How to make technology accessible to the older generations?

mrochester

mrochester

mrochester

Soldato
Joined
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Hi all

So today I've just been around to set up a DVD player for someone who is in their early 70s. This is her first DVD player.

She has a brand new Toshiba TV and a BT YouView box. Whenever she first turns on her TV (she completely turns it off at the socket when not in use), the TV comes on on HDMI1 and 'normal' TV is shown. She turned the TV volume to 100% and solely used the BT YouView remote to control everything.

Now I've added the DVD player to the mix, it's highlighted to me just how complex this setup has got for something that should be simple. She's now had to retrieve the Toshiba TV remote from out of a drawer as she has to change the TV source to 'EXT1' when she wants to watch a DVD. She also now has to change the volume using the TV remote when she's playing a DVD as she clearly doesn't want that to be set to 100% all the time. She also has to use a third remote to control the DVD player itself. On top of that, I had to explain to her that DVDs tend not to just play when you put them in and instead take you to a menu that you have to navigate using the remote. These menus can often be very obtuse and are completely different visually and operationally from one DVD to the next.

It creeps up on you when you are enveloped in this world all the time, and it becomes second nature to navigate your way around this stuff, but when you stop and think about it, it makes you wonder who the **** designed this stuff. This poor lady basically has no chance of ever watching a DVD as she's unlikely to remember or understand the myriad of steps she needs to take to simply watch something.

With that in mind, does anyone have any recommendations as to how I could make this setup easier for her? She's currently heavily reliant on the TV for entertainment at the minute due to health reasons so I'd like to help her if I can.

Many thanks

M.
 
What about an external HDMI switcher which she can press a button on to cycle between 'normal' TV and the DVD player? That way she won't have to worry about changing the source on the TV ever.
 
Whatever you end up setting up for her, laminate some simple instructions so she can have them handy when needed.
 
Well put it this way. When you think the discovery of the electron was only around 100 years ago and before that people lived almost in mud huts and died much younger. I think it a no-brainer. I think voice commands or visual commands(whatever they may be) will come into play over the next few decades. Need I say more. Automation through technology is the obvious way things are going. I can remember(very barely) when my dad used to have to crank up the car in the morning to start it. Morris Minor or Morris Oxford I think, not sure. Give it time though, let the boffins boffin and things will soon become like Airwolf - where scanners can read our thought and extact commands accordingly.
 
70 is not really that old. If she has got to 70 without a DVD player why on earth does she want one now? My parents are in their 70s and have no trouble with 25 year old technology.
 
bushmins said:
70 is not really that old. If she has got to 70 without a DVD player why on earth does she want one now? My parents are in their 70s and have no trouble with 25 year old technology.
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She's got some health problems that are causing her to be very tired and she's spending a lot of time watching TV. I think she just wants to be able to choose to watch something else.
 
suggestions welcome! said:
Scart? Bloody hell, that's antique :D
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I still have a VHS player because I'm converting some old tapes into MP4 via a SCART-to-USB interface. Windows 8.1 recognised it no probs without a driver disc, then you just use something like VLC to record to PC while the tape is playing.

As for the OP's question about the elderly, don't vote Tory. By voting Tory, you're declaring that you are backwards :p

My granny is 88, got a smart TV, loves her tablets, does online shopping, knows her way around Facebook, WhatsApp etc, and can do basic troubleshooting before she'll call one of us. Been on the internet since 1999. She's a LibDem voter :p

/lighthearted
 
I am in my 70's - I built my first PC a few years ago - I can sort out most problems but when it comes to TV/DVD/sat box/NowTV/ whatever -- I have come very close to murder - Things you think should be simple sometimes are not - my wife can not turn on sound bar - it is just pick up the remote and turn it on - it is not logical to her - we then have a major arguement - Although things should be simple - to a lot of people they are not. Never take for granted what you know and assume everyone else can do the same.
 
I wouldn’t have thought someone in their early 70s would struggle with technology as old as a DVD player, unless she is a complete technophobe.
 
ganesh said:
I wouldn’t have thought someone in their early 70s would struggle with technology as old as a DVD player, unless she is a complete technophobe.
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She’s not a total technophobe (she does use a laptop, printer and scanner (or photocopier as she calls it)) but I noticed just how NOT user friendly this setup she has is. It assumes you know that TVs have different inputs and that you have to tell the TV which to ‘use’, it assumes you know that different remotes control different device volumes and it assumes you know how to navigate through onscreen menus using a remote, none of which comes naturally to people and is all learned behaviour.
 
tbh i have trouble with mum and dads set up ,having to go through a ridiculously complex routine with their controls , i have an old tech but lush panasonic plasma with built in freesat ,my sony blu ray player can be controlled with tv remote and kicks in automatically as does my chromecast all very simple
 
The worst was when we had the digital switchover when everyone went from terrestrial 5 channel tv from the tv aerial to the digital freeview box. I worked about 8 years ago fitting the satellite dishes and installing them in peoples houses many who were elderly or living alone.
It was really sad trying to explain to them how to navigate menu’s and which buttons do what when they were used to pressing buttons 1-5 to get a channel for the last 40 years. We got called back to many houses numerous times because they just couldn’t use the remote and program guide.
 
jsmoke said:
Well put it this way. When you think the discovery of the electron was only around 100 years ago and before that people lived almost in mud huts and died much younger. I think it a no-brainer. I think voice commands or visual commands(whatever they may be) will come into play over the next few decades. Need I say more. Automation through technology is the obvious way things are going. I can remember(very barely) when my dad used to have to crank up the car in the morning to start it. Morris Minor or Morris Oxford I think, not sure. Give it time though, let the boffins boffin and things will soon become like Airwolf - where scanners can read our thought and extact commands accordingly.
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Mud huts a 100 years ago? My old house was built 600 years ago from brick, wood and plaster.
 
It's a genuine 'issue' I think, my dad is 70 but is just about OK with technology these days. I have had to help him out a couple of times though in terms of working through how to setup multiple devices, he kind of struggles with the concept of knowing what input channel he needs to be on, what sequence he needs to do things in. He can normally get there but explaining things to him is painful; you know how nerds like us can zip through a menu and just know the type of setting we are looking for? With him, a 15s job becomes a 5min job because you have to explain every option to him, then explain why other options don't work, then let him replay the whole sequence himself, then write it down on a piece of paper.

Bit of a faff even at my house to be honest, what with TV, Sky, AV Receiver, PS4 etc. I'm fine with it but if we have a grandparent staying we just make sure it is left on Sky all the time.

That said, I think if you are prepared to invest a bit of time and money you can probably make this sort of thing a lot easier via universal remotes and the like. I also think with more and more content going digital there is less need for having so many different devices plugged in.

To be honest, if I was setting someone up with new kit, who has never had a DVD player before, I don't think a SCART DVD player would be my first port of call, I'd probably look at whether she could get the content she wants digitally and ideally through the BT Box she already uses. I appreciate this may not be feasible if there are specific DVDs required but that's what came to mind for me.

^regarding digital switchover, I remember about 5 years ago sorting it out for my Aunt and Uncle (70s).
 
This seems to apply to a lot of people old and young but it's not that they don't know how to do it, it's that they refuse to learn how to. I've have a hard time in work with people refusing to learn how to do simple things because 'it's computers stuff I don't understand'. Yeah because your putting no effort in try to listen to what I say and do it yourself. :rolleyes: My granddad is 76 when he wants to do something on a computer he hasn't done, I teach him how or he looks it up and actually wants to learn how to do it himself.
 
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