Ask Slashdot: Touchscreen Device For the Elderly?

Lord Byron II writes "My grandma is in her 80s, is bed-ridden, in a nursing home, and is basically reaching the end of her life. Her legs are weak, meaning that she is confined to her bed, and her hearing is pretty much gone. Her sight is good and her mental facilities are still there, but even so, she spends most of her days just watching daytime TV, like the Price is Right and talk shows. The family has tasked me with finding her an easy-to-use, not overly expensive device that would mentally challenge her. Ideally, I would like to get something iPad like so that she could play card games and such. But the Internet connectivity and advanced features are completely unnecessary. Is there a simple device that will let her easily play some games?"

Wii

[Yakasha]

As has been mentioned before, be careful about ergonomics. Holding an iPad (or similar device) while confined to a bed can produce neck pain (if you hold it in your lap and look down) or arm fatigue (if you try to hold it up to avoid the neck pain).

My recommendation would be a wii, which I believe has already been successfully used in a few nursing homes. I think it would be even more successful for individual cases like this.

• Cheap - under $200 for a full setup
• Light, easy to use controllers
• Her vision is up to snuff, so menus are not a problem
• non-HD hookups, meaning better chance of connecting to older hospital/nursing home/fixed income tvs
• exercise apps to improve health
• chat apps to talk to the grand kids
• Something for the kids to do while you visit grandma
• netflix, for even more tv options!

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Re:Why no internet

[rtfa-troll]

This.

With an iPad or even an Android tablet you can install newspaper applications, for example. She probably read those when she could and giving her simple, immediately she turns it on or hits the home button access to the next days paper can be really one of the best forms of mental stimulation.

Find four apps that she likes from her past (a family blog with recent photos would be ideal). Put them on the front page so she immediately gets to something she likes. Set her up simple email, make sure she doesn't have a high limit (low limit is fine) credit card or bank account number handy and let her loose. We've had very little problem with a 90 year old and a laptop (though she started around 80). I don't see how an iPad could possibly be more of a problem

Just one comment. Beware that touch devices may need extra fine motor skills. You may find that a laptop with a large keyboard is actually more suitable than an iPad, depending on how much control she has over her fingers. Also keyboard skills may be a good investment for when eyesight begins to go.