Thanks for the feedback everyone... Just a few more quick updates...
I didn't mention it before, but she's very mentally acute. At 86 you get set in your ways a bit though, so change comes more slowly. Anyway, assuming I make it to 86, I hope I'm as together as she is. She lives alone, with a little help from family & friends... still drives during the day, and gets around pretty good.
I spent a half-hour with her on the phone tonight. She'd had a bunch of questions for me, but had figured most of them out by the time we talked. One thing that threw her off a bit was navigating from folder to folder in the e-mail app. She'd moved a bunch of things to trash, and couldn't figure out how to get those back in the inbox. We figured it out, and she was like "oh, that's how you do that...".
The difference between "sleep mode" and "off" was something that needed some explaining, but I think she got it... I think.
Searching & browsing is really new to her. I didn't realize how little of this she did with the webTV. Google search "results" are really misnamed. These aren't search "results", they're search "suggestions" or "links"... The results are what you get after you click on the links. I think that was throwing her off a bit. Maybe the whole concept of hyperlinking is something that I need to explain better.
One thing I always keep in mind in these situations; with any luck, we'll all be "in their shoes" someday, so I try to see myself in that position. I wonder what new technolgies will be beyond our grasp, as the younger generation rolls their eyes at us. And the same will happen to them. So, help out an older person. At one time, they were younger than you are right now, and were probably better looking too ;-)
I didn't mention it before, but she's very mentally acute. At 86 you get set in your ways a bit though, so change comes more slowly. Anyway, assuming I make it to 86, I hope I'm as together as she is. She lives alone, with a little help from family & friends... still drives during the day, and gets around pretty good.
I spent a half-hour with her on the phone tonight. She'd had a bunch of questions for me, but had figured most of them out by the time we talked. One thing that threw her off a bit was navigating from folder to folder in the e-mail app. She'd moved a bunch of things to trash, and couldn't figure out how to get those back in the inbox. We figured it out, and she was like "oh, that's how you do that...".
The difference between "sleep mode" and "off" was something that needed some explaining, but I think she got it... I think.
Searching & browsing is really new to her. I didn't realize how little of this she did with the webTV. Google search "results" are really misnamed. These aren't search "results", they're search "suggestions" or "links"... The results are what you get after you click on the links. I think that was throwing her off a bit. Maybe the whole concept of hyperlinking is something that I need to explain better.
One thing I always keep in mind in these situations; with any luck, we'll all be "in their shoes" someday, so I try to see myself in that position. I wonder what new technolgies will be beyond our grasp, as the younger generation rolls their eyes at us. And the same will happen to them. So, help out an older person. At one time, they were younger than you are right now, and were probably better looking too ;-)
