NOW CLOSED: Share with BT how you would help (or have helped) your mum, MIL or gran get online this Mother’s Day. You could win an iPad, worth £329!

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by BT as part of their Get IT Together campaign to ask you for your top tips for getting the older generation online.

And BT would love you to help spread the word about their campaign, too. They're aiming to help 100,000 people get online by the end of this year.

If your mum, or somebody else you know, isn't online, why not help them get there this Mother's Day? As the internet is such a brilliant way to keep in touch with family, share photos and shop online for gifts for the grandchildren what better Mother's Day gift could there be?

According to BT, about 8 million people have never used the internet, and, as Gabby Logan, spokesperson for BT's Get IT Together campaign, says it's often just lack of confidence that stops them getting started. "Maybe they feel daunted or worry they are going to do something wrong," says Gabby. "If your mum isn't online, like my mum wasn't, why not spend some time with her and help her take those first steps? Get IT Together BT's Get IT Together website has step by step advice and videos to help you both. I'm sure she won't look back - my mum certainly didn't!?

Please do use this thread to share your tips with other MNers, and with BT, about getting your mum, MIL, grandmother or anyone older get online - whether you've done it already or are just gearing up for it.

Tell us your stories, too! How did you/will you approach it? Will/did you get your children involved? What does/will your mum or MIL most like to do on the net? Will she be/is she already a Gransnetter?

Everyone who adds a tip or story to this thread will be entered into a prize draw, from which one lucky person will win a 16GB iPad 2 worth £329. Please note your comments may be used on the BT pages on Mumsnet. Your MN nickname may be used along with your quote.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

My mum died in 1991 - i often think how technology has leapt in those 20 yeras and how she would try tyo adapt :)

luckily my ex MIl is a truly wonderful woman and I am priviledged to regard her as a substitute mother - she is already really techno-friendly, we email a couple of timesa month and include photos and updates. She lives around 500 miles away from us, but uses email to keep in touch with me and her older grandchildren. :)

rather amuisngly, she is the only person I know who actually uses 'textspeak' (me and teh Dcs use correct grammar and spellings etc) but i think it helps her feel 'down with the kids' we think it's really lovely. :)

My nanna has owned a pc for a while now which she quite competently uses for facebook, emails and games. Just recently I've set her up with asda online shopping and introduced her to amazon! She loves it, and it makes a difference to her to be able to pop on line to order whatever she likes rather than relying (and struggling!) on buses or waiting for a lift to the shops! She's brilliant

Have been trying to get my mum online for yonks, to no avail. We go through it all, she writes it all down, yet it still doesn't seem to penetrate. She used to use a computer every day when she worked, but gave up when I was born, so have been out of the loop for 27 years. She is very keen to start trying again though, and we are now thinking an iPad may be the way forward, as she has seen DS (2.2) use mine with ease!

My GM, when she was still alive, was an absolute whizz with email/Internet etc, but it obviously wasn't genetic!

MIL also a total Luddite, DH has recently set her up with a googlemail account, but she just keeps typing her username and password into the search engine and wondering why it won't work. Sigh.

After seeing Skype in use, my 91 year old grandmother said she'd like to be able to use it too. So we bought her a laptop with a large screen, an integrated camera and a pay-as-you-go USB 3G modem.

Before her birthday I set up the laptop with automatic updates and a free but reliable firewall and antivirus programme, as well as Chrome and Skype.

The desktop is clutter-free and only includes the icons my Grandmother needs: one to get online, one to launch Skype and one to launch Chrome.

I use the Windows sticky notes to label each icon, so "press here to go online", "press here for Skype", etc.

Once it was all set up I wrote step-by-step instructions with pictures in a colour PowerPoint presentation, which is printed and wire-bound in three copies: one to sit on the desk by the laptop, one in the bookshelves for back up and one for me, so i can give remote assistance.

Finally, I showed my grandmother on her birthday, got her to do it twice on her own with me sitting by her and then made sure we Skyped at least once a week for the first few weeks. Two years down the line she skypes us t least once a week and my 2 year old DS skypes her independently too.

PS if we were doing it again today i'd just get her a 3G iPad.

Simply set them up on a social networking site and they revel in the ability to spy!

Both parents are now very techie and possess more gadgets than me...Although I'll never forget coming home to my dad swearing at the computer, as he had spent the last two hours trying to figure out how to start a new paragraph on a word document! :o

I've spent ages with my parents helping them. With my mum, I took her laptop when she bought it and got rid of all unnecessary software and installed anything useful. I set up bookmarks for her etc and spent time talking her through each major thing she wanted to do. I've also provided instruction on recognising dodgy emails and often get forwarded stuff to check out for her.

Bearing in mind that my Mum still struggles with her freeview box 3 years on and that she still has problems making a call on her mobile (forget texting etc!!) I think my tip is to leave it to the professionals .

There are courses popping up all over the place for 'silver surfers' and I would definitely suggest one of these to my Mum should she ever want to dabble.

I know from when I've tried to show my Mum how to do things with freeview that she (and a lot of her generation no doubt) struggles with terms that are 'everyday' to us but nonsense to her eg. scroll down, tabs, open up a window (no mum, I don't mean the living room window etc ) and so on.

Courses aimed at her age group would be able to pick up on things like this and explain it properly and in a way she understands. I think, too, that peer group support would be invaluable in a class/group setting -she would realise that its not just her that doesn't know what to do, she can learn alongside others and maybe even help someone else.

