Teaching a Family Member Technology
In the heat of the pandemic we, as a nation, are facing, I started to feel sorry for my grandmother. I felt this way because for the first few months of the quarantine, everybody was locked at home with their families, confined to their own quarters. For someone living with others, this is not such a horrible situation. Social interaction makes the time inside the house more enjoyable. Something else that enhances the time we have in our homes is technology. Being able to become engulfed on a smartphone and/or use the internet is a great way to pass time. My grandmother, living in a condo alone with no company other than a flip phone, her television and the newspaper, was lacking in both regards.
So, it became my mission to help my technologically lacking eighty-one-year-old grandmother become more acquainted with the digital world. The first thing I did was buy her a smartphone. After getting her an iPhone, setting up her internet, and explaining to her that you can actually touch the screen, half the battle was complete. The second half, however, is a long, long battle to complete that is still in process. Every day I am teaching her new information on how to use the device and how to use it to engage with others while she otherwise could not, being isolated alone. You could imagine that for an older woman that does not embrace change, this is not an easy project!
I am proud to say that she can currently use the phone for a multitude of capabilities including calling and texting (and using emojis!), playing many games, browsing the internet, Facetiming and even ordering face masks on Etsy. This project has been a huge success, and I am happy to have been able to help my grandmother during such a challenging time we are all living through.