Use And Knowledge Of Technology Among Seniors

I rarely have my iPhone with me, and I don't answer it unless I recognize the person who's calling me. I have it in case I break down or my wife has something she needs to get in touch with me about while I'm away from home. Even when we're together, I'll take it when we go to Bangor because if she wants to go to Walmart (which I hate), I will often drop her off there and go to the pet shop so she can call me when she's ready to go. I would not want to feel obligated to answer my phone just because someone wants to try to sell me something.

I will get online via my iPhone if that's all I have with me but I'll usually just read or maybe make a very brief reply to something in the forum or on Facebook. I have a Kindle HD7 and an HD10, as well as a couple of older paperwhites. I'll use my HD7 to go online after I've gone to bed to check things out one last time before going to sleep but I don't usually post much with it. My HD10 is much better as far as the viewer goes but I still don't like typing on those virtual screens, since it's more of a hunt and peck thing, and I often hit the wrong keys.

So my online choices remain strongly rooted in my computers, and the bigger the better. My MacBook Pro is great for portability and it's a fine computer, but I prefer a larger screen. That's what I bring with me when we're traveling since I can do fine with it. The keyboard that I use with my iMac is the same size so there's no problem as far as that's concerned. When I'm home, my MacBook Pro is usually upstairs. I will get online with that in the morning, checking the forum and Facebook, and if I am going to mostly add sites or modify site descriptions on the job that day, I might work from the MacBook for the day.

If I am going to do category descriptions or anything that requires having several tabs open at a time, I will use my iMac. It has a 27" screen, plus I have a widescreen monitor attached to it, as well. I used to have a third monitor connected to it but that was overkill, as I never actually needed three monitors at the same time unless I was using one to play DVDs on.

My iMac is getting on in years (2011), although it works just fine. If it were to quit on me, I probably wouldn't get another iMac, not because there's anything wrong with them, but because the MacBook Pro is every bit as good of a computer as the iMac, without the bulk. They make stands for the MacBook Pro, where it can be closed up; rather than using the screen, keyboard, and trackpad that comes with the MacBook, I could connect another monitor or two, and a separate keyboard and trackpad so that I wouldn't be confined to the space of a MacBook. Basically, I would simply be using the MacBook's CPU and storage. That's probably what I'd do because I prefer separating the trackpad from the keyboard, and to be able to move the keyboard around without moving the whole thing around.

As for seniors in general, I can only speak of the ones I know. My neighbor, across the street, is in his eighties, yet he knows how to use a computer. My wife helps him out when he's selling something on eBay or setting up his auctioneer site, but he can use a computer.

I see older, retired people, in the restaurants around here with laptops, or with their heads stuck in their smartphones, and people are getting online from their rooms in the nursing home.

 

It is really easy to stop the pet supply ads, @Shirley Martin .
All you have to do is order something from Victoria’s Secret, or maybe even some viagra would do it, and then you would not be getting ads for pets supplies anymore........

 

Most of the people here on the forum are either using modern technology products like smartphones and iPads, or they don’t use it and don’t want to use any of it.
However, there is a new tablet that is designed just for seniors, and would bridge the gap between being locked into the old technology, or trying to learn how to operate something more complicated , like an iPhone.
It is called GandPad, and it specially designed for seniors, easy to read, and simple to use. Instead of buying one, you rent it from the company, and if you become anough of an expert and want a regular smartphone or tablet, then you just return the GrandPad and get yourself a smartphone of your choice.
Here is an overview of what it does and how easily it works for just about any senior.

 

I think that if your sister can just learn to use a tablet and text with people , it would work just about as well as one of these specialized ones does, and probably a whole lot cheaper.
I was just mentioning (in another thread ) about someone who is a deaf mute, and she communicates with people by texting to them, and it works well for her, as long as she is texting someone else who has a phone or tablet.