Old People and Technology

My grandparents have some pretty nice technology, but sometimes they just don't know what to do with it. They have a 60 inch flat screen and a nice Blu-Ray player with iPod dock, but they just watch Larry King Live with it.

My grandpa now has an iPhone. I am not kidding when I say this, but he likes the manual more than the actual phone. Weird, because via the iPhone one can pull up the same manual online...but for whatever reason he prefers the manual. I ask him how the iPhone is going and he says

Just great! I just got to the chapter on music downloading.

To his defense he is actually learning the technology and using it, not in a very practical sense, rather as proof of concept. Not bad for an 85 year old. He is downloading music, mainly opera (Madam Butterfly and Nessun Dorma). He sends text messages sporadically to the grandkids

I bet you didn't think I could text!

He still needs to learn about how awesome the internet is from a desktop before he can realize the beauty of accessing it on a phone. He would love to read every newspaper in print, but he does not know that it can be a reality. He loves old math texts but a niche search engine, even if it is offered by Google like GoogleScholar or GoogleBooks, is just beyond his reach.

I am starting to think that we need technology that speaks ordinary language to its users. One great example of this is the Harmony One remote control. It is a smart remote, not a regular programmable multi-remote, that performs actions like "Watch TV", "Watch Movie", or "Listen to Music". Anyone who has ever networked a home stereo know what controls do what and the functions and limitations of each peice of electronic equipment. To my mom or grandparents they just scream to the closest person

I just want to watch the 10 o'clock news!

rather than learning how everything works. This remote takes care of them. Press "Watch TV" and it:

1. Turns on the TV
2. Puts it on the correct input
3. Turns on the stereo
4. Puts the stereo on the correct setting(complete with best surround sound setting...but they don't know that)
5. Customizes the remote for the specific action

I think a quick training on signal inputs and outputs would solve everybody's problems. It involves a quick flow chart of where the video and audio signal come from(CD, DVD, CABLE, DVR, etc) Then break down what devices pass the signal. And finally show how a signal is outputted via speakers and TV screen.

Its that easy.