There is a digital divide in America, but it has less to do with economics as it does with age. Although senior citizens have made much headway in recent years, there are still significant segments of the elderly community that refuse to touch a computer, or anything digital at all with a ten foot pole.
The issue was broached beautifully several years ago on a television sitcom of all places. CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond told the story of how Ray's father Frank loved his old jazz records. He refused to modernize with CD's, and nobody could seem to convince him of the superiority of sound and features that CD's offered. In order to bring his father into the twenty-first century, Ray concocted a plan. He bought his father CD versions of the jazz records he already owned, and suddenly turned them on to prove their superior sound quality. As luck would have it, the volume on the CD player was cranked up way too high, proving what Frank had always believed: technology is nothing but trouble. Frank then put on one of his scratchy, static-laden LP's, and sighed contentedly. Low-tech rules!
The episode enforces the frustration many of us have had with our aging parents and grandparents. There are so many benefits that computers and digital devices would bring to our loved ones, if only they could get over their fear or technology. The biggest hurdle is, of course, the internet. How can you convince grandma to get online? This is no small challenge for many people. Fortunately, there is a way. It will take some legwork and patience on your end, but with a little gentle persuasion (and without condescension!), grandma will be bloggin' it up in no time. Or at least emailing.
1) Set-up. You need to either get her a computer with internet service or set up a place for her to get online. If you are going to help her at her home, make sure she has a high-speed connection. How fast? Consider that she likely won't be doing any heavy online gaming, but she will want to video conference. A 1.5 Mbps connection would be sufficient. Just make sure she isn't using dial-up, which is just way too slow for today's complex websites. Remember, we want this to be a comfortable experience for her. If she lives in any type of Assisted Living facility, chances are, she will have some place to get online already, or at least wi-fi service to get online with her own laptop.
2) Create her online accounts in advance. You see, it might sound easy for you to tell her to "go to Facebook and make your own profile," but that is complicated stuff if you haven't done it before. You can start by getting her a web-based email account from Yahoo, MSN, or Gmail. If you can, try to choose usernames and passwords that will work on several sites so she doesn't have to remember 10 different ones. Make sure the email site is set to "Remember my Password," and write her username and password on a sheet of paper in case she has trouble signing in later on. Once her email is set up, you can proceed to social networking sites like Facebook, or something more senior focused like Eons.com or Senioricity.com. But photo sites will be even more important. Get her signed up with a site like Photobucket, Snapfish, or Flickr. Make sure it will be compatible with the sites that you or other family members use so that it will be easy for her to share pictures of the grandkids.
3) Get her set up for Video Conferencing. This might sound harder than it is. If her computer is not set up with a built-in camera, go to Wal-Mart and buy a Skype-compatible USB 2.0 camera with built-in microphone. They can retail between $15 and $50, depending on quality. Installation should be a snap for any computer made in the past couple of years. When you get it installed, go to Skype.com and get her signed up for a Skype account. Same rules apply here: choose the same username, and ask Skype to "remember" her information. Once you are into her new account, add family members' usernames and passwords to her contact list.
4) Make everything simple! You can do this without being condescending. Every person is different. Some seniors might resent it if you create a couple of simple icons on their desktop labeled "Internet," "E-mail," and "Grand-Babies." But more likely, they will appreciate the effort to make everything just a click away. This kind of thing doesn't take much time at all, and a clutter-free computing experience is a low-stress experience.
5) Coordinate with other family members, especially the ones who live out of town. Before she ever gets online, have them share their photo albums online, and even send her an email welcoming her to the twenty-first century, complete with a photo attachment. But best of all would be to make sure they are ready and willing to video conference with her right off the bat. Nothing will bring tears to her eyes quicker than seeing the grandkids wave to her with a few easy clicks of the mouse. It will go a long way in making her online experience comfortable and exciting right off the bat.
6) The reveal. All of the previous steps are preparation. She doesn't have to be there when you do them. In fact, it would be better if she wasn't, because she might get nervous seeing you enter so much information at different sites. So once you have completed steps 1-5, bring her to the computer, and let her see, step by step, all of the cool things she can do online. Even now, be sure not to over-do it. She probably won't be ready for Netflix streaming movies. That's okay. Take it one step at a time. She'll get there eventually!
Remember that for The Greatest Generation, technology and gadgets are secondary to relationships. It ought to be that way for every generation, shouldn't it? For this reason, it is best to focus on those online advancements that bring people closer together, especially the grandkids. If you can prove to her that Little 'knowledge to develop long-distance relationships with loved ones may be all he needs.
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