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On Caregiving
Front-Ranger:
Yes, I've noticed that about Macs in movies. They're ubiquitous.
So, thanks for the link to the phone, Jeff. Here's how my mom would have coped with it. First of all, if she heard it ringing, she would put it up to her ear and say hello. She might forget that you have to flip it open in order to use it. If she figured that out, she would start jabbing the screen with her fingers, thinking it was a touch-screen. The buttons would be a mystery to her. On top, there are 2 buttons that have a dash on them. What's that about? Then there is a circle with an okay in the middle. What's that about? She would have no clue.
The button with the green handset on it should say "call" instead. Sometimes it has the word "send" which would make no sense to her. The button with the red handset on it should say "cancel". On the numeric buttons, there are also letters that are way too small. You have to push one time for the first letter, twice for the second, and so on. This is completely out of most elderly persons' ability.
I learned not to leave a voicemail because it was impossible for her to retrieve it. But doctor's offices, etc. would leave voicemails which led to missed appointments. Thus, I had to make my phone number, her phone number and I became her personal secretary. :-\
serious crayons:
Would an iPhone have been better? They're designed to be pretty intuitive.
My mom, when her illness started to advance, forgot how to use her microwave.
In fact, I first began to suspect something was wrong when we went shopping and she couldn't figure out how to use those skirt hangers where a piece of sliding metal squeeze the clips together or releases them to open and shut (instead of, say, pinching together like clothespins). And she had spent 30+ years, until her retirement a few years earlier, working in a department store -- the very one in which we were shopping (she was in advertising, but she shopped a lot).
CellarDweller:
Regarding elders and technology, there is a new item being marketed for grandparents, named "grandpad".
https://www.grandpad.net/
Front-Ranger:
Regarding ipads, my mom liked to use it to watch movies. She would try to watch movies all the time and would have several windows open at the same time until the whole thing crashed. In general, these devices are designed by, marketed to, and bought by young people so they can send their Instagram/Facebook photos and messages to their elderly loved ones, keeping up the pretense that they are staying in touch with and interacting with them.
Looking back on the years that my mom lived in the same town with me, I would estimate that I spent a large fraction of my time with her trying to hook up, fix, or operate some kind of technology. From computers and TVs to toilet roll holders and all points in between from strings of lights that are motion controlled to light your way to the bathroom and ultrasonic water-spouting whirling self-timing electric toothbrushes. Most of these things were sent by my brother and his wife. Guys in my life and my children were useless to help me manage all this technology. Even a guy my mom hired for $35/hour to teach her how to use her ipad would just say, "What are your questions?" and when she didn't know what to ask, would just put on a You-Tube video.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 22, 2019, 01:39:35 pm ---Even a guy my mom hired for $35/hour to teach her how to use her ipad would just say, "What are your questions?" and when she didn't know what to ask, would just put on a You-Tube video.
--- End quote ---
That sounds like me.
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