Digital life · 30 min
A video call they can answer with one touch
Set up video calling for someone who finds technology hard, so one touch connects them to a face they love.
For someone who lives alone, or spends long hours in one room, seeing a face on a screen can be the best part of the day. Many people are kept from it by small things: too many steps, a screen that locks, a ringtone they cannot hear. Setting it up with them, as simply as possible, opens the door.
The steps
Four small steps,in your own time.
Use the device they already have if it works, or a basic tablet with a large screen. Choose one video calling app that the people they want to see also use, and put it on the home screen so it opens with a single touch.
Add a handful of contacts with a clear photo of each person, and remove or hide everything else that is not needed. Turn the volume, the ringtone and the screen brightness up.
Practise together: you call them from another room, they answer with one touch, then they call you. Do it three times, and write the steps on a card that stays next to the device.
Agree a regular time for a call with one person each week, and keep the device on charge in the room where they spend most of their day.
The reason
Why it helps
Faces carry what voices and texts cannot: a smile, a grandchild's new tooth, the garden behind them. Setting it up so that one touch does the job removes the fear of getting it wrong, which is what stops many people from trying. A regular time means the call is expected rather than a surprise.
A gentle variation
If a screen is too much, a phone with large buttons and photo contacts does the same job for voice. If they have a hearing loss, turn on captions in the app if it offers them, and ask callers to sit facing the light so their face is easy to see.
WE · TRIBE
Try itwith someone.
Set it up with the person rather than for them, letting them do the touching so their hands learn it. Then ask a grandchild or friend to make the first real call on a day you can be there.
Try it today
Today, set up a video calling app on the phone or tablet of someone you look after, with your photo as the first contact, and make the first call together.
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