The reality is that people decline as they age. My grandmother can’t do the same things that she used to. She doesn’t have dementia, just an ordinary (or even better than usual) level of decline. But it means that tasks that she once accomplished easily are no longer that easy.
It also takes longer to learn new things. With everything auto-updating now, it’s almost impossible to have a static system. So people spend all of their limited ability to absorb new knowledge just keeping up with the required changes. Adding new things on top of that is not a good idea.
In addition to just general cognitive decline in terms of capacity, older people’s minds become less flexible, more calcified. You lose at least some willingness and ability to learn completely new concepts.
My 81-year-old mother adapted to using a tablet years ago. (An Amazon Fire, unfortunately.) But she will complain that an app disappeared, or doesn’t work anymore, and you can explain how to fix that problem, but she either won’t understand or will forget the process from one time to the next.
She used to take pride in not being one of those “I can’t even set the clock on the VCR!” people. She would read the manual, do some educated trial and error, etc. But it’s like her brain has closed up shop on learning now.
One of the big advantages of a tablet is it is an extension of the knowledge and experience learned using a smart phone. If your Mom does not use a smartphone, then I don’t think a tablet is a good place to start. Stick with something that at least has the same input peripherals as what she’s used to.
Related to above, many seniors have been using smart phones for 10+ years, so adjusting to a tablet is pretty easy for them. I do personally interact with several who frequently use (have used) tablets, but it certainly isn’t for everyone.
Yes, I see this same exact thing. Young people it tends not to be quite as malicious of ignorance. A large part of that may be my bias, in that I’m interacting with students who must learn certain computer things in order to study in their chosen field.
30 years ago I was always amazed at how people who had trouble with computers could learn, all on their own, how to use binhex and uudecode to get porn off Usenet. Given enough motivation…
Reading this reminded me that I need to continue my plan to not reveal that I know something about computers to the rest of the occupants of God’s Waiting Room and Retirement Community. Most of the geezers here know enough to get by and take care of their business online, but I know that there is a cadre of those whose knowledge stops at “turn on the power”. At present, there is a young high school student who volunteers to come in once a week and help people with their computer/cell issues. It’s not a role I aspire to.
Heh, that was my situation several years ago. I had just retired from a career in IT, and I was having lunch with my newly-widowed Mom at the retirement community where she lived. One of her table-mates asked me what I did for a living, and I told him I had recently retired from a career dealing with computers. He immediately told me that I could be the support person for all the residents who had PCs, because everybody could use some assistance. I politely declined the offer.
I remember in the early 90’s when our office finally get email and voicemail. Our company used Lotus products at that time. So our email program was CCmail. One of the top people in our office of 40 was in his late 50’s at the time and he announced to the whole office, that if anyone needed to leave him a note or message, they better not use that CCmail shit, just leave a written note on his desk!
I believe he’s still alive in his late 80’s now. I highly doubt he got around to much technology adoption.
Update: we’ve been trying to use TeamViewer. She had a friend help her launch Chrome and download the TeamViewer quick support app, and for a short time I had control of her computer, a small miracle. It is absolutely infested with Norton, which is hobbling everything she tries to do with popups, ads, and Norton search windows. In the process of me trying to uninstall it, I accidentally closed our session. The friend now gone, I think I got her to launch Chrome and type in the TeamViewer session URL, but after she clicked Enter, all that happened was a new Norton window popped up, and on my end, the TeamViewer session showed she never joined of course.
I’m not confident that she did type in the TeamViewer session URL in a browser window. She probably typed it in the Norton search window; at any rate the process of typing a URL is very nearly beyond her. It took quite a long time for her to locate the colon key, and for a long time she was typing apostrophes for colons.
Guys, I fear her computer-using days are simply behind her. It’s so sad. I’ll bring a new computer next time I visit, and I’ll have it custom-built with Win10 and absolutely no crapware. But we’re not going to be able to have any more remote sessions, I don’t think, unless the friend comes back.
My sister needed to get a home laptop when she retired, and she ended up with a Chromebook. It’s fine for her browsing, shopping, and bill paying needs. And mostly she hasn’t had major issues. The biggest problem she’s had has been remembering how to power off completely when it freezes, but that’s only happened about 3 times in five years.
I use TeamViewer to support my mother. In her case, there is an icon for TeamViewer on the desktop so all she has to do is click on it (rather than having to enter a URL) and tell me the passcode (the remote ID thing is always the same). The trouble she has is that there are many (mostly useless) icons on her desktop so it takes time for her to find the TeamViewer one.
One thing that might help is to get a keyboard that has customizable buttons for launching apps. This will typically be for things like email, browser, media player, etc. The buttons are customizable. You can program one of the buttons to run teamviewer. Put a sticker on that button so she knows which one to press. For example, the buttons on the top right are the application buttons:
Be sure to get a wired keyboard. It seems most keyboards these days are wireless, but that means there’s a battery that will need to be recharged. A wired one will be more reliable since you won’t have to worry about a battery running down.
I’ll add one thing here that may have already been mentioned: I’d get a computer that is not a touch-screen. Many older people have unsteady hands or difficulty with hand/eye coordination. I use a wireless mouse because I just don’t like touch screens.
As many of you know, I just turned 87. I can use my computer pretty well (although I just fanned on trying to rip some CDs. The advice is to load Windows Media Player and click on the rip button–WHAT RIP BUTTON?) but I completely cannot do much with my smart phone. I have not figured out how to send or read a text message. I can barely manage to make a phone call most of the time. And every time some kid in Quebec is kidnapped, I get an endless series of alerts that I cannot turn off. Give me back my flip phone.
Some senior centers have volunteers available to help people with computers. You might contact the Senior Affairs office where she lives and see what they have in their area. Alternatively, there may be local companies with mobile tech support who could send someone out.
I bought a Chromebook laptop for my dad, and set it up for him (which required also creating a Google account for him). I pre-set the Chrome browser with a set of links to the website for the local newspaper, and a couple of other newspapers (and set all of those up with my own logins), then set it so that those tabs would automatically open up when he opens Chrome. I also got a wired mouse for him to use (which I figured would be easier for him to use than the trackpad).
I put all of the step-by-step details on how to use it into a series of printouts (with pictures), and put all of that into a three-ring binder, and gave him the whole setup as a Christmas present. I spent an hour or so with him over Christmas, walking him through using it, and making sure he could see and do it all.
And, the good news is, it worked! He’s using it pretty much every day, and feels like he’s got better access to the news than he used to have.
The friend now gone, I think I got her to launch Chrome and type in the TeamViewer session URL, but after she clicked Enter, all that happened was a new Norton window popped up, and on my end, the TeamViewer session showed she never joined of course.
