Living . . .

With the way the technology is progressing I believe that the trend among the elderly to fall behind the times will continue for a while longer, but the generations of people who have mastered the new technologies will slow the pace significantly. I can see this having a snowball effect on several other aspects of gerontology issues. Once the older generations are savvy with the younger ones, I believe the will be more grounds for the naive to show respect instead of looking at senior citizens with pity. Now, these are generalizations, of course, and just my opinions on the matter, but reasonable nonetheless.
Addressing mental illness will always be a touchy subject and when combined with the issue of aging makes it even more unwelcome to the mainstream. I think that in order for good to be done in dealing with issues like depression among the elderly, people will have to figure how to care for people without controlling them. Regulating people's behaviors just because they happen to be in a nursing home is not the way to get positive results and I'm sure it's what contributes to people shutting down and giving up the things that used to make them who they were.
The sex issue is huge, and I think it's only huge because it makes some people uncomfortable. But, just as anyone who's procrastinated to the last possible moment knows, ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away, it just makes the work more overwhelming. Addressing the high rates of STDs among the elderly should be the first order of business and that would be easily done with just a little education; education that most people probably crave because it was never administered in their younger years. I can't predict if the sex ed. will ever take precedence or if the ignorance will perpetuate, but hopefully some proactive stance will be implemented.
If no issues are addressed then the ones present now will continue and worsen. Some other issues that could present themselves as time goes on might be similar to what's happening with the educational system in Idaho, just like the teachers be taken out of schools, actual people might be taken out of caregiving positions, in the form of cut-backs. It would be a shame to see nursing homes severely understaffed, it would also, probably, increase the rates of neglect and mistreatment.