Technology for Seniors

Updated on October 21st, 2022

On his visit back home to India from abroad, Ramesh Sharma gifted a Smart Phone to his father and said “Dad this smart phone is as powerful as a laptop and will help you in organising most of your activities.”  The Dad was very pleased and said “Thank You son, I will definitely use it.”

After six months,  when he visited home again, he enquired from his father “Dad, Has the new  phone helped you in getting  you organised  better?”  His father remarked ” Yes, I am using it effectively for WhatsApp video calls and social media sites apart from normal voice calls.” “But Dad, this smart phone is capable of doing much more.” retorted Ramesh. Dad said “I am not very conversant with the other applications of the phone.” “Ok Dad, give me some time, I will set up everything useful on your phone provided you promise to use it” said Ramesh”.

After Dad’s confirmation, Ramesh did not only set up the phone  but also demonstrated to his Dad on how to use all the new applications that he had installed. His Dad was an educated man but is was just that he was  not very technology-savvy and was hesitant to try new apps on his smart phone.

After six months, Mr Sharma, the  Ramesh’s dad started using his smart phone extensively. He not only mastered almost all the features of his smart phone but also started educating and demonstrating to his friends. He realised that one does not have to be technology-savvy to use the Apps today, as most of them are very user-friendly. Now his smart phone is helping him in the following activities:

-Reading News

-Setting Alarms and Reminders

-Making a ToDo list, shopping list and notes

 -Online banking, shopping and investing

-Giving current information about weather

-Navigation assistance and traffic information

-Assisting him in Exercise, Fitness  and Meditation Routines through Apps.

-Playing music and movies/videos for entertainment

-Xeroxing, Printing and Faxing his documents

 -Keeping in touch with family near and far through social media, Skype, FaceTime and email

-Making travel arrangements

-Getting medical advice and information including doctor reports, test results and care giving for seniors

-Sharing and viewing pictures

-Helping him to fight against loneliness and isolation

-On line Educational courses

-As a remote control for controlling almost all the smart home devices installed at home

Mr Sharma’s example is not an isolated case. We all are hesitant to use the new technology. Over the years, the technology has changed our entire living pattern. It has revolutionized almost every aspect of our life, from entertainment to health care and from connecting with family and friends to connecting with your car.

The advent of internet has changed the entire world. Today nearly 55% of people in the world have an access to internet and nearly  36% of all internet  users own a smart phones. Day by day, the global smartphone penetration is only inreasing.

The PCs have been replaced by Tablets and smart phones with a near matching functionality. The Smart Phones give us an immense capability to re-organize ourselves to achieve  a better output and quality of life.

Like Mr Sharma, most people use Smart Phones mainly for communicating with others either on voice or video or through social networking sites.  However, these smart devices are capable of much more. Right with the alarm going off in the morning till putting your lights off at night, these devices can do  a lot for you. 

There are a large number of mobile applications available today, many of them, free of cost  which can add value to these phones and make our life much easier. These apps can help saving time, efforts and help you organise yourself better. If exploited effectively, these can automate many of our tasks.  There is either a general lack of awareness or hesitation in using these applications, especially among the Fifty Plus generation.

Aim is to bring out as to how to use Smart Phones and Tabs for easing our day-to-day life.

While I am sure most of us already using social media applications like Facebook, YouTube,  Instagram, Whatsapp, twitter etc and other popular entertainment cum learning application like  Netflix etc,  yet there are many more useful applications which are available which can make our life easier. Most of them  can be easily downloaded from the store without any charges.

I have made an attempt to list a few most useful applications which you must give a try.   I have tried each one of them and have found them to be of great help.  Depending upon general requirements and usage, I have divided these application into two categories viz; ‘Must Have’ and ‘May Have’.

‘Must Have Apps’

You Tube.  YouTube is a great place to discover new things, learn and watch all entertainment and information videos free of cost.

Face book. It is the most popular social media site which has been integrated so completely into our lives that it seems almost superfluous to even mention it in a list of useful apps. Over 1 billion of the 7 billion in the world use it.

Skype. Skype is a user friendly app which allows people to communicate with each other by voice using a microphone, by video using a webcam or camera in your smartphone or tablet, by IM (instant messaging), or a combination of all three.

Whatsapp.  It is the most inexpensive way to stay in contact. Just connect to Wifi and chat away for next to nothing. You can catch up with your family and  friends via video and send  your latest favourite photos.

Twitter. This app is great for news, networking and ‘tweeting’ what’s on your mind in just 280 characters.

Google Maps.  It is a web mapping service which offers satellite imagery, street maps, 360° panoramic views of streets, real-time traffic conditions and route planning for traveling by foot, car, bicycle and air or public transport.