I've just remembered my granny when she got a mobile phone. Not computer/internet I know but a good illustration of how older people struggle with things we don't think about at all. She got a phone to keep in the car as a safety thing. So far so sensible. Trouble is because she had never used it she had never charged it again, it just sat there in the car . For us it is obvious, everything has to be charged these days and we know that the battery runs down even if it isn't used but for her a battery was like a duracell battery, why on earth would it run down if she wasn't using it? It was like banging our heads against a brick wall getting her to realise!

Mind you, I rather doubted her ability to actually have phoned anyone if she had needed to anyway.

Sadly she is no longer with us. My other gran though is 92 and while she doesn't have her own computer she adores going to my uncle's house to use Skype :) (we are in different countries but uncle lives near her).

My mum was interested in emailing her grandchildren when my DCs were growing up as we live so far away from her. So she had the incentive to learn! Myself and my brother guided her through the steps, writing simple lists of instructions to get logged on etc. Once she had mastered that (after several blank/unfinished/misdirected emails were sent!), we persuaded her to try Facebook, where she now loves seeing photos from grandchildren all over the world! It really does take patience all round, with lots of trial and error, and gentle reminders not to be afraid to have a 'play'...but she has now done online supermarket shopping, it has really enriched her life....slushy but true :)

My mum went to basic computer classes but resolutely sees the pc as my fathers domain and my father gives her "lessons".

I am gradually curing her of this wankness. She now has a kindle, I have shown her she can download on it directly so her confidence is getting there.

My dad is lovely but he is my biggest issue. Using the internet is largely intuitive,my mum just needs to be left to her own devices, my biggest obstacle is stopping him hovering over her and insisting he needs to "set up" (ie switch on ) the pc.

I wish I could afford to get her a ipad or similar that's exactly she needs

Same as a lot of people here - my mum is v cautious around computers and so we end up acting as an IT support helpline. She is getting better though. I wrote her a little handbook with step by step instructions on doing basic things which she finds useful. The biggest thing though is to be slow and patient - my db tries to help out but just goes to quickly, clicking & talking and my mum just gets all confused..
Searching and shopping online has been a revelation for her!

My Mum has now been on line for about 3 weeks - she has just about mastered skype, which means its a bit easier now for me to help her with the other stuff. Being able to share screen on Skype means I can guide her through stuff step by step - though it does result in me screaming at the computer "No - not that wee cross you'll close it!!! No, the other one!!! The other one!!!!!......OK then you'll need to open your internet browser again..... the wee "E", the one at the bottom, no right at the bottom, the one you clicked on 2 minutes ago??" Apparently I'm being very patient according to my DP!!

I would get her to switch from BT because THEY ARE HOPELESS AND TOOK MONTHS AND MONTHS TO FIX MY BLOODY BROADAND.

Best tip I gave my mum was that she didn't need to type like she was talking to someone who didn't speak English

"nice day today in england it is, sun is shining and sky blue"

One of the best things I did for mum was to install skype and a microphone for her.
She now chats regularly to the sister who emigrated to Australia in the 1960s instead of just writing to her twice a year.

I set my mum up an email account when I went to uni in 1998. She never really got it then, but now she is into Facebook which is great for her to get updates on my dc's and she messages me through there regularly. I also helped set up Skype for my parents and it is lovely for the children to be able to see grandma ( they are 3yrs 8months and 2) because they don't really get the idea of the phone yet.

It does worry me that although she got hacked she hasn't changed her password in 14 years and I can't convince her to change it now.

it was e-cards - sending and receiving them - that got the older generation interested in our family: they enjoyed the ease of sending and genuinely found it thrilling to receive them, especially those personalised with photos etc. so simple to do, and seem to explain the slightly more abstract concept of "electronic mail" clearly.

My mum has been saying she is computer illiterate for years now. However, at Christmas she announced she was going to take a computer course!! It was a 6 week council thing and she is so enthusiastic. Even when she brke her elbow when she and my dad took the kids to an aquarium, she still insisted on goiing to her course so she didn't miss anything. Upshot is on Friday I am taking her to buy her own laptop and will help her set it up. She is so looking forward to surfing the net and skyping the kids. We moved further away last year so she doesn't see them so often so is really looking forward to "seeing" dd play her cello. Don't know that my dad is so keen - think he sees computer stuff as his thing..(or maybe he's just worried what she is going to buy on the internet..)

My mum is blind and while she could touch type she could not see the point of the internet. At all.

Until she retired from work.

I remember setting her 1st PC up, making sure the JAWS software was working, installing all her programmes and getting her online. In the beginning there were many trips made by me to be her "eyes" while she sorted out some glitch or tech issue that was too visual for her to comprehend.

Now she's a techno-wizard. She keeps in touch with all her old friends (and many new ones) downloads audio books to keep herself amused of an evening. She plays online games with her friends, e-mails, browses, etc. Her laptop is her eyes and ears on the world.

Nowadays guess where I go when I want IT advice? To my mums. She is amazing.

I tried to register her with the telephone and mail preference agency in an attempt to stop companies cold calling her and trying to sell her things. It was one of the most stressful things that I've ever done. She actually fell asleep whilst I was going through it with her. It's all done now and she's not received a call since then (thank god). Patience is the key. That and a lot of wine.

DH got his 79-year-old mum an iPad last year after many attempts to get her online with various laptops, internet TV etc. The beauty of the iPad is that she can't break it by installing random software. Tech support seems to consist of a weekly phone call where he shouts, "Press the button. PRESS THE BUTTON! THE BIG BUTTON!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WHICH BUTTON?! THERE'S ONLY ONE BUTTON!" for about 20 minutes then has to have a stiff drink and a lie down after

I set up everything for PIL's, online shopping, email, skype, facebook... the works. they call me every now and then in a panic because they forget their passwords or whatever, but they love it now. thats the moral, dont be scared of the internet.