Google and Old Age Homes

-

Do tech companies have community outreach programs for seniors in old age homes? Probably not, and we are using Google as a generic term for tech companies. 

They can sponsor tech staff for people in care. Homes for the aged should have technology staff on a part time basis to help residents with the internet, their phones and all online related activity. Why? Because kids and grandchildren are very busy and don’t have time to teach them online dangers and benefits.

The main reason for hiring computer experts for senior citizens in care, is plain reality: we do personal business online whether we like it or not.

1. the government pays their pension and other entitlements online.

2. doctors and dental appointments are booked and confirmed online.

3. banks send statements via email. Pre-approved is the buzz word for almost anything. You can be pre-approved to buy a house or vehicle.

4. service providers sometimes send things in PDF. What is PDF? Seniors who were in business before retirement obviously know what it is, but there are many who don’t.

5. most senior citizens have cell phones. They can’t have a home phone because they live in institutions.

6. their families send them photos/videos which they cannot open because they don’t understand their phones very well.

7. most of their friends have laptops. Some are even on social media.

8. If they are on social media, so-called friends and followers can defraud them in the name of ‘love’.

9. hackers are on the prowl, offering them ‘free gifts’. How can someone who doesn’t know you give you a gift? Common sense out of the window, for all of us, not just elderly people. Hey! those hackers break into airline companies’ servers.

10. Microsoft, Google, etc. love updates and they can drive you crazy. I swear the aim of updates is to throw out of the window things you’ve mastered about your machine or device, so that you can start all over again. It is even worse for someone living alone in an old age home somewhere.

Technology support for retirement homes can be part time, because some residents are very comfortable with computers and smart phones. Others are not. The tech person is there to attend to personal online problems and also provide tips on how to be fix bugs. 

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

Einstein Passengers

-
Image
Being a passenger is very stressful.   You must listen to the owner of the car, nod and grumble yes to everything he says because you don’t want to piss him off. Two things can happen if you disagree with the driver: he can lose concentration and you all end up in a mash-up accident or stop the car and ask you to get out.   That is the driver’s prerogative.   You must listen to me if you are a passenger in my car.   Let’s flip the script for a minute and sympathise with the driver if she has a passenger who is more intelligent than Albert Einstein. He talks non-stop.   It is all about himself, how right he is, how good he is, how stupid his boss is. Einstein is also a driving instructor.   “Careful.   Look at that guy.   Is he crazy or something? ” says Einstein. Einstein is the unofficial pilot.   He presses imaginary brakes in the passenger seat when the driver stops abruptly for a guy who is texting on his bicycle. A certain Einstein took it to another level.   S
Read more