I’m trying to get my dad to use his iPhone. Being hard of hearing – and I’m going the same way on that front – it would be so much easier to communicate if he could text better. A problem he and my mum have is that their screens don’t seem to respond to their fingers properly. I’ve blamed the way they stab so desperately at their phones, but I read somewhere that it’s because older people have drier skin on their hands, which makes them less touchscreen-capable.
Either way, my dad’s particular issue is kind of conceptual. Time and again, he asks me the same question: “What is an app?” I tell him: “Well, it’s just an, erm, app.” This isn’t much help, but I eventually find some form of words that has him nodding and we move on. Then, a month or so later, the same question again, delivered with ever more brow-furrowing angst: “Ade, please can you explain, what is an app?” Whatever I say doesn’t seem to help the poor chap.
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