Computer newbies forum: Need help getting my 75 year old mother connected to the Internet

Good morning,
Does your mom's facility have WiFi? I set up my mother with a tablet a couple of years ago because she complained about not seeing any family pictures (as no one prints them anymore). She also was having trouble reading her books so I got her a android tablet allowing her to download e-books and enlarge the print. We realized without technology, she was really out of the loop. I then wired her apartment through her TV cable company (and had the bill sent to me).
Oh by the way, that was when my mom was 88. She is now turning 90 and would like an i-pad. In hindsight, we should have gone that way in the first place. The android was too much rigamarole when she wanted to open and save pictures, and when she downloaded a book. As she still lives on her own in another city, she ended up taking all her problems to the geek squad at Best Buy. Being that the tablet was out of Europe, she ended up teaching them more than them helping her.
If you are going to proceed, get the most user-friendly, touch-and-open, product you can find. As people age, they get frustrated really quickly. Something as simple as the internet being slow can freak them out.
We are advancing mom to an i-pad mini for her 90th b-day!!!

Regards from the Great White North!

Hi.
I work in a library and receive questions from seniors all the time.
My suggestion would be to get her a laptop. And attach a mouse through the USB port. This way, the machine itself won't be as big and scary for her. Also, she can use a regular mouse instead of trying to use the pad on the laptop, as her mouse.
Also, see if the facility has a WIFI connection. They usually do.
Hope this helps!

Four words: Get her an iPad. Get her the iPad, show her how to use the: music player, turning on of the internet, YouTube, camera, and apps, that's it. Show her, then leave her some written instructions, then have her call you anytime to ask questions. The iPad is perfect for people who are new to technology.

I went thru this with my 89 year old mother about six months ago. She has no technology background and no computer experience, but saw me using my iPad and expressed interest. We got her a basic configuration iPad 2 - white with a pink cover, of course! I set her up with her Apple ID, email address, several apps and some web links on her home screen. I also did some training (more than once on a few things).

She has become an avid user, spending about three hours a day on the iPad. She reads a few news sites, some sports, daily weather reports, some email. She also plays Solitaire and Blackjack games we downloaded.

The iPad is a much better choice than a desktop or laptop PC because it's so light weight and portable she can use it in her favorite chair, at the table or even in bed. She would not get as much use out of a PC.

The downside in her specific situation is that the senior independent living complex does not have facility wide WiFi. Her WiFi is provided thru her cable TV service (Time Warner) and costs her about $40/month.

All in all, this was a great idea for her since it provides hours of entertainment and enables her to keep up with news - she is better informed about what's going on in the world than most people her age and it gives her something to talk about other than her health and medications! It also gives her an easy way to keep in contact with friends and family thru email.

Many facilities actually maintain computer groups with resident volunteer leaders and lessons.
If not, management should. At least be able to tell you about connectivity and what is working out well.
At 74, living in a senior community, we have a fantastic group of instructors, hardware install helpers, weekly club meetings with speakers, weekly facilitated Q and A sessions, and a lab/classroom staffed with helpers 30 hours a week.
Right now I'm maintaining 2 weekly iPad groups. Two others also doing iPad groups. It's by far the biggest demand now. And yes, most were gifted by children and grandchildren to reluctant, often frustrated, grannies.

If it's a hand-me-down, please update the iOS, wipe it fairly clean, put the family members in Contacts, enter their email account and make 100% sure they know the Apple ID and exactly where you have written it for
them lest they forget.

Sorry I am late on this. I do have something to add tho.
My mom is 90 and tickled to have an ipad2. She does some e-mails, reading more than sending. Enjoys facetime with the family. Loves spider solitaire and other games.

I am not familiar with other tablets, but the ipad is fairly intuitive. She gets stuck on the various headings of the e-mail inboxes and will call us for help.

Others have mentioned being sure she has access to a wifi connection in her setting for e-mails, facetime and getting new apps( she is pretty good at angry birds). BE SURE to have a record of all her passwords and ids. Even we forget sometimes.

PawPawMail which I assume is windows based software - or something like Mailstation 150 or Mailbug?

Your post made me look - I'm flabbergasted!! I can see that this may be a smart alternative device/ software set for certain individuals.

VERY INTERESTING nmrabbit!!!!!

It may sound mean of me to question motives, but *why* are you wishing to get her online now?
Is this her wish to finally dive into the tech world? Or yours to keep her connected to your loop?
You see, learning something new is very much based in ones motivation... if she would rather you keep in touch by visiting, or watch a movie by you bringing it to share instead of explaining how Netflix works, or send a message to someone with paper, pen and stamp instead of texting or email... then even the simplest gadget might prove difficult to teach her.

If on the otherhand, she wants to do all this... find out exactly what she hopes to be able to do and tailor those wishes with her physical abilities to a device that would serve her best.

Does she want to do email, IM, video-conferencing? Does she want to watch videos and listen to music? Does she need a full browser to surf sites beyond basic news blogs? How well does she type? Would she use a traditional or virtual keyboard better? Or maybe voice recognition/command software?
If her needs could be served by a tablet, would she be able to see the screen adequately?

The bottom line, is to determine the actual needs. Once you have a device, create little note cards or such with step-by-step instructions for each task she may need to accomplish. She may not need them, or may not need them for long... but they are generally a comfort to have when learning to do something completely unfamiliar, especially if infrequent. Most importantly... be patient.

