How do you get our seniors to use tech? (kids, old, grandkids)
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I was introduced to a QR code the other day - I wasn't sure what it was and TG I downloaded it as I never got the promised email they said I would that contained it. I was able to open the file and take a pic of it with my phone to print the label at the PO. You learn something new everyday.
I just learned to text when we sold our home as that's how the real estate agent kept in contact. To me it's easier to just pick up a phone then fiddle with all these little buttons - it takes me twice as long to type it out then it does to just say it due to all the typing mistakes.
Oh, buying a house has become torturous in recent years, mostly due to Covid. Everything online. I want to read every line before I sign something but the second I sign one section, it pops to the next place to sign, and backing up is so frustrating cause it keeps wanting me to go back to where IT was not where I want to be. In this case, give me old fashioned paper documents any day of the week.
I’ve never ever seen it. Thank you for letting me know not to bother.
WhatsApp is great if you are travelling out of the country and need to stay in contact back home, as long as you have a WIFI connection at your hotel. However, it is owned by Facebook so how much can you trust it?
WhatsApp is great if you are travelling out of the country and need to stay in contact back home, as long as you have a WIFI connection at your hotel. However, it is owned by Facebook so how much can you trust it?
That's called "luddite," and it is a learning "disability," in the sense that some people are stubborn and afraid to use technology - have an aversion to it based on fear.
I would not consider this a "learning disability". One should be able to choose which technology they want to use and which they dont. My 98 year old aunt lives alone and only has a landline. She has a hard time getting around and a cell phone would make it so much easier for her, but she uses the landline as an opportunity to get up and move around. As far as other features on a smartphone, she really has no need for them. I am not anti technology; there is some technology I love and other technology I have no use for.
That's called "luddite," and it is a learning "disability," in the sense that some people are stubborn and afraid to use technology - have an aversion to it based on fear.
And some of us are smart enough to know that not all technology is good for us. I’ll use what I need or want to use. Example, Siri was an absolute PITA until I used her as a timer. That’s still all she’s good for in my opinion. But she’s good at that.
Ugh. I consider myself to be pretty tech savvy, and I do use my cell phone and watch every single day (connected). HOWEVER, they are fairly new ANDROIDS. Say it ain't so! Hey, they are the same operating system as my laptop, which I am on right now! LOL
My husband who was in his mid sixties, HATED his Apple phone, so he really resisted using it. He had to get one for work (now he wouldn't have to, but he's deceased), and still used his personal Android phone for personal use. Only used the Apple phone for work. Absolutely detested it.
I love my Android phone but I may eventually trade it in for an Apple, who knows. Meanwhile, they are both "smart phones." All it seems to mean now is that we are all 100 percent accessible all the time. Hey, I remember party lines, rotary phones, pay phones, all that jive! Also, records and record players (including Victrolas, though they were before my time), Atari's, and the old Mario Brothers, 8 track tape players, VCRs that cost a month's pay, Blockbuster, dial up internet, tape players and cassette tapes, CDs, you name it. Now my lap top, which is five years old, is older than dirt.
LAST PARAGRAPH. ^^^^ ALL of THAT.
Compared to our parents, we (those of us in our 60s) have learned SO MUCH.
The Silent Generation learned how to turn on a TV. An OBEDIENT TV not a smart a$$ TV that askes me if I am still watching. A TV with a knob. Our last TV at least had a button if we misplaced one of the remotes. Then later, a remote or a "clicker" as some called it. And they had ONE REMOTE not 3 or 4. A TV was just a radio with a picture! Or a small movie theater in your living room! How fun is that?
They just had to get used to color TV - or not. It wasn't forced on them. They already knew color from the movies. They learned how to drive automatic cars - or not and cars with air conditioners, automatic doors, windows - OR NOT. If they did not like or could not afford it, that was fine. The other was still available.
The key thing here is "or not". No one made fun of them. They were either thought of as less wealthy, thrifty or not interested in gadgets. They could keep their dial phones if they wanted.
When they lost party lines, I don't think anyone but the town gossip cried over that.
I am packing and cleaning and I found my little red Nokia flip phone. I felt sentimental. It served me well. It made phone calls. I had a camera to take pictures.
My kids shamed me into an Android about a decade ago. I got it as a Christmas Present I think I was phone shamed. I would have preferred something else. REALLY - anything else. A cashmere sweater. A few novels. A princess phone. Instead, Christmas day was a Teach In.
Not everyone was the AV Guy in High School. In fact, I don't recall ever aspiring to be that. Or study computers, much less deal with one every Computer Science was a major at my college, studied by serious, quiet, bespectacled (mostly) young men.
I had nothing against computers. Pong was a little boring, but we still had pin ball machines and juke boxes, and pool.
I figured the computer people would do computers things and the rest of us could use our regular cameras.
Did the OP ever ask if his parents wanted a an Android? Maybe they wouldn't mind a cell phone, but they do make ones with larger numbers and more simple functions.
Not everyone carries their phone around with them. Particularly women. We don't have pockets in all of our pants and almost none in skirts or dresses. It's not uncommon for me to leave mine on the coffee table - or in my purse. My husband's phone is always in his pocket.
At the end of the day, you are a caring adult child who is concerned with your parents. I get that.
Please check yourself though. Are you SURE that it doesn't annoy you that they are not thrilled or impressed with technology? They may just be prosaic about phones and not worry about missing a call because that happened some times.
Currently I call them every now and then to see how they are doing. But of course it would be nice to sometimes just sent them a WhatsApp... if they would respond (i.e. use their phones a little more often). My parents are 69 and 71.
Make a phone call.
Here's the scoop. Your parents are old. They have seen fads come and go and come and go. They're not interested in spending hours fiddly-dicking around with the tech fad du jour, that they'll just have to repeat the process in the next couple years.
Yes, you can teach the old dog new tricks, but keep in mind the old dog has knowledge and experience to assess each new trick, in the context of all the old tricks, and has the mental fortitude to decide whether or not to bother with the new trick.
We're 74 and retired. At first, my wife resisted using tech until she started getting Facetime calls placed from her 3 year old grand daughter.
That was an incentive to learn.
Now she's fine with it. If a 3 year old can do it....
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I think I was phone shamed. I would have preferred something else. REALLY - anything else. A cashmere sweater. A few novels. A princess phone. Instead, Christmas day was a Teach In. 
