A grandfather and his grandson are having breakfast when the grandfather asks his grandson to hand him the newspaper.  The grandson looks up from his IPad and says “Grandpa, this is the 21st century.  We have electronic gadgets that are 100 times better than a crummy newspaper.  For instance, with my IPad here I can look at 10 different news sources in that many minutes and get 100 times more information than a paper. Here,” he says, handing his IPad to his grandfather, “I already pulled up Fox news for you.”  Let me tell you, that fly never knew what hit it.

This is a funny anecdote, but in reality it is the truth.  With the advent of technology and the fact that everyone is starting to use it, some members of the older generation may struggle to keep up.  We all have elderly relatives.  More and more they are asking for technology for holidays and birthdays because they are truly interested in how much fun it can be and how much more information they can have access to.

Further than that, this can build a bridge between that generation and the youth of today.  If a grandfather knows how to send an IM or an e-mail to his grandson, not only does that give the grandfather a sense of accomplishment because he has learned a new skill, but it can also help a grandson who may live in another state stay in better touch with his grandfather.  Even more than that, now the grandfather feels a better connection to his grandson because he knows, at least in part, how to use that technology that he always sees his grandson fooling around with.  

It may seem like a very small thing, but when you think about it if someone handed you a tricorder from Star Trek and didn’t tell you how to use it, you would be totally lost.  Now imagine that someone taught you how to do some simple functions on it.  All of a sudden you feel like Spock and you are going to jump on the next away team mission!

To conclude, I feel that our elderly population really can get into technology, and indeed wants to be able to use these fun, fancy gadgets.  The problem most of the time is that no one will sit down and show them how to do it.  Therefore, I feel that the half an hour you can spend with an elderly relative to show them how to work that new smart phone they just got is a half hour that can build a huge connection in a relationship, and is therefore a half hour well spent.