Consumer Alert: How to give your relative the gift of a tech tutorial

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – This consumer alert is all about you, your phone and your tech-challenged relatives.  Thanksgiving is two days away, and it’s the perfect time to give your family an awesome gift: teach Uncle Bob how to use his smartphone.

We all have that relative who is a bit reluctant to journey into the great digital unknown. In my family, it’s my cousin Debby. We always celebrate at her lovely home. It’s warm and inviting, beautifully decorated, but she doesn’t have Wi-Fi. And she uses her phone to make calls and send the occasional text message.  That’s it. So I’ve been researching ways you can help the tech-inept relative you love dearly learn to use this device effectively.

For most of us, our phones are absolutely essential.  We use them for everything from shopping to social media to getting directions. For Gen-Z’ers, this technology has always been a part of their lives. They’re what technology writers call digital natives – those born after the 80’s and can’t remember a time when everyone didn’t have a computer at their fingertips. The rest of us are digital immigrants and have had to adapt to the language tech. But we all have the relative who is not adapting well to the digital age. I sat down with a tech guru with AT&T about the benefits of a Thanksgiving tech tutorial.       

My mom, I recently showed her how to download a song on her phone,” said Jason Komenski, an AT&T area sales manager.  She was struggling.  Although I had to wait a few minutes and listen to Michael Bolton and Barbra Streisand, it was worth it.  It was worth it because it put that smile on her face and now she knows how to use it, right?  So now she’s there. It’s great for Thanksgiving.” 

Here’s Deanna’s do list for your tech tutorial

• Increase the font size. Our eyesight declines with age.  Bigger font makes everything better.
• Utilize the speak selection.
• Turn up the ringer and enable LED alert flashes.
• Enable Find my phone.
• Arrange their most used contacts in favorites.

For directions on how to take those steps, click here.

You can also move the contacts your relative calls most to his/her home screen.  For step by step directions, click here.