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As someone who is dealing with a mother with actual dementia, the term "tool to fight dementia" is deeply misleading at best. It's fine as a product, but it do

As someone who is dealing with a mother with actual dementia, the term "tool to fight dementia" is deeply misleading at best. It's fine as a product, but it does nothing to "fight" dementia. It's a convenience and that's it. "Fighting" implies that it has some therapeutic value that can stop or slow down the progression of the disease, and this does nothing. It's just an easy way to flip through pictures. After watching my mom go from a brilliant pharmacist to an incontinent, paranoid, angry stranger in the span of 6 years, I guarantee you there is absolutely nothing that flipping through a photobook will do that will do to fight dementia. It's great for grandparents and older folks because it's familiar and convenient and easy to change. It's not a tool to fight dementia.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
econnors 7y ago
To say it's misleading is unfair considering the language is pulled from one of the testimonials the author has received. I don't interpret "fight" to mean "help cure the disease," but rather "help alleviate the effects."
aacook 7y ago
I am truly sorry to hear about your mom's dementia progression. I can only imagine. Wishing you and your family strength. A few of my customers have mentioned it's helping them. I observed first-hand that going through fresh photos seemed to help my grandma too. She had dementia, although hers didn't progress as far as your moms. Maybe the photos didn't help but instead it was the frequent interactions with her loved ones that did. Also, maybe products like NanaGram help in the early stages of the disease but not later on. I'm not a psychologist and dementia is an extraordinarily complex disease. I'm most definitely not trying to mislead. I drafted a few different variations on the title and ended up going with this one to get the point across.
- docker_up 7y ago
  I appreciate what you said, and I don't assume bad intent. However, I would urge you to be careful with the words that you choose, especially when it comes to a topic like this. I have no doubt that your product will make those with dementia happy and having actual tangible photos is easy for anyone to use. Seeing photos of loved ones or just photos in general even if they don't recognize the people anymore. Anyone will get happy looking at a picture of beautiful child. We have an iPad for my mom just for that purpose and my siblings will go through pics with my mom all the time. She no longer recognizes my wife or my son (she confuses my son with me now all the time, and she talks to the iPad thinking that she is communicating with the person on the screen). But no doubt seeing those pictures makes her happy in that moment. But dementia is an extremely cruel disease, worse than any other because it robs people of their humanity over many years and leaves families with huge bills and extreme guilt. Photos won't help. Exercise doesn't help. Neither will omega fatty acids, various other pills or diets, 40 Hz light therapy, etc. It will continue to progress until the person is only alive in the clinical sense, but will be nothing like what their family remembers. Photos make people laugh and smile, but that's not help in any sense more than watching a funny tv show would help.
  - aacook 7y ago
    Thanks so much for all of your feedback. I won't take it lightly. Looks like HN edited the title. I edited mine too. I'll be thinking of your feedback when writing future posts.
- alxlaz 7y ago
  I've spent a couple of (very satisfying) years in the medical industry and spent some time with tech (and non-tech) writers because I'm reasonably good with words. I can certainly confirm what docker_up is saying; there is a connotation of "fighting" that implies some sort of therapeutic value, and it's one that readers commonly expect. Just like docker_up, I'm sure there's no malice on your part -- reading your post would clarifies that (the source is obviously a testimonial that wasn't written by you), but basic common sense would be enough to figure that out, too. However, it may be worth looking into an alternative formulation just to steer clear of malicious readers. And now that we got this stuff out of the way, hey, congratulations on your wonderful, wonderful project! Reading about companies and entrepreneurs and whatnot on HN usually makes me bitter and cynic. This does not :).
  - aacook 7y ago
    Thank you. Really appreciate this kind of feedback as it helps me grow. Topics like these are tough to write about. I often hesitate to publish. I'm glad the post brightened your day.
    - alxlaz 7y ago
      IMHO it's a good thing that you find yourself hesitating to publish. Responsible people think twice about publishing a written piece on any subject, and this is a particularly sensitive subject. Our industry has developed a culture where they slap the "analysis paralysis" label on any kind of serious analysis, and I don't think that's good for us.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
howard941 7y ago
I walked that walk and agree with you. My mom was the smartest person I knew until one day when she wasn't, didn't answer the phone, aunt found her on the floor incoherent, and for the next 6 years we cared for her in our and then her home next door. She never again recognized family. Music from my mom's youth was the only thing that survived up until language was gone. Old photos maybe were recognizable to her for only a few months out of the six years we had her but she was great at covering up the dementia in retrospect I think she was essentially cold reading the conversation we were having into "recognizing" people in the photos, her immediate family. There's a link to BBC archives another HNer posted that would have been wonderful to have in a US version. I dislike raining on Alex's product in a thread he should be proud of but from a product standpoint I believe the BBC thingie for US audiences could be more useful to caregivers and those suffering from dementia.
- aacook 7y ago
  Thanks for adding your perspective. Also so sorry to hear about your mom. Music really is an amazing thing. I meant to touch on it in this post but didn't get to it. My grandma's favorite song was "papa loves mambo" which we'd play on the Echo Show. She loved singing the "Uuuuh"s! They brought musicians into her assisted living nearly every Friday. I went to 7-8 of them and it was such a beautiful thing to see everyone singing along and smiling. I don't mind this kind of feedback. It's honest and helpful. I'll have to watch those BBC archives soon.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

econnors 7y ago

To say it's misleading is unfair considering the language is pulled from one of the testimonials the author has received. I don't interpret "fight" to mean "help cure the disease," but rather "help alleviate the effects."

