A problem relating to growing old or caring for the elderly
The Longevity Explorer groups have frequently brought up the complaint that their TV remote is too complicated. It's a recurring theme any time one asks about technology design and examples of poorly designed gadgets.
It’s a common situation: an aging parent starts needing help from family members organizing things like doctors visits, or other care-related or social activities. How do you set up and maintain some type of mutually convenient, calendaring solution that maintains the right balance between “collaborating” and “helping” and “keeping things simple”?
Now that "Zooming" is a verb, knowing how to make video calls via Zoom is becoming an important life skill. The truth is Zoom is extremely easy to use, which is why it became so popular during COVID. But some people still have difficulties with some aspects.
I am setting up Alexa for my parent who lives at a distance. I am unsure what features to include, or how to set it up so it is as useful as possible.
As older adults develop physical and mental frailties, they sometimes have difficulty using products they want to be able to continue to use: such as the TV.
For example, physical impairments, like arthritis or tremor, may make it hard to press buttons. And cognitive impairments may make it hard for them to remember the way to navigate to a particular channel or streaming "show".
Helping family members who are technology-adverse, with their technical problems, has always been tough, but becomes even harder when they are remotely located or in an isolated facility. Part of the problem of remote support is “seeing” what they are seeing and “controlling” what they are doing.
Who is not familar with this experience?
It’s time to watch TV. Where did you put the remote control for the TV?
Many people misplace their phones, but if your loved one has mobility issues or cognitive decline, it’s even more frequent. Wouldn’t it be nice to offer your loved one a solution?
A family friend is having problems keeping his iPad charged as he has recently developed hand tremors and is unable to plug in the power cable.
The Amazon Fire TV Cube that you set up for your mother, who lives in another state, is sometimes hard for her to use. You wish that you had a way to give her remote help on its usage, other than trying to explain it over the phone.