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Finally getting my Dad online via an iPhone. Need some tips.

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Theocnoob

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Location
Near Toronto Canada
My father's finally going to be an internet user as of Tuesday when we go to get his new iPhone.
He's 64 years old, his sum total experience with computers is 20 minutes I spent explaining how a mouse worked and showing him how to control the cursor on a desktop. He also had a Samsung Galaxy ACE II briefly but had no idea how to use it. I'd call him and he wouldn't pick up because he didn't know how.
To him, an iPhone is like alien technology.
He's never even sent a text before.

On Tuesday we are getting him an iPhone with a data plan, because he wants to be able to WhatsApp with his cousin in Uruguay, and go online, and read newspapers, and watch videos, and email, and so forth. I might even be able to convince him to get on Facebook.

My plan is to convince him to get to the store with me bright and early (it's a 10 minute walk for him but a 70 minute train/streetcar trip for me) so we can spend a few hours sitting down together going over how the phone works.
I have a feeling that the way I explained iOS to my mother, who was already familiar with how an operating system worked and what it was, is not going to work with my father. Being as I have aspergers I'm not a great teacher in the first place and I'm even worse at adapting the way I explain things to fit people's needs.

What suggestions do you guys have as to teaching methods, analogies, metaphors, etc I could use to explain everything to him? What do I make sure to include? What do I leave out? I almost never see my Dad so I have to get him functionally able to use the phone in a single sitting. I don't have the time, and he doesn't have enough hard disk space in his brain, to go over absolutely everything- every option in settings, everything about itunes and app store, how to tag your friends in facebook... I mean, there are literally like 300 hours worth of material I'd have to go through to get him fully up to speed on all the things the iPhone is capable of. So, if I have like 2 hours, what do I teach him? How do I teach it to him?

I should add that he's very easily frustrated and has a temper.

Thanks in advance!
 
I would take the phone first, and set it up so that it's as easy as it can be to use. Whatever you can think of to make it easier, do it.

Then, I would physically show him how to work every app that he's going to use (internet browser, maybe a newspaper app, maybe facebook, etc.). Then, I would hand him the phone, and have him repeat everything I'd shown him. Then have him do it again, just to make sure.

That's probably going to be the most effective way to make sure that he's going to be able to use it. I had to show my 74 year old grandfather with dementia how to play guitar, repeatedly, and that's how I did it. Tune it, demonstrate, test, and test again. The easier you make it, the better he'll understand it.
 
I would take the phone first, and set it up so that it's as easy as it can be to use. Whatever you can think of to make it easier, do it.

Then, I would physically show him how to work every app that he's going to use (internet browser, maybe a newspaper app, maybe facebook, etc.). Then, I would hand him the phone, and have him repeat everything I'd shown him. Then have him do it again, just to make sure.

That's probably going to be the most effective way to make sure that he's going to be able to use it. I had to show my 74 year old grandfather with dementia how to play guitar, repeatedly, and that's how I did it. Tune it, demonstrate, test, and test again. The easier you make it, the better he'll understand it.

He's not a slow learner. Im not worried abou that. I'm just concerned that the whole concept of everything is going to be so alien to him that he's going to get frustrated and not want to learn.
I don't want him to get the phone and just use it for texting and phone calls, which I can totally see happening :p

Anybody got tips on actual teaching methods? Metaphors I could use?
 
He's not a slow learner. Im not worried abou that. I'm just concerned that the whole concept of everything is going to be so alien to him that he's going to get frustrated and not want to learn.
I don't want him to get the phone and just use it for texting and phone calls, which I can totally see happening :p

Anybody got tips on actual teaching methods? Metaphors I could use?

That's exactly what I mean. The more complicated it seems at first, the more likely he won't even want to bother. Show him how to use the phone for the things that he will likely use it for, and encourage him to ask questions and explore it himself. Unfortunately, the only way he's going to learn to use and appreciate an iPhone or any other smartphone (or any device, for that matter), is to actually use it, maybe mess it up to the point of needing a factory reset, install a billion apps, and generally just do all of the terrible things that we have all done with a device that was new to us. As long as you make it as simple as possible from the start, he probably will catch on quickly and in time maybe even show you a thing or 2 about it.

As far as teaching methods and metaphors, unless iPhone has some sort of tutorial mode (I've never owned one, so I don't know if they do or not), the only real way to teach him is to let him go at it and figure it out. I don't believe that a metaphor or analogy would do anything but make the situation more complicated.

Bottom line, it's an iPhone. It's easily the best smartphone for someone new to the technology. Just be there when he has a question, and I'm sure he'll do fine.
 
As far as teaching methods and metaphors, unless iPhone has some sort of tutorial mode (I've never owned one, so I don't know if they do or not), the only real way to teach him is to let him go at it and figure it out. I don't believe that a metaphor or analogy would do anything but make the situation more complicated.

I found metaphors helpful for introducing windows to my mother. Things like "The hard drive is like a filing cabinet, and the files inside are in folders. Sometimes there are folders inside other folders" and stuff like that.
 
Start with the most basic things like answering the phone, making a call and hanging up the phone. Take your own phone and having him practice answering a call and plaing a call. Don't overrwhelm him with too many tasks at once. Have him practice these basic skills until he has confidence that he can do them reliably. Key word, "confidence". Then slowly add new and more complex skills. They key for him will be repeating a skill over and over. As we get older it takes longer to imprint new skills on our brains.
 
Find someone else he knows to teach him, I find when it comes to teaching my parents anything I'm met with more resistance then when I'm trying to help a complete stranger. Good job getting yer dad into the 21st century.
 
Well this is a moot point now that my father has said horrible things to me effectively ending our relationship. I don't know why I even try.
 
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