7 ms·

He's 100% correct too. Personally, the iPad isn't for me. I want less screen time in my life, not more - and the iPad doesn't fill any gaps that warrants me pu

by froo 17y ago

He's 100% correct too. Personally, the iPad isn't for me. I want less screen time in my life, not more - and the iPad doesn't fill any gaps that warrants me purchasing one for myself. That being said, I did order one for my grandmother. She's been pestering me about getting the Internet and I felt like it would be a device that was less daunting for her than a mouse/keyboard combination.

gloob 17y ago
The thing that most troubled my grandmother when she got her computer wasn't the filesystem or the mouse/keyboard combination; it was the fact that the computer knew which emails she had looked at and which she hadn't. She found it very unnerving. Apologies if I've drifted off topic.
- froo 17y ago
  Not off topic, my grandmother just cannot use a mouse. She's sat in front of my PC and is absolutely baffled by it. I might as well have asked her to do Differential Calculus. However, I think the iPad will be different. If she's playing say, solitaire and wants to move something - she touches it with her finger and moves it. Easy.
  - j053003 17y ago
    Yep. Getting one for my grandfather for this very reason. The only computer he seems to be able to understand is the touchscreen photo-processing computer at Walgreens.
usaar333 17y ago
As someone who taught his grandmother to use a PC, I'm personally unconvinced that an iPad is a good option for older people. The first issue is whether it is significantly less confusing than a PC. Sure, it is simpler (no multitasking), but when I was teaching my grandmother, multitasking was a 10% problem. She was mostly confused by the concept of hyperlinks, urls (when they weren't correctly formatted in emails, esp.), how to print, how to adjust font sizes, copy/paste, etc. The iPad certainly makes the concept of multiple windows easier to understand (by not allowing them), but there are still tons of issues with learning a computer. On the negative side, it doesn't seem to be that good for an elderly person who may have some mobility issues. A desktop allows someone to position their head and hands in a reasonably comfortable way (head upright, hands below heart); I'm still not sure how the iPad is supposed to be used in a comfortable way. The iPad also has a significantly smaller screen and moving hands across the device might be a lot harder than using a mouse.

by froo 17y ago

gloob 17y ago

The thing that most troubled my grandmother when she got her computer wasn't the filesystem or the mouse/keyboard combination; it was the fact that the computer knew which emails she had looked at and which she hadn't. She found it very unnerving. Apologies if I've drifted off topic.

froo 17y ago
Not off topic, my grandmother just cannot use a mouse. She's sat in front of my PC and is absolutely baffled by it. I might as well have asked her to do Differential Calculus. However, I think the iPad will be different. If she's playing say, solitaire and wants to move something - she touches it with her finger and moves it. Easy.
- j053003 17y ago
  Yep. Getting one for my grandfather for this very reason. The only computer he seems to be able to understand is the touchscreen photo-processing computer at Walgreens.

usaar333 17y ago

As someone who taught his grandmother to use a PC, I'm personally unconvinced that an iPad is a good option for older people. The first issue is whether it is significantly less confusing than a PC. Sure, it is simpler (no multitasking), but when I was teaching my grandmother, multitasking was a 10% problem. She was mostly confused by the concept of hyperlinks, urls (when they weren't correctly formatted in emails, esp.), how to print, how to adjust font sizes, copy/paste, etc. The iPad certainly makes the concept of multiple windows easier to understand (by not allowing them), but there are still tons of issues with learning a computer. On the negative side, it doesn't seem to be that good for an elderly person who may have some mobility issues. A desktop allows someone to position their head and hands in a reasonably comfortable way (head upright, hands below heart); I'm still not sure how the iPad is supposed to be used in a comfortable way. The iPad also has a significantly smaller screen and moving hands across the device might be a lot harder than using a mouse.