Welcome to my series on practical ways to help the elderly. You can read the introduction here. This is the 7th article in the series of ways to help the elderly live better.
In this post, I am focusing on cellphones.
We live in a Home for Senior Citizens with residents between the ages of 55 to 95. Technology is probably the most frustrating, overwhelming and scary aspect of getting old.
Loneliness and not being able to keep in touch with our loved ones in an emergency, or just to chat is unbearable.
Up until recently one of our residents, who passed away at the age of 86, used to visit Dave and I daily to ask for help with her phone. It was a 20 year old Nokia phone and she used it primarily to phone her bank to do banking transactions. The operating system no longer updated and she couldn't make calls or send an sms.
Dave and I are the techie geeks in the village because we both enjoy technology and do our best to keep up.
Based on our experience with our fellow residents, here are some ways you, or better still your grandchildren, can help your loved ones navigate and survive the world of technology. Even if you aren’t able to visit to physically help, you can arrange for service providers you trust to assist.
Patience and repetition are the magic words. As we age we become more fearful and our memory plays tricks on us.
If you do teach them how to do something, give them clear, step by step instructions in big print with photos or diagrams. Laminate the instructions so they can stick them on a cupboard or fridge.
This applies to TV remotes, the microwave, cellphones, tablets and laptops, house alarm systems etc.
Choosing the right device
- The bigger the screen and the bigger the keyboard the better. As we age, our fingers become less nimble, our hands shake and we can’t see the keys easily. These are the main reason I would suggest getting a Tablet. However, a Tablet doesn’t fit into a pocket or small handbag. Not that I am recommending keeping your phone in a pocket.
- Oldies are often given hand me down phones from their children. The problem with these phones which may be 3+ years old, use old technology and have limited storage space and memory. Once an oldie has got used to having a Smartphone, they want to take pictures, do video calls, Whatsapp, play games, Google the news and all their hobbies on YouTube. They also love sending motivational quotes and fun stickers. Their phones become their entertainment.
- 2G and 3G are being phased out. They need a phone with at least 4G, enough memory and if possible an SD card to store all their photos.
- Make sure they have a working charger in their home and a spare in their bag when they go out.
- Invest is a good quality cover and screen protector for the phone.
- Stick a label on the phone with the cell number of a family member in case the phone is mislaid.
Data and Airtime
You can never have too much data!
- As we get older and live in smaller homes, we don't need stuff. We need data. Data bundles as gifts are priceless.
- Most of the elderly we live with, do not understand the difference between air time and data. Get the grandies to visit and spend time showing the oldies how they can change their airtime into data, use Whatsapp and Google news. It is a good opportunity to bond and show the grandparents how knowledgeable they are.
- They struggle to understand the difference between 1MB and 1GB of data. They will tell us that they purchased 2MB of data and are gobsmacked that it is gone in less than an hour. The data has definitely been stolen. Well yes, sometimes we do think the cellphone companies are less than scrupulous and rip us off. However, a single photo, or a short audio file is often bigger than 1MB.
Backups and Antivirus Software 
- Backing up operating systems and apps. We spend a lot of time explaining how cell phones, tablets and laptops need to update the operating systems to prevent viruses and improve the way their devices work. Each time an update is done, data is used. If possible try to schedule the updates at night if their data packages include a night owl option. Although, of course we oldies are often wide awake during the night scrolling through our phones.
- Store their data in the cloud. You can help by creating a free GMail address for them which gives them access to free storage on Google Drive. Depending on how much they use their phone, you can set the backup to run daily, weekly or monthly and automatically stored on their Google Drive. This is very useful when they get a new phone to replace a broken or out dated phone. They can access their Google Drive from any phone, computer or tablet.
- Backing up their contacts, photos and Whatsapp data. It is very confusing for many elderly to understand the difference between the storage on their phone, storage on their sim card and storage on their SD card if they have one. There is nothing more devastating for the elderly than to lose precious photos, details of their contacts and Whatsapp chats.
- Install a Pro paid version of a good antivirus app on their cellphone. The elderly are at risk when they press buttons that entice them to "Click here", "Play free", "Free Trial" etc.
- Set up strong passwords for them and make sure you keep a list of them. All of my passwords are 15 characters including numbers, letters and special characters.
Avoid being scammed by banking apps and cellphone companies
Sadly we have had a number of residents being scammed out of thousands of Rands due to being conned by incredibly persuasive callers messages via SMS and Whatsapps.
- I am usually super vigilant but it was during the night and I was playing a game when a message flashed onto my screen. Instead of tapping cancel, I tapped the accept button. Suddenly I found I had subscribed to some game or app which was charging me R10/day. By the time I realised what I had done, it was 5 days later and I was going around in circles trying to get my cellphone provider to help me cancel the subscription. I was reasonably lucky that it cost me R80 and not R800 or more.
- Calling any cellphone provider or bank or other big company with a call centre is punishment none of us deserve. Being tech savvy, I go on "X", previously Twitter and direct message the cellphone company rather than waste my time trying to call. It also means I have every conversation in writing. Most elderly folk still like to rely on phone calls.
- SIM swop scams. Put up a laminated sign in their homes saying, "DO NOT ANSWER CALLS IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHO IT IS, NEVER GIVE YOUR PIN NUMBER OR PERSONAL INFORMATION OR TO ANYONE".
If they do answer the phone, it is the ideal time to pretend they are an elderly person who can't hear properly and that they will need to talk to a younger family member "who knows about this tech stuff". Sometimes ignorance, even if feigned is bliss".
I hope these suggestions help. I look forward to your comments and tips.
Please subscribe for further ways to help the elderly.
