How do you help your (older) relatives to get into the latest technologies?
You probably have someone in your family who isn’t very tech-savvy and occasionally needs help with technology. Many of us have grown up with it, but older generations (or simply those with less experience) often find it challenging.
How do you help them navigate and learn to use modern technology?
Personally, I’ve often been the one teaching seniors how to use different devices and apps.
I always demonstrated the task first and then let them practice it themselves.
I focused only on the essentials (such as finding stores and discounts or checking the weather), although the expectations keep increasing as new technologies and features appear; I had to dose them slowly. :D
They need to have the device at home and available so they can continue practising on their own.
Fun fact [observation]: I noticed that many older adults find it very difficult to focus on two things at the same time. E.g., typing something on a tablet and simultaneously looking at the text field to see what they’ve written. They could usually concentrate on only one of those tasks at a time. It made me realise how much younger, more tech-savvy generations take divided attention like their natural skill.
Replies
I completely agree with this.
I've noticed the same thing when helping my parents and older relatives. The biggest challenge usually isn't the technology itself it's that every step feels new and requires conscious attention.
What works best for me is breaking everything into very small tasks and repeating them several times. Once a single action becomes familiar, their confidence grows quickly.
Interestingly, I've also seen that many seniors are incredibly patient and methodical when learning something new, which is often the opposite of younger generations who tend to click everything as fast as possible 😄
@prashant_patil14 and in my own use of computers, I've tended to hit the keys too quickly by accident! Usually, I'm very patient and methodical when I'm learning something new, especially the AI tools.
@ros_boundy 😄 That's actually a good habit to have being patient and methodical is probably the best way to learn new AI tools.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@prashant_patil14 But I am a bit afraid of how the older generation started using tech massively – especially Facebook is a way of yelling at politics :D
@busmark_w_nika 😄 Very true! Sometimes the people who resisted technology the most end up becoming the most active Facebook users.
The bigger challenge now is helping them figure out what information online is actually trustworthy.
I usually walk them through the flow multiple times but make sure I focus on exactly what they want to achieve and make it as simple as I can. For example; last week, I had to teach my grandfather how to use notes app to write. It wasn't an easy feat but he learnt the basics at least which is opening the app and writing, he still doesn't know how to use other features (like formatting texts, sharing, etc) but we are working on that.
Your observation is one I have noticed too, they do find it difficult to focus on two things at a time whereas it has become a norm for the younger generation. But then, most of them can focus on multiple non-technical activities.
I wonder why that is.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@alochukwu I think it is a sort of practice and creating a habit. But that habit costs us way much (our attention).
@busmark_w_nika So true
That last point is the whole thing, and the question above about why they handle non technical things fine answers itself once you reframe it as load rather than multitasking.
Cooking while talking feels like two tasks but both are automatic, so neither uses much working memory. A new app is the opposite. Nothing is automated yet, so typing, watching the screen and holding the goal in mind all draw on the same scarce attention at once. It is not that they cannot multitask, it is that none of the steps have become free yet.
That is also why your method works. Demonstrating first, dosing slowly and leaving the device at home all do the same job: get one motion to automatic before adding the next. Two more that help. Strip out every choice that is not the task, since stray buttons and menus each pull on the same attention. And anchor the new thing to a habit they already have offline, because a tool that maps to something familiar lands faster than one taught cold.
I build software for people who are not technical and the rule holds at every age. When someone stalls it is rarely capacity, it is that we put three things in front of them that each needed full attention.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@oshylabs IMO, everything in the beginning is very difficult to achieve... so. Once they are introduced to technology, it is way easeier.
@busmark_w_nika Agreed, and that fits the load point. The first hour is the steep part because nothing is automatic yet. After a few reps the basic motions go quiet and free up attention, so the next thing feels easier even though it is objectively harder. The trap is stopping inside that first hour, before the basics turn automatic, because then every session restarts from the steep part. Get them past the first cliff and the curve does the rest.
It depends how old but i would usually start with something simple so that they dont get overwhelmed at first , let them practice and then gradually move to complicated things. My Grandmother when alive could use mobile easily at 95 and could do all her task ( for her it would be listening to songs on youtube :)) , but after telling her ones or twice how we have to let her use it herself ! My parents who are still older can do most of the things but dont know what is AI but rest they pretty much can handle by themselves . That also started by teaching them how to use smartphones gradually payments, although they were scammed couple of times but they learned and now can understand how it works!
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@pranay19 My dad started using AI, but he calls it "AL" :D because he thinks that "I" stands for the "L".
@busmark_w_nika I think the best approach is to reduce the cognitive load as much as possible. One task at a time, repeat it a few times, then let them do it without taking the device back too quickly. A lot of the struggle is not intelligence or willingness — it’s that every small button, field, and notification is asking for full attention at once.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@alpertayfurr I am trying to be more focused, that's for sure!
@busmark_w_nika Exactly :)
When my parents were still alive, it was my Dad who was willing to give the 'new fandangled gadgets' a go! He took up with a laptop first, and I needed to show him all the steps to get it working for him. He needed to write it all down, so that it was more anchored into his memory, in hiw words and ways of access.
I took the time, he took the time and I'd get quite frequent phone calls to drop in! Thankfully I didn't live too far away at the time.
Mum had totally no interest in using anything other than her digital camera that Dad got her, and I had to do the downloading to the laptop, which was then put onto a DVD so she could see them on the TV.
That has been my own experience with the older adult.
I'm 66 now, and thankfully I have a good grasp of most of the technology as I've had a desktop or laptop computer in some form since 1982!
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@ros_boundy I admire how your dad was proactive. Such a spirit can learn anything because there is a will. In most older people, I see the opposite. They refuse to learn something new because they have a good excuse: "They are old." I used to hear this from my father. And then, it was my fault that I didn't teach him. LOL
I remember my colleague mentioning her mother's story.
Most parents can use the phone and apps like WhatsApp and even IG in some cases.
But she mentioned that her mother's friends called her up for her regular weekly call, and they both ended up discussing how the friend's son introduced her to GPT and how it could answer everything based on a text or a voice note. My colleague's mother was fascinated and asked my colleague to download the app for her as well and show her how it works.
She mentioned 'My mother thought GPT is out of this world. What a kind human being to make this app to help everyone'
While here we were shifting from GPT to Claude.
I think it takes patience with the older generation; they have questions, they are curious, and want to know how the world is working now.
I agree with everything everyone says but I will add, it's patience and then there is a lot of patience :)
the divided attention observation is so interesting and I never thought about it that way. with my parents it's always the same pattern... I set everything up perfectly, write down the steps, and two weeks later they call because "it stopped working" which usually means they accidentally changed one setting. the biggest thing that helped was just reducing the number of apps they use to the absolute minimum. they don't need 10 apps, they need 3 that work reliably
I've found that the biggest mistake is trying to teach too much at once. If I show someone three new things, they'll usually remember none of them.
What works best for me is teaching one specific task at a time and letting them repeat it themselves. I also write down simple step-by-step instructions they can refer back to later. The goal isn't to make them tech experts - it's to help them confidently do the things they actually care about.