEO Kyle Rand's interest in helping his own grandmother deal
with the emotional and mental challenges of aging pushed him down a path
that led him to cofound the company in 2016 after studying
neuroengineering at Duke University.
“What really fascinates me about humans is just how much our brain
depends on social connection and how much we learn from others,” Rand
said. “A group of elderly residents who don't really know each other
that well can come together, spend 30 minutes in a VR experience
together and then find themselves sitting down to have lunch together
while continuing a conversation about the experience.”
It's a large enough market that another VR specialist, Dallas-based Mynd
Immersive, competes against Rendever with services tailored for senior
living communities.
Besides helping create social connections, the VR programming from both
Rendever and Mynd has been employed as a possible tool for potentially
slowing down the deleterious effects of dementia. That's how another
Silicon Valley retirement village, the Forum, sometimes uses the
technology.
Bob Rogallo, a Forum resident with dementia that has rendered him
speechless, seemed to be enjoying taking a virtual hike through Glacier
National Park in Montana as he nodded and smiled while celebrating his
83rd birthday with his wife of 61 years.
Sallie Rogallo, who doesn't have dementia, said the experience brought
back fond memories of the couple's visits to the same park during the
more than 30 years they spent cruising around the U.S. in their
recreational vehicle.
“It made me wish I was 30 years younger so I could do it again,” she
said of the virtual visit to Glacier. “This lets you get out of the same
environment and either go to a new place or visit places where you have
been.”
In another session at the Forum, 93-year-old Almut Schultz laughed with
delight while viewing a virtual classical music performance at the Red
Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and later seemed to want to play with a
puppy frolicking around in her VR headset.
“That was quite a session we had there,” Schultz said with a big grin
after she took off her headset and returned to reality.
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