Home / Tools / Tech For Seniors: The benefits of teaching your elderly relative how to use tech
Aug
13
2019

Tech For Seniors: The benefits of teaching your elderly relative how to use tech

Teaching and old dog new tricks is possible, but it can be hard work so why should you bother to teach an elderly relative how to use modern technology?

The world changes and with it new technological innovations promise to make life easier. There can be a significant learning curve when adopting a new technology for the first time, so it can be tempting to avoid introducing new ideas to your older family members. Whilst they can probably get along just fine getting Freeview TV rather than streaming it on demand there are plenty of new products that will make life easier and should be encouraged.

Smart Home Management

According to the Live in Care Hub 97% of people would rather remain living in their own homes rather than move into a care home. With the application of a bit of technology your relative can remain independent for far longer, and retain that independence even when in-home or live-in care is essential, the benefits of which can be found in the No Place Like Home Report.

Smart doorbells and home security systems allow your relative to see who’s knocked at the door without leaving their seat. If it’s someone they recognise they can let them in, and scammers are much less likely to hang around if they think they might be getting filmed! You can also hook the system into your smartphone – allowing you to see what’s going on even when you’re not on the premises to look after your elderly relative.

Some companies offer full smart home systems. Thermostats that can be adjusted from a smartphone and lights than can be switched on remotely. The benefit to your loved one of being able to ask a machine to turn on the lights is clear.

Smartphones

Of course much of this smart technology relies on the ownership of a smartphone. While it might seem daunting to introduce your relative to something as high-tech as an iPhone, once configured correctly they can use voice commands to access many features such as calling you for advice!

Having a smartphone means you can also get them using messaging services to keep in contact with the wider family. They can access photographs of grandchildren or use video messaging to read them a bedtime story whenever they want, without having to wait for a visit or for someone to give them a lift.

Smartphones can also help organise their life. Imagine if they could just say “Ok Google remind me to take my pills every day at noon”. With an modern android smartphone that’s all you need to do (other voice assistants Alexa and Siri have similar functionality) and your relative will be alerted every day.

Their phone can also help them know what the time or date is just by asking, remind them about birthdays, call the doctor if they need help, keep track of symptoms, play audiobooks and navigate to the shops if their sense of direction becomes impaired. If a phone is too small for comfort then much of the same functionality is present in a tablet, which can be much larger so that fonts and buttons can be easier to distinguish.

It might take time to introduce new tech, but it’s sure to be worth it.

About Phong T

Phong is a Web Developer, Web Coder with 5+ years experience in PHP, JavaScript, CSS. He is the creator of 9BlogTips.com, provides thousands of free JavaScript code examples, and writes about web development, blogging and small business topics. Follow him on twitter@9blogtips or connect with him on facebook@9blogtips and google+phong-thai.

Leave a comment

About us

9BlogTips.com is a community for bloggers and small business owners. We offer useful tips, snippets, tutorials, inspirational artworks and helpful resources that we hope will help you on your entrepreneurial journey.

Those new to blogging often find it difficult to get their blog off the ground and start making money. So here on this community blog we offer tips and advice for small businesses and bloggers. We talk about project management to help you become more efficient at managing tasks, time and resources. And we are always interested in the latest tech tips for bloggers and small businesses like how to do effective seo and digital marketing so people can find your site. Or how to choose the right voice over agency to add foreign languages to your business and YouTube videos to expand your reach worldwide. (Since you ask, we use Matinee Multilingual for voiceovers and subtitles.)

We discuss training and coaching for business owners, change management training, how to promote yourself and your blog and how to raise finance that can help at difficult moments while building your business blog.

But a successful small business also has to consider cost-effective options for office space such as in a small business hub or self-storage as cost-effective commercial storage instead of a warehouse.

Why not join our community by sharing a comment and getting the conversation started.