Nothing stops the over-seventy crowd from getting active on computers more than not knowing how to do something, or simply being overwhelmed with advances in technology. If your parents are struggling to get active with their home computer, offer some insight and stay away from techy terms that they really don’t need to know about.
Explaining that RAM = Random Access Memory probably means nothing to someone that didn’t grow up on computers. Explaining what the hard drive does won’t help grandma or grandpa send emails or edit photos.
Start by finding out what your parents are having trouble with. If it’s sending or receiving emails, walk them through the process step by step. Many older computer users have trouble navigating through the Internet because they’ve never done it. Again, go through the process step by step. If grandpa is interested in World War II aviation, show him how to get to Google or Yahoo! and help sift through the hits that come up on the search engine. Some people simply have trouble navigating using the mouse. A short tutorial explaining double-clicks and right click capabilities should do the trick.
If you’re helping someone that is advanced in age, it’s often a good idea to write things down so they can remember when you’re not there. And help them find easy to use software like xvid for doing things like watching movies and viewing photos. Another area where seniors struggle is saving their documents properly. If you find their computer desktop to be bogged down with photos that have been edited or documents that haven’t been put away properly, help them devise a system for saving. It is recommended that everyone have an external hard drive, and hooking it up for your parents and then showing them how to categorize and safely save things will be extremely helpful.
Check in every so often. Sometimes parents don’t like to ask questions that seem small or trivial. Your help could give your loved ones much relief when it comes to computer technology.