This weekend I had the unique opportunity to set my 82 year old grandfather up with a new iMac. Its a big jump up from his 10 year old Compaq laptop. What I didn’t anticipate was how confusing the simplicity of the Mac OS could be for him…at first.
The first few hours it was a big learning curve because folders were named different (Trash instead of Recycle Bin).I was surprised at how much memorization was put on the location of icons and folder and not understanding the process of why certain folders and icons did different things.
But the real eye opener was that it took 10 years my grandfather to fully understand his PC laptop but he was getting the hang of the Mac simplicity in just a few hours.
As technology gets more advanced yet simplified it is becoming much easier for older persons to embrace. Which means using this technology in your funeral home isn’t going to hinder an older persons ability to engage. For example, I have talked with a number of funeral directors who aren’t embracing iPad registry books because they are afraid to many elderly people with not use it and will become frustrated. Yet all the statistics we read and our own experiences are enforcing just the opposite.
Take a look…..
The Daily is a first-of-its-kind daily national news publication built exclusively as an application for touchscreens and emerging digital platforms.
The Daily is my everyday newspaper. It’s interactive and provides a funny experience when reading the worlds latest news. Last week The Daily began a video series titled “Granny Tech” where they help Oregon grandparents Bruce and Esther Huffman learn to love our favorite technology.
The Huffman’s became famous a few years ago when their granddaughter recorded them trying to use a new webcam and then posted it on Youtube where it when viral (over 10,000,000 views).
Last week The Daily introduced the Huffman’s to Siri. Watch below to see how they did:
Millions of people laughed at their efforts to master a webcam in their famous YouTube video. Now The Daily helps Oregon grandparents Bruce and Esther Huffman learn to love our favorite technology. In Part One of our series, they get to know Siri.
I’ve helped a number of funeral homes implement digital
guest registry and have found that there is more fear among the funeral
directors than the seniors. Once the
funeral home staff becomes comfortable with the technology, helping guests sign
the registry becomes a meaningful way to engage with them.