Guy: I have been teaching senior citizens, some younger and some older than your mother, for over ten years and all came into the classes without any knowledge of teachnology and many with no desire to learn but were dragged in by their children. And all learned and enjoyed the connectivity to family, friends and web sites where they could get information on their ailments, etc. One method that I used to make learning easy, even for reluctant learners, was to keep it simple, doing just one thing at a time so that the learner felt capable for that one action, followed by writing it down so that if it was forgotten weeks later, just re-reading brought it back.

I also asked up front what the learner wanted to do with the computer and then tailored the lessons to that desire.
Those who came in with computer learning books and who were immediately lost on page 1 or2 were surprised that we didn't use those books at all, but relied on repetitive doing one action at a time untilit was so easy for the learner and became almost a triumph for them.

A few of the learners had taken computer courses before and were overwhelmed at the very beginning, so it is important to go slow at first till each action is well mastered and documented before going on and adding new actions. Every learner started a simple notebookm and every action learned was written down by the student in their own words. For example: the 3 steps in cut and paste were: step 1: How to highlight. Step 2. How to cut. Step 3. How to paste. Even if this action was not used for awhile and might be forgotten, there is no frustration because the learner can easily and quickly relearn it and feel good. The notebooks became the learners bible and often became a great joy when they could show another senior citizen how easy it really was.

Guy, you have my best wishes helping your mother. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me and I'll share with you everything I learned and know in the dozen active years teaching our seniors. Joe

For years my wife who is only 65yrs old has said she can't deal with operating a computer.
18 months ago my daughter , who lives quite a deistance away, gave birth to a son and my wife really missed not seeing him grow each day. So I bought her an ipad 3 and told her it wasn't a computer because it didn't have a mouse or keyboard. However it did have a thing called 'Face Time' which allowed her to watch her grandson on the screen. The bonus is that she ( on her own accord ) now emails and searches the net with ease. maybe your mother would find one just as easy to use.
There is a difficulty ofcourse, as already mentioned in one of the previous contributions, it does require a wireless connection which her facility may not have installed.

Hi Guy
There is a lot of excellent advice here, but as everyone says, we need to understand why you or she wants her to be on the net. Is it Email? Photos? Skype? Shopping? Please reply.

If you are doing this because YOU think she needs it, think again. My mother died at 87, still using the net regularly. On the other hand, I gave her PC and printer to someone who was only mid-sixties, to help bring him up to date, but that person wouldn't touch it - was strongly resistant - I should have picked up on the signals....

This won't be an answer but I'd like to share my experience anyway as it might be of help.

Four years ago I convinced my (then 70 years old) mother to buy a new iMac to be able to shift from (expensive) paper based services (e g paying bills) to electronic ones and also utilising others.

I recommended the iMac for three main reasons; 1) I can give her remote support via the included iChat with screen sharing (iChat launched at login), 2) Password is required to install programs or change settings thereby preventing accidental changes and grandchildren from turning it into their toy, and 3) I have a iMac myself so it's easier for to give (remote) support in that environment.

She currently has a 2Mb/s ADSL connection and I'm 250 km away, we both live in Sweden.

Before that my two younger brothers had supplied her with two different outdated Windows PC - none of them was used and I don't think they ever gave her any proper introduction or support on them.

So how does it go?: I know she looks at the local newspaper website one or two times a week. She monthly login to her bank, using a electronic ID-card and PIN in a separate card reader, and pay her bills (although she requires me to share her screen at the time because there's money involved). We send her emails and she reads them and looks at attached pictures but only writes very short responses as she prefers to call. Recently I showed her how to email multiple recipients at one time - which was appreciated by her as well as her old class mates that were the recipients
She, together with me, also has used her electronic-ID to login to health care services (view prescriptions, book appointments) and the tax authority.

What remains for her: To spend more time with the computer to build confidence. To type more on the keyboard. Photography (take lots of pictures with her digital compact camera - import into computer to see them in larger size and discard all the bad ones - share or print the good ones). Shopping online.

What remain for me: To continue support, encourage her and promote new uses that might be of interest for her - sending interesting links.

Bottom line - My mother has got basic computer skills and she develops new ones in a comfortable pace. I'm happy

Simple. Send her a savvy grandchild and she will get a 2 fer. I would rather have one of my grand kids or even my youngest great grandchild than an ip address but most of the younger are on top of the net connections. a visit and connect should be win win especially if the kid is unemployed. Hugs and Kisses to Mom while you are still blessed to have her with you.

First question is "Does your mother want to do this?" I am 74 going on 75 and have been working in the field and playing with computers for over 35 years. If your mother wants to get connected to the internet maybe you'll succeed. If she is not interested (as most of the people I've met), it simply won't work. Possibly if she wants to keep in touch with you and her grandchildren, she might adapt to internet TV. Otherwise, there's not much hope.

Well, I'm 80 years old and have been using computers since MS-DOS graduating to Windows. Even though I retired 10 years ago, I am quite used to computers and the internet. Similarly, many people in my age range have also had years of work related computer/internet experience.

If you mother has never used a computer, getting connected to the internet is only one step forward, I teach seniors how to use the computer and internet. Some are really sharp and pick it up fast. Others (sadly, the majority) would never be able to learn because their minds are not focused, or never have been focused, on technical details.

Computers are great for the elderly, or even those who are middle-aged. There are numerous possibilities for keeping the mind active. Research indicates that mental stimulation can aid in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.