Okay, so my mother is older, in fact she’ll be 80 next year. She has a desktop computer which she bought at my urging, but doesn’t touch. She even took a basic computer class at a local adult school, but there were so many students that she got lost & all the helpers did was catch her screen up to the instructor without any personal assistance or guidance on how they got there. :rolleyes: I even got her enrolled in a senior class, which was much smaller and personalized, but it was cancelled for lack of enrollment. She thought this class would be interested. The next one was too far away so she gave up.
So, as you can see, she is willing, but it hasn’t worked out. My brother even worked for Apple for a time and **gave her **a MacBook for Christmas last year, but it only gets used when I’m visiting. Oh, sure, she enjoys catching up with her grandkids on Facebook, looking up celebrity gossip, or even playing Solitaire, but only when I’m “driving.”
Okay, thinks me, the iPad was made for people like her! Instead of trying to manipulate a mouse, she would only have to touch the screen! Now that one of her daily soaps is gone & has threatened to turn up online, and another is nearly there, I really want to get her online.
iPad fans – in your opinion is an iPad easier for the computer fearing/illiterate? The brother who formerly worked for Apple says he’ll trade her his iPad (original version) if she gives up the MacBook. Is that a good deal? The desktop is so old now that it’s not worth discussing. If all she needs to do is surf the 'net and send/receive e-mail, is an iPad adequate? Fun, even? My husband says she’s a lost cause, but I’m not giving up.
What say you, oh esteemed teeming millions?
(Mods – please move to IMHO if it’s more suited for that forum)
Does she want to get online? The whole OP is about what you want her to do.
I think that the iPad is definitely easier and less scary than a standard computer, but that’s not really going to matter unless she wants to use it. It sounds like she’s placating you by going along with you when you try to help her use it, but that she’s not actually interested.
I got my parents and a friend of theirs set up with computers a couple of years ago and they really wanted a large screen so a desktop was the best choice for them. I’m not sure the ease of use of an iPad will trump the small screen size.
I was showing my mom the iPad and while there was a definite fascination with some things, I saw some obstacles:
Some apps have small button areas and for older folks with bad eyes and who are in less control of fine motor skills, it might be harder than a normal mouse-based computer. It’s also easy to accidentally touch/click on links or buttons in apps that take you to another page or different area of the app. I think selecting text, copying and pasting can be more challenging on the iPad.
Yeah, yeah I know. I want it more than she does, but she *does *seem interested. Just not motivated.
My thoughts are that she’d be less intimidated by an iPad and might actually get into it. By herself. And she doesn’t touch the laptop, so no loss there.
The biggest obstacle is the small screen size, followed up by lack of flash. Conceptually it’s easy enough for a child to use, my 3 year old can handle our iPad with no problem.
Mail is quite easy, one you set it up for her. Internet is pretty easy as well, though the buttons are rather small due to the screen size. Web links can be made easier to see by zooming in on the page, which is a pretty intuitive move.
My mother–who was 88 when she died–never got a computer. She and I stayed in touch by talking on the phone every night, visits, and actual letters–one a month, at least. There are still ways of staying connected without being online. If your Mom doesn’t want to–or can’t–use a computer, you can still stay just as close to her.
I actually live 1/2 mile from my mother, phone her at least once a day, and have a standing “Mom Date” every Wednesday evening. So it’s not a matter of keeping in touch with me. It’s mostly wanting to bring her into the 21st century and connect with her grandkid.
Two thing sI’ve seen work well for older techno-phobes.
The first is a printer which automatically prints out her e-mail. So she doesn’t have to go on-line in order to receive the little notes and updates her Children and Grandchildren send her; it just shoots out of the printer like a mail delivery. If you are itnerested, I’ll ge tmore info from my co-worker who set this up for his Mother. She LOVES it.
The second is those systems that browse through the TV set. It’s basically all the same technology but it’s housed in the comfy-happy TV which takes out the intimidation factor. I’ve seen a couple of friends get their parents online this way. Again, if you want more info, I’ll gather it for you, just let me know.
i gotta say, the tv remote and gui is way more intimidating than ios with its one button on the screen. with the notification panel and messages, receiving email and sms is also just a single swipe or tap away.
This is really the question. If she doesn’t want to use a computer, it won’t matter how easy to use it may be, she still won’t use it.
My mom (mid-60s) LOVES her iPad- I swear she sleeps with it.
My 87 year old grandmother OTOH, is convinced that her 2002-vintage Dell PC with her AOL dial-up service is good enough, and nothing will change her mind, not even offers of DSL/Cable modem, new computers, iPads, etc… Which is a PITA, because she’s also clamoring for photos and info on her 2 great-grandchildren, so my parents end up downloading them from me, then burning CDs to take to her house to show her on her ancient computer.
in some working with elderly using technology i think a fixed interface is better.
a computer desktop where icons are fixed and programs have repeatable appearance for their menu is better. a mouse or keyboard (with accessibility options activated if needed) is a simple controlled action.
having appearance and function changing in context is confusing. complicated finger gestures are hard to do and maybe impossible to do.
Older people really REALLY want two things most of all:
[ul]
[li]They want things to stay the same[/li][li]They want to be in control of their lives[/li][/ul]
By trying to tell mom to now start using an iPad you are violating both of those. Really, just back off!
My grandmother would never touch my PC. It’s an intimidating, hulking power hungry, PC gaming monster that I could have built cheaper and smaller if I were one of those wussy men out there with their APU’s and their small form factor cases.
The moment I gave her my iPad and showed her how to navigate the image gallery, she spent an entire afternoon looking through pictures and l loving the interaction between her hands and the screen and the software.
For someone like that I’d definitely go with the iPad.
You’re still going to have to set up the apps she needs to use and teach her how to use them, but I think she’ll be more receptive to the touch interface.
Again, for someone like that, the iPad is perfect. But the iPad is NOT a desktop/laptop replacement for just about anyone else.
Meh. She’s an elderly woman in a nursing home who gets daily notes from her children and grandchildren. If I told you they were written and mailed I bet you’d give a standing ovation - despite the added transportation carbon. . .
My mother is a little over 80. After the Diaspora (she moved to one town, my brother moved to a town in the opposite direction, and I moved to a non-town an hour and a half in a different direction) I helped her purchase and set up a PC and spent hours with her setting up her email, going over Windows interface stuff, showing her cool things on the internet. She grew up during the other Great Depression and I thought she’d appreciate being able to communicate with her kids and grandkids via email rather than paying all those long-distance bills. (Cell phone? Don’t make me laugh!)
Wanna guess what she used the computer for? Playing FreeCell :smack:. She really liked that. Everything else about the computer she hated. She is an intelligent woman, so it isn’t that she couldn’t learn how to use it; she just didn’t want to invest that much time on something that was to her nothing more than a rather scary toy. She eventually gave the computer to my brother’s boy and went on living quite happily in the 20th century.
The rest of us have adapted to her lack of tech rather than trying to make her adapt to our technology. Her granddaughters write her letters, which she is ecstatic to receive. We all call her and send her things in the mail, drive to see her when we can. We’ve just accepted that some members of the previous generations don’t want to join our electronic revolution or just don’t have the knack for it.
My father would have a house full of smart phones, 3D printers, and tablet PCs if he were alive, because he had a knack for and an interest in that sort of thing. My mother would rather do crosswords, watch television, read paper books, work in her garden or go to church. I think if you try to convince your mom to use an iPad you might just be throwing good money after bad, but hey–it’s your money. Just don’t be too hard on your mom if she doesn’t show as much enthusiasm as you expect her to.