aacook 7y ago

I am truly sorry to hear about your mom's dementia progression. I can only imagine. Wishing you and your family strength. A few of my customers have mentioned it's helping them. I observed first-hand that going through fresh photos seemed to help my grandma too. She had dementia, although hers didn't progress as far as your moms. Maybe the photos didn't help but instead it was the frequent interactions with her loved ones that did. Also, maybe products like NanaGram help in the early stages of the disease but not later on. I'm not a psychologist and dementia is an extraordinarily complex disease. I'm most definitely not trying to mislead. I drafted a few different variations on the title and ended up going with this one to get the point across.

docker_up 7y ago
I appreciate what you said, and I don't assume bad intent. However, I would urge you to be careful with the words that you choose, especially when it comes to a topic like this. I have no doubt that your product will make those with dementia happy and having actual tangible photos is easy for anyone to use. Seeing photos of loved ones or just photos in general even if they don't recognize the people anymore. Anyone will get happy looking at a picture of beautiful child. We have an iPad for my mom just for that purpose and my siblings will go through pics with my mom all the time. She no longer recognizes my wife or my son (she confuses my son with me now all the time, and she talks to the iPad thinking that she is communicating with the person on the screen). But no doubt seeing those pictures makes her happy in that moment. But dementia is an extremely cruel disease, worse than any other because it robs people of their humanity over many years and leaves families with huge bills and extreme guilt. Photos won't help. Exercise doesn't help. Neither will omega fatty acids, various other pills or diets, 40 Hz light therapy, etc. It will continue to progress until the person is only alive in the clinical sense, but will be nothing like what their family remembers. Photos make people laugh and smile, but that's not help in any sense more than watching a funny tv show would help.
- aacook 7y ago
  Thanks so much for all of your feedback. I won't take it lightly. Looks like HN edited the title. I edited mine too. I'll be thinking of your feedback when writing future posts.
alxlaz 7y ago
I've spent a couple of (very satisfying) years in the medical industry and spent some time with tech (and non-tech) writers because I'm reasonably good with words. I can certainly confirm what docker_up is saying; there is a connotation of "fighting" that implies some sort of therapeutic value, and it's one that readers commonly expect. Just like docker_up, I'm sure there's no malice on your part -- reading your post would clarifies that (the source is obviously a testimonial that wasn't written by you), but basic common sense would be enough to figure that out, too. However, it may be worth looking into an alternative formulation just to steer clear of malicious readers. And now that we got this stuff out of the way, hey, congratulations on your wonderful, wonderful project! Reading about companies and entrepreneurs and whatnot on HN usually makes me bitter and cynic. This does not :).
- aacook 7y ago
  Thank you. Really appreciate this kind of feedback as it helps me grow. Topics like these are tough to write about. I often hesitate to publish. I'm glad the post brightened your day.
  - alxlaz 7y ago
    IMHO it's a good thing that you find yourself hesitating to publish. Responsible people think twice about publishing a written piece on any subject, and this is a particularly sensitive subject. Our industry has developed a culture where they slap the "analysis paralysis" label on any kind of serious analysis, and I don't think that's good for us.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]

howard941 7y ago

I walked that walk and agree with you. My mom was the smartest person I knew until one day when she wasn't, didn't answer the phone, aunt found her on the floor incoherent, and for the next 6 years we cared for her in our and then her home next door. She never again recognized family. Music from my mom's youth was the only thing that survived up until language was gone. Old photos maybe were recognizable to her for only a few months out of the six years we had her but she was great at covering up the dementia in retrospect I think she was essentially cold reading the conversation we were having into "recognizing" people in the photos, her immediate family. There's a link to BBC archives another HNer posted that would have been wonderful to have in a US version. I dislike raining on Alex's product in a thread he should be proud of but from a product standpoint I believe the BBC thingie for US audiences could be more useful to caregivers and those suffering from dementia.

aacook 7y ago
Thanks for adding your perspective. Also so sorry to hear about your mom. Music really is an amazing thing. I meant to touch on it in this post but didn't get to it. My grandma's favorite song was "papa loves mambo" which we'd play on the Echo Show. She loved singing the "Uuuuh"s! They brought musicians into her assisted living nearly every Friday. I went to 7-8 of them and it was such a beautiful thing to see everyone singing along and smiling. I don't mind this kind of feedback. It's honest and helpful. I'll have to watch those BBC archives soon.