EXPLAINING SMARTPHONES TO SOMEONE FROM THE 60s

People from the 60s are not so old and depending on their levels of exposure and education, a lot of them are already versed with the usage of the smartphone. Those who are not have had experiences with the landlines used in those times and should already know the basic benefit of a phone.

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I still have a few persons in my corner who I have to guide on how to use their button phones to perform minimal tasks and so, I will get it if it becomes l very taxing to explain this higher device.

To begin, I'd give them a basic definition of a smartphone as a device that allows us to communicate, make videos and take pictures which can be stored for as long, learn about anything without attending a physical class, and a host of other things. It’s an upgrade from the landlines and the sat-phones that was used back in the day. It functions as a mobile computer. And it’s a smartphone because it doesn’t have the feature of buttons as it's screen is sensitive to finger touch.

I’ll go on to give them the basic benefits of smartphones;

• The first one being that it allows for easy communication via video calls or voice calls or text messages or social media.... whichever they choose.

• Secondly, it makes learning and teaching easier as one can pick up a course or any craft or market their
  trade/skill. Using the smartphone, I'll show them how this works. Probably go online and search for anything they request. Say, 'how to prepare spaghetti' or whatever else. They'd definitely find the results fascinating.

• Next one is storage. I’ll explain to them that things have changed from the way they were. Music, movies, documents, pictures, can be stored and retrieved whenever and wherever.

• Then, Entertainment. There's tons of fun stuff on the smartphone. I might start by searching up their desired TV show or music track.

There's a whole lot more but those are the few areas they'd mostly be visiting. Besides, the more the learn the device, the more benefits they note.

Meanwhile, I don't know about everyone else but for someone like my mum, having a Bible always accessible in the little device that is my phone is totally amazing. So, I might just ask what this elderly one likes and show they how powerpacked their smartphone is.

Like is common with all humans, especially kids and the elderly, physical/theory teachings make
it a lot better. Therefore with every feature I explain, I’ll make sure we perform some practicals.

I would most definitely not go into detail on all about the internet and somewhat complicated stuff. That would take up so much time. Rather, I'll focus on explaining and making sure they understand the workings of the features they'd be using the most. With time and some patience, they'd be able to navigate the device on their own.

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