I received an email from a client’s family last week giving me his new email address. At 100 years old, he decided it was time to take that step. In the meantime, one of our caregivers at a different client’s home had taken her laptop so that the client and caregiver could email the client’s daughter. After the email was composed and sent, the client turned to the caregiver and asked, “Why can’t I just call her and tell her that?”
I was tickled by both events and the opposite reactions to the availability of technology for seniors. One client joined a streamline of family communication through email. The other client could not grasp how spending time composing an email on her end would save her very busy daughter time on the back end.
If you think about it, there have been three major communication changes in the last few years:
- Smart phones and the increased usage of texting
- Email (granted, this has been around a lot longer than a few years!)
- Social Media Sites
All three of these areas have made hand written notes, sending cards and long land line conversations nearly obsolete. One of our clients fussed to me the other day that her children sent birthday texts rather than sending their siblings cards. I didn’t even mention to her the possibility of wishing someone Happy Birthday via Facebook!
So I raise the question, at what point do you encourage a loved one to engage in new communication technology? If they are interested, be sure to educate them as you would a child or pre-teen who begins using the internet. Make sure they are aware of the risks such as:
- Misuse of personal information: Warn them about providing this without being sure the information won’t be abused.
- Internet Scams/Fraud: Predators focus a great deal on the elderly because they are so trusting and vulnerable. Be sure they are careful and don’t provide any financial information!
- Warnings/Scare Emails: Many emails are forwarded by people we know to tell us of some scary new crime, or some terrible incident that someone they knew just had happen to them. It can make your loved one fearful or anxious when there is no merit to the claim. Snopes.com is a great site to use to simply type in a couple of the words from the email, and search to see if there is any legitimacy.
Despite our comfort and convenience levels, be sensitive to your loved one’s time frame to becoming more technologically savvy. They may not act as quickly as you would like, but they will most likely catch on eventually. After all, they didn’t use ziplock baggies 60 years ago and now we can’t imagine living without them!
–Claire Maestri, Mom’s Best Friend Director of Senior Care, Dallas/Ft. Worth
Technology for senior is just one area where our caregivers can provide assistance. If you are debating whether or not you need senior help, we can perform an assessment to help you determine your needs.
