this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
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How do you support elderly relatives' use of tech? (beehaw.org)
submitted 1 year ago by middlemuddle@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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I'm mostly asking this question for smartphones, but I'm also just generally curious how others approach this.

My parents are both 75+ and live across the country. One has a smartphone and a chromebook and the other has a dumbphone and has a Windows laptop. They're capable, but learning new things is pretty hard, and if anything goes a bit wrong they're very unlikely to figure out how to get past it themselves.

The Windows laptop is easiest to manage because I can remote in and fix things pretty quick, and browser extensions prevent the ads which might lead to signing up for new services. I gave up on trying to figure out how to remote into the chromebook.

The smartphone is the most problematic since browser extensions are limited and don't apply to the Google News app, where my dad spends a lot of his time. He's managed to install a bunch of random apps that he doesn't remember ever using, so now I have Google FamilyLink installed which should prevent that. But he also inadvertently long-presses on the home screen and moves icons around, removes them, adds new ones, etc.

I'm just looking for any tips people might have on this general topic. We're all our family's tech support in some way, it's just getting more difficult for me as they get older.

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[–] middlemuddle@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

side note: One thing I noticed they really hated across all devices (and frankly, I hate it too) are pop-ups. Not pop-up ads because I blocked those for them, but app or system pop-ups. If they open an app and they get hit with 15 unskippable tutorial pop-ups, they will just hit the lock button and walk away. They will come back later, wake the device up, see they still have to go through with the tutorial, and then call me and ask how it “broke”. I highly suggest configuring devices to minimize this as much as possible. It makes them feel like they are losing control over the device and makes them panic or get frustrated, and honestly I can’t blame them. It’s horrible ux design.

Do you have any tips for this? This is an issue that plagues all their devices. Not just tutorials, but warnings and update messages, too. From a security perspective, app updates are important, but they always seem to bring some new info pop-up, whether on a phone or a laptop. My parents don't get frustrated and walk away, but they definitely never read the pop-ups.

[–] Thalestr@beehaw.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't have anything conclusive to offer, especially as it will vary greatly by device and apps used. I tried to get around it as much as possible by having them use native apps and setting things to update automatically. I also pre-opened every app on their device to get the tutorial pop-ups completed so they wouldn't have to deal with them. They haven't complained about it for a while now, so I assume everything must be alright.

[–] middlemuddle@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I also pre-opened every app on their device to get the tutorial pop-ups completed so they wouldn’t have to deal with them.

This is a very good point and I often forget to do it for all apps.