To think that all over 65s should be given mandatory mobile phone training?

[rhetorician]

My mother is 80, has hurt back, in terrible pain. Has twice called an ambulance because she can't stand the pain. The most recent time, I was due to call her, couldn't get her on landline or mobile (because she was in fact in A+E). I don't live in the UK, am only child, no relatives...so I end up calling the police. Finally find where she is, but then spend the best part of 24 hours finding out what is going on. Finally talk to her and she says "oh, I should have brought the mobile phone, but didn't think of it"....Aaargh...she is able to use it, to text (at 3 in the morning!). All this hassle could have been avoided if she had used the bloody thing...

I personally think relatives should take the initiative to do it, mandatory phone training is another expense we can't afford.

I appreciate you live abroad though, that must have been scary for you! Does she have you as her emergency contact? They should have rang you. Is she okay now?

Oh Dear, Child of Our Times..............us oldies DO take a while to catch up you know. It will happen to you, too, one day.

Oh, no. That's really scary. Can she have one of those panic button things? Not that it would help you to find out, I know.

Yeah Telecare is always good if you're worried.

My 83 year old nan had a mobile, always had it on charge but never used the thing. Bless

Part of issue was that no one, police, hospital would call an international number. I am being tongue in cheek...she can use it, but just WON'T.

Um, I am no spring chicken myself....

That's ridiculous. So they'd rather you waste police and your own time by chasing it up with them?

Nuts, isn't it? Surely this must happen from time to time?

Ended up creating about 6 incident reports because no one could call me back!!

My DH's grandparents have a mobile phone. We've taught then how to use it but they won't because they don't like running the battery down, using up credit, it's a pain to have to remember to take it out with them, they can't hear it ringing anyway, blah blah blah. Very frustrating.

Maddening, but I suppose they just don't think of it. But so so useful in an emergency.

79% of mobile phones owned by those over 75 are currently in a drawer with a dead battery.

Fact.

My PIL's are untrainable - we have tried everything - Skype, mobiles, walkabout phones so they don't have to sit in their cold draughty hall on the landline - so now they stand in the cold draughty hall with the walkabout If MIL calls and gets our answer phone, she starts talking before the beep so you get half the message. DH is currently working abroad - watching them talk to him on FaceTime on my iPhone over Easter was priceless - they loved seeing his face but didn't know whether to put the phone to their ear or talk into it like a walkie-talkie, and kept asking me if he could hear them. He could. But they couldn't hear him because neither of them will wear their chuffing hearing aids.

Bless.

But I can feel your anguish OP - it must have been horrible not knowing what was happening. Hope your mum makes a speedy recovery.

Not all over 65s need training. By any means.

Plenty of them (& I am not fat short of that age) are perfectly competent.

My Dh is well over that age & builds his own computers & teaches people (of all ages) the basics of going on line.

You would be amazed by how many under 65s are technologically incapable.

Everyone should have training.

I am indeed fat but not far short of that age

lol.. you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

I think that you would end up with trainer having a nervous break down at a furtile attempt to teach my inlaws to use a mobile.

I am told some tale by my mother that her granfather should to shout down the phone and could not get the concept that there was no need to shout for him to be heard the other side of London.

CQ that did make me laugh! thank you. I'm sure she will be fine, just that she might not have felt quite so alone and I would have been a lot less worried if we could have talked on the phone. But flying over tomorrow, so can nag her in person

To be fair to her the issue is more attitude than competence. She uses email and can text, just doesn't like it much. I am sure my students think of me in much the same way...I can remember a time before the internet, you know...

No offence intended magi - my PILs are another generation - both well into their 80's.

A lifetime of rural living, no fags, no booze, no wild antics has meant that the modern world holds many mysteries for them They must have only been in their 60's when I first knew them, but they've always seemed ancient. Very sweet, but very ancient.

Yes. Thread title probably misleading...my mother too is 80, so quite a bit older

Some of my students (undergrads) are surprisingly limited in what they can do, magi, so that's certainly true

Well exactly, rhet - they managed perfectly well for decades before t'interweb and mobile phones so why should they need them now, eh?

Glad you're getting over to see your ma in person, you'll feel much better for it. We lived abroad for 11 years and you feel so useless and far away when there's a crisis.

Um yeah. Go on and try that with my 70 yr old dad. He's been working in IT since 1972 so good luck trying to teach him...

I went on a on holiday with my mum, when she was around 55 (a few years ago). I said we would be fine, we'd find everything we needed. She said she was nervous about getting lost so would take the sat nav 'since you like technology, LRD'.

She took the satnav. After being left on all day travelling, she said brightly, as we arrived at our hotel for the first night, 'well, I didn't bring the charger, of course!'.

She thinks this vindicates her position that technology is inexplicably unreliable and lets you down in the most irritating ways.

(Oh, and she's drawing a pension from IBM!)

haunted I take your point but surely your dad's experience would be fairly unusual? In the same way that I didn't grow up with IT but have had to pick it up later. I suppose people of my mums generation for the most part didn't have access to technology, mostly didn't need it for work etc. she is a much better typist than me though