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Teaching Technology to the Older People in Your Life

So my grandmother is pretty old. I can’t tell you exactly how old she is because she doesn’t like to use numbers, but she’s getting up

there in age.

Even though she’s doing great and is very healthy, it is a little bit more difficult since my grandfather died for her to feel like part of a community and to feel like she’s always with people.

So I taught her how to text, and there’s a lot of great reasons that you might want to teach the older people in your life how to text, like your grandparents, or a great-aunt or uncle.

Number one is they can share pictures and videos. This is so great. They can share what’s going on in their life, and you can also share what’s going on in your life.

For example, my grandmother, Abuelita, she had an orchid that had been dormant for about five years. It had not bloomed at all, and this spring it finally bloomed, and she has about 25 blossoms on this one orchid plant. It was really beautiful! So she’s been sending us via picture and video text messages how it’s been growing and progressing. Everyone has been all excited, so she’s been sending it to us and other friends and family. She gets a lot of texts back from people saying, “Oh, how beautiful, thank you for sharing!” This is so great, and it really makes her feel like part of a community.

We did have to do a few things to help her with texting. We had to turn auto-correct off. It drove her crazy because she would try to be typing

one thing, and it would auto-correct something else, so we just turned it off for her.

We also had to train her that during office hours that’s a no text time for most of us. We’re trying to be productive, we’re trying to work, we don’t want to be getting text messages all the time, so we did have to tell her that during certain times, that’s not a good time to text, but other times, it’s great.

Teaching her how to do text messaging has helped her feel included and loved every single day, even when we can’t see her every single day.

So texting doesn’t take the place of a phone call, it doesn’t take the place of a video Skype. Yes, she can do video Skype now, too. It’s just another way for her to feel like part of a thriving, living, active community, which will keep her younger and healthier for more years.

Posted in Just for Fun

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2 Comments

Barbara Smailey on August 15, 2012 at 4:02 pm

Wow! reading the comments, you are a miracle worker! Good to know! So how do I learn all the things that Tiffany and Regina have learned from you?

This will be GREAT if this really gets to you! I really need HELP!

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Laura on August 31, 2015 at 3:00 pm

Maritza, what a great idea. Older people can start feeling like days and weeks are very long and lonely not only when they loose their partner, but also when they can’t drive any longer and everyone around them is busy with their daily activities. Teaching them this new skills can make an big difference in their life. Thank you.

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