iPhones for [Sort of] Old People

[Elisha]

Lots of old people use iPhones. I sometimes go to the Swiss Chalet by a retirement home and most of the folks that live in that retirement home come there for supper. Pretty much all of them have iPhones. And if I were to guess, at least half or more were probably recommended or bought by their children for them. These are folks 65 and over btw.

 

[Fu Manchu]

I give up :|

 

[rjcchan]

Why giving up? You got your answer . You can put the iTunes library on an external drive. you can also put the xml file on an external. That way it can be plugged into any computer that is running the appropriate version of iTunes. The how-to depends on what you decide to do.

 

[Qbnkelt]

My Non-Tech savvy Mother and Aunt both took to the iPad in record time. It just takes Patience and some babysitting from your end in teaching your mother. The most important thing is to re-assure her that she can't "mess up" the iPad or iPhone... be there for her when it goes wrong.

Get her an unlimited data plan and then you won't have to worry about any rogue apps or explaining differences in Wifi/Mobile.

PS. Would it kill you to facetime your mother every once in a while?

Several aunts and uncles and great aunts and great uncles here who are in their 80s, 70s, and 60s. We wemt.drom being a BlackBerry family to being an iPhone family, including my ma who passed away last summer. My da died without entering the smartphone age.

They all transitioned easily to the iPhone. Some need how now and then with iTunes but none has ever suffered a catastrophe they could not handle.

We're an Apple family, the whole clan. There's always someone to help but it's largely unnecessary.

I believe the OP will be pleasantly surprised how easily folks who are not tech savvy take to the iPhone. The only hangup that I have found with them is iTunes.

 

[Qbnkelt]

One final thought for the young ones on us "old" ones--

Unless we have an illness, we don't think any different then we did 40/50/60 years ago. We only realize we are old when we look in the mirror.

Aaaahhhhh the cruelty of youth.....

I had a nervous breakdown when people started calling me M'am.

I'll go into a fetal position and refuse to leave the house when I hit 60!!!!

 

[ABC5S]

I live in a 55+ community, and many have the iPhone, some with LG, some with Samsung. Most with those Obama phones. Those with a smartphone, use only the camera, little texting, and of course phone calls, nothing more. As has been mentioned, the kids bought the phones for their parents. Me (70 yrs), I love the tech world, bought the iPhone but only use the Camera, very little Texting, Phone calls, some SIRI use, Weather app, and a few Safari searches, and not forgetting, once I used the GPS to find the Apple store within a very large Mall . No movies, no music what so ever.

 

[Pspressart]

I am 66. I have an iPhone 6s. Use it for reading email, texting, GPS in new places, calendar, reminders, music, some games, alarm clock, weather, news, keeping track of my blood pressure and talking to others on the phone. I am the person the others in my office come to for help when their smartphones are misbehaving.

 

[Qbnkelt]

I'm 24, so most everyone over 45 is "old" to me still. Regardless, some people prefer not to constantly adapt to changing technology. While Apple products are easy to use, smartphones and tablets aren't for everyone. My parents use them but don't know everything about them.

You will find that the older you get the more the label of old gets pushed to the right. Before you know it you will be grappling with definitions of "late middle age" vs "senior citizen"
I know because after hitting 40, middle age magically moved to 60.

 

[Qbnkelt]

I don't know everything about an iphone either. I don't know everything about windows, or linux. But I'm not a techno-phobe as you are implying some of the "older" generations might be.

Heck some of us running IT divisions are on the far side of 40.

 

[Clix Pix]

I remember way back when I was young, the idea of being 70 years old was unfathomable. Now, I've passed that particular landmark and don't really feel all that different than I did 30 or 40 years ago except that my hair is a different color now and the glasses prescription has changed into trifocals.....

 

[Fu Manchu]

This thread is so off topic it's rediculuous.

 

[ABC5S]

This thread is so off topic it's rediculuous.

Until you get to our age Youngster

 

[5105973]

Aaaahhhhh the cruelty of youth.....

I had a nervous breakdown when people started calling me M'am.

I'll go into a fetal position and refuse to leave the house when I hit 60!!!!

Lol, I try to remember it's all relative. When I was 18 years old, a 25 year old classmate in my Freshman math class asked me out. I went home and told my mom in a tone of shocked horror that "an old guy asked me on a date." My mom asked me just how old this elder gentleman was and nearly died laughing when I told her he was 25. I was shocked that such an "old person" was a college freshman like myself. I had a rather narrow perspective back then, to say the least.

I'm turning 50 in a few months. I'm really excited about it. I've been waiting ages for a chance to be a grumpy old lady!

I visited my 79 year old dad recently and was shocked to find that he has gotten incredibly savvy with his desktop computer. He can't even text on his iPhone 5s, yet he managed to build a wicked Windows based gaming rig and can do stuff in Windows 10 that make my eyes cross. I abandoned my desktop a couple of years ago so I'm now the ignorant one asking my dad the questions.
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This thread is so off topic it's rediculuous.

Sorry I would try to help you but I'm practically 50 and my younger husband handles all the tech issues for the elders in our family. Unfortunately he does not often participate in forums. He is registered here but won't tell me his user name. He figured me out right away, though.

Edit: sorry I realized it sounds like I'm being sarcastic. But my husband really IS younger than I am and he really is the tech savvy one who also handles all the family accounts, and I think we probably do handle it all differently as Americans and customers or AT&T

 

[Ladybug]

This thread is so off topic it's rediculuous.

"Holds my ipad at arms length" Is that words on my screen or just a smudge on my eye glasses?

 

[Pjrufus]

This thread is so off topic it's rediculuous.

I guess this is the last thread you'll post mentioning "old people."

 

[I7guy]

This thread is so off topic it's rediculuous.

At least it's off topic in not a bad way.

 

[Clix Pix]

I'm always amused when people find it surprising that "old people" can figure out today's technology...... Who do you think were the young people behind its development through the years??!!!!

 

[GeekyGrannie]

I'm always amused when people find it surprising that "old people" can figure out today's technology...... Who do you think were the young people behind its development through the years??!!!!

We know all about today's technology because we read about it in the science fiction stories of our youth!