Cam Scanner. A very effective application for photo copying the documents and images and saving, sharing, faxing, printing or exporting them directly from your Smart Phone. The clarity of the image and their handling becomes much better.

True Caller.  It is an integrated Caller ID service.  It saves time, gives peace of mind and gives safety and security and helping avoiding unwanted calls. 

Evernote.  It is a very powerful organiser cum notebook application with option of saving web pages, screen shots and many more in the note itself.

Snapseed. It is a photo editing software which has many photo enhancing features. It is very easy to use which makes it the best photo editing application.

Flipboard. It is news sharing app wherein readers can flip through articles,  images and videos in a magazine format. It is again very easy to use. You can do without a Newspaper.

Google Photos.  All your photos are backed up safely, organized and labeled automatically, so you can find them fast, and share them how you like. If linked to Google Home, you can view these pictures on TV screen just by giving voice command.

Pocket. The application allows the user to save an article or web page to remote servers for later reading. The article is then sent to the user’s Pocket list (synced to all of their devices) for offline reading. Pocket removes clutter from articles, makes reading easier and also comes with its own Text to Speech feature.

Highly Recommended Apps for Seniors

Headspace. It is a meditation app which offers free  Basics pack, a 10-day beginner’s course that guides you through the essentials of meditation and mindfulness. It will be of help to those 50 plus, who have been wanting to do meditation, but have not been able to start due to lack of motivation or guidance.

Medisafe. This smart app reminds you  when you or somebody else needs to take a medication  through an alarm . Simply input the medications you take and when, then log your entry as you go. You can sync the app with chosen people, meaning gentle prompts can be given if a dose has been missed.

Magnifying glass with light. This app is extremely helpful for those seniors, who love to read but have a deteriorating eyes sight. The app has a magnifying glass with light  which illuminates and magnifies (zoom in and out) any reading material making it easier to read.

Fitness trackers. Fitness tracker apps on the mobile phones make it easy for older adults to monitor activity and sleep, ensuring that they get enough exercise.

 Voice Reader. It is a free app which is available both on android and ios. You can either manually type text, upload a text file or enter a web page URL by tapping on the Add icon on the top navigation bar.

Digital Personal Assistants.

These digital assistants are interactive and execute a number of instructions just on voice commands. These devices/applications are packed with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and can perform many tasks with a fairly high degree of reliability. They are a boon for elders. They can help you with

• Making To Do list, Shopping List and updating you calender.
• Setting Alarms and Reminders and converting voice messages to text and sending them.
• Playing Music, Live News, Weather and Traffic.
• Home automation like switching on/off lights, TV and other appliances.
• Remembering your Passwords and places where you kept your things
• Reminding you to take medicines in time, assisting in shopping on line and even booking cabs.

Siri is the personal assistant residing in Apple devices.

Cortana is the name given to digital assistant which resides in Windows PC and smart phones.

Alexa is the personal assistant residing in Amazon Echo which is a bluetooth speaker packed with artificial intelligence.

Google assistant is the personal assistant in android phones and also resides in seperate bluetooth speakers Google Home which is packed with artificial intelligence.

Demonstration of Amazon Alexa and Google Home

‘May Have Apps’

Google Translate.  Google’s free service instantly translates words, phrases, and web pages between English and over 100 other languages. A boon for one who travels  and interacts with foreign nationals. A very good aid to those who are learning a foreign language.

Kindle E-Book Reader.  Amazon Kindle pulls ahead of the pack of eBook readers with its access to a huge library of content, which includes free books and content from various publishers. You can even listen to the ebooks by selecting them on Echo digital assistant Alexa.

Drop Box.  A very good App for file sharing and storage. If  your work involves mobility, this app allows you to share your files and provides you with 2 GB (Free Storage) to work from anywhere.

Trello.  Incredibly easy to use for making all your lists. Great mobile app.  It’s free. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details

There are over 2.5 million Apps in Play/App stores and more are being added everyday. I have listed only the most popular and useful Apps which I have tried myself. I felt that they are most useful for 50 plus generation. You may find many more apps which are specific to your requirement. So, do not hesitate to download and use it. If you find that it is not serving your purpose, you may uninstall them whenever you feel.

Make Your TV Smart

In case you are not owning a Smart TV,  it is possible to add smart features to your existing LCD and LED TV by attaching some external devices to your HDMI port.  These devices are not very expensive  and can stream a host of movies, videos, TV shows and other programs to your TV thus making it Smart. Here is how you can do it.

So how many of these smart features , we at  50 plus are using. If not, now is the time to explore and exploit the  capabilities of technology available to us, become better organised and improve our Quality of Our Life.

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