She has had a smart phone for three years now, but is forgetting how to use it and charge it. Would it be wise to just get her a landline? Also, is there a option of some kind that would help us find her phone should she lose it? She is in assisted living right now. Thank you.
Could your mother use voice commands?
Could you site one of those charging bases in her room that you just plonk your phone on and it magically charges itself?
In answering, I am coming to the sad conclusion that I'm old enough to be considered technically challenged myself...
She begged YB to put her landline back in. For some reason, which is a bafflement to me, he simply refused. (I think this is part of his weird desire to control her..IDK) But she can still use a regular phone.
We just moved, and I insisted we keep our landline with the same number. I also have a smartphone, as does DH, but I am sure I could do a lot more with my phone than I actually do. I have no desire to spend my days staring at a small screen!
Mom did go 'back' to her old flip phone and she can answer calls OK. I feel bad for her, she does feel lost in technology. So do I !
Also, phone manufacturers are not allowed to disable the 911 feature, which is sometimes an issue. If your mom has a tendency to call 911, you can pay about $6/month for a service to intervene. You can give them the info on your mom (for example, has dementia, etc.) and they will contact you (or whomever you choose) to let you know that she's called. You can say yes or no to dispatching fire or police.
There are lots of other features, too. You can set "quiet hours" so Mom can't call at 2:00 AM. (My hubby was doing this and scaring me to death!) It's been a godsend for us. You can buy it several places, or go to www.razmobility.com
PS: I learned about the RAZ phone on this forum.
Eventually, she stopped talking on the phone because she forgot all her friends and most relatives, so talking on the phone was like talking to a stranger that she couldn't see.
Then finally, she forgot about the phone, too.
My mom has had a flip phone since they were available. The other day she totally forgot what her password to her voicemail was (thankfully I have all her info in my password keeper). And now she has neuropathy in her fingertips so she often can't even feel the phone in her pocket, and very often squeezes the sides to grab it, thus turning the volume completely off. This happens continually. A solution is to super glue those buttons, but you need to slightly disassemble the phone to do this.
Because my mom lives next door to me, many years ago I got her into the habit of always keeping the phone on her person no matter if she was gardening or just sitting watching tv. Will your mom remember to do this? I also trained her to only buy pants with deep enough pockets so the slippery oval flip phone won't slide out and under her chair or car seat.
On this site there are some very tech-savvy people who have installed "simple" electronics so that they can do a video call-in to their parent without their parent having to do anything. Hopefully your mom's hearing is good enough to know when she is being called.
www.alzstore.com has phones for people with cognitive impairment. Wishing you good luck in finding a solution that works for the both of you!
I am good at technical stuff but iPhone is so complex. I got one of those iPhones made for seniors, but one can quickly tell a bunch of 20+ year olds designed the software and didn't have seniors beta test it. The instructions are written from one software programmer to another. I am constantly hitting the "alert" button whenever I just pick up the phone, and have to quickly cancel the call.
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