Big Buttons» Big Buttons – free software to help seniors with computers!

Mobile phones for seniors

Big Button — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:16:34 +0000

Some common problems I have heard regarding “seniors & mobile phones” are:

The phone is too small
There are too many (useless) features
How do I even make a call?
How do I answer the damn thing?!
I can’t see the screen
My fingers are too big for the keys
Where’s the phone gone? I can’t find it!

I’m interested to hear what people have to say about the best way to teach somebody who is new to mobile/ cell phones how to perform basic tasks, such as phoning a friend and answering it when it rings.

Any ideas?

Mobile phones can be very complicated for seniors (or anybody)!

Cry for help

Big Button — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:13:23 +0000

To turn Big Buttons into the most helpful tool for seniors, we really need to hear from seniors!

We also need to hear from anybody who has experience with training (or trying to train) seniors to use:

Computers (PCs & laptops, which are actually different to use!)
Mobile phones
GPS devices
DVD players
… anything technological!

Please leave your suggestions as a comment to this post, or send me and e-mail via the online contact form of this site. If your suggestion is useful and original I will make sure you receive a free copy of the Big Buttons CD when the development is complete, to say thanks.

Development on the horizon

Big Button — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:15:45 +0000

I’m pleased to announce that it seems very likely, one way or another, that Big Buttons will soon be significantly improved to include tutorials and a range of other functions to really make Big Buttons a ‘one stop shop’ for seniors & computers.

Ideally, if everything goes to plan, Big Buttons will not only allow somebody who is totally new to computers to perform basic functions, but will guide the user through the computing experience and allow them to perform increasingly complex tasks, until voila – no more need for Big Buttons at all!

I will let you know how things go, but at the moment the development programme appears to be 6 months long, so there won’t be much if anything to show until August – September 2010.

Useful website for seniors

Big Button — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:11:40 +0000

This website:

http://www.seniorsguidetocomputers.com/

… is extremely useful! Have a look!

Big Buttons in the news

Big Button — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:10:54 +0000

Albert & Logan News 28.10.09

If you know of a news paper that would be interested in writing about Big Buttons to help get more seniors online, please let us know!

Computers and the Ageing Population

Big Button — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:39:10 +0000

Technology is not only responsible for the shedding of jobs through making certain manual labour redundant… it is also responsible for allowing people to work longer. It’s easy to dwell on the negative aspects of the technologisation of the world, but this won’t get anybody anywhere, especially when this digital trend is moving so fast and on such a grand scale.

The phenomenon in the Western World of the “Ageing Population” means that there are more and more retirees requiring pensions and fewer and fewer labourers producing the revenue that will pay for the retirees. The obvious cure (or at least mitigation against) is to allow seniors to produce wealth for longer.

If seniors learn how to use computers, which in most cases is as simple as overcoming fear of the unknown, they become far more appetising to employers. Operating a computer does involve many months of practice, to reach a level where one might consider oneself “competent” or at least “confident”, but the individual tasks involved with computing are quite simple. With time, computing can be mastered by just about anyone.

Consider this: if you were an employer, would you hire a young, untested candidate with proficiency in computing, or would you hire a 65 year old veteran of your industry who is also competent in computing?

In many situations, the latter option is far more appealing (reduced necessity for training, value for money etc) and the main thing that’s stopping this recruitment scenario from being the norm is a lack of understanding of computing by seniors!

If we solve this problem, there are too many benefits to count.

Here are a few:

Our economy will reach a new level of efficiency, as wisdom of seniors is injected back into industries
Seniors themselves will enjoy the many benefits that remaining in work can bring (with the option of retirement still available, of course)
Young people will be forced to learn real skills, as opposed to mere computer proficiency in order to compete for jobs – boosting the overall skill base of the economy
Seniors will enjoy the many benefits that IT literacy can bring to their lives

Benefits of computing for seniors

Big Button — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:26:46 +0000

I thought this article by Susan Kliebenstein summed up the benefits of computers for seniors nicely:

When your family has moved away, your friends have died, your knees sometimes buckle beneath you, and your eyes can no longer decipher below the headlines it seems like your world is narrowing down. The television is 90% junk and the radio is pretty one-dimensional. But the internet… Ah! the internet is like opening up a whole new world that is expanding every day.

Seniors, more than anyone else, need to have computers and be on-line. Computer games and puzzles can keep one’s mind active and challenged. E-texts can be downloaded and read in a font large enough to see without a magnifying glass, and creative hobbies like photography, writing, genealogy and music are all given new life once the computer is turned on.

Turning seniors on to computers is not always easy, but with a little nudge and some tempting programs most seniors can get over their initial hesitation. Email is a great motivator. Encouraging grandpa to keep in touch with his grandchildren via daily email can lighten his life immensely. Sharing pictures over the net is also a way to keep elders in the loop as children grow and become involved in sports or travel.

An online game of bridge can keep the game fresh even when there’s not one going on close by, and we all know that solitaire can be addicting enough to pass the wee hours of the morning when one is unable to sleep. The distances can seem to melt away if uncle Ed is able to share an online game of race-cars with his 10 year old nephew, or a game of hearts with his brother George.

Social networking seems made to order for seniors. They may not use the networking sites in the same way as their younger counterparts, but never-the-less exchanging notes with people of similar interests and situations can lighten the load and open up great friendships. We used to have pen-pals, but the wait between correspondence was somewhat limiting. The internet has made the process much more immediate and enjoyable.

Finally, seniors should have computers so they can leave their memories and thoughts for all of us to appreciate. The world wide web is a vast collection of human records! We should be encouraging our elders to add their insights and experiences to the fascinating stories that are already recorded on the net. As the years go by our elders will have grown up with computers and it will be natural for them to use their computers extensively in their retirement and old age. But for right now, we should not wait. We don’t want todays elders to miss what the internet can offer, and we don’t want the internet to miss out on what they can offer!

Phones for seniors

Big Button — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:06:43 +0000

Check out this great article by Alexis Brion regarding accessible mobile telephones for seniors:

Telephone design for seniors

An Australian website also provides a senior-friendly phone: http://seniorphone.com.au/

A mobile phone designed for seniors.

Big Buttons and Eldy

Big Button — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:59:54 +0000

I stumbled upon a piece of software known as “Eldy” recently, and I was very impressed!

It is similar to Big Buttons in the way it makes useful computing tasks simple and intuitive to access:

Eldy is a great piece of free software for seniors!

I think that this software is fantastic for those seniors and other computer users who do not wish to learn about more advanced computing tasks.

Big Buttons is not as self-contained as Eldy and is more of a pair of training wheels in the sense that a user of Big Buttons will still have to ride the bike in order to move forward (i.e. know how to save a document in a word processor and use the ‘back’ and ‘forward’ buttons in the Internet browser). Eldy is more like a motorised wheelchair, to follow this analogy.

I recommend that you try Eldy and Big Buttons and see which is more useful for you!

Download Eldy by clicking here and following the links.

Download Big Buttons by clicking here.

Youngsters, get your granny online!

Big Button — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:45:01 +0000

Are you tired of repeating the same basic instructions over and over again to your grandparents? What about your parents? Are you just tired in general?

It’s time to wake up!

Big Buttons

With Big Buttons you can take the stress out of teaching the elders of your family clan how to use a computer/ the Internet… and give them the jump-start they need. They will thank you for it, and thank you many times over with e-mails to you!

Imagine waking up and seeing an e-mail from your grandfather, telling you how proud he is of you… EVERY DAY.

Imagine checking your e-mail late at night and finding a forwarded e-mail from your grandmother of some flowers and some cute animals jumping around. Why did she send this to you? Because she can thanks to you!

Find out more and get this big ball rolling without delay by clicking here.

CD, case and instruction booklet