Technology Gifts for Seniors Who Hate Computers

Now the gift-giving season is behind us, I know, but I just got off the phone with Landel, the maker of Mailbug, a single-purpose e-mail appliance for the PC-less (or PC-useless) home. Wouldn’t it just be a crazy idea this holiday season to give a suite of communication products to PC-less parents, grandparents and in-laws?

Lots of seniors are averse to using computers. Here are some options for communication technology that doesn’t require the use of a PC:

• Mailbug, a non-computer e-mail terminal costs $129.99 plus $9.95 per month.
• The Presto printing mailbox is $49.99 on Amazon, plus $12.50 per month.
• If the gift recipient already has a fax machine, consider the Celery printing mailbox to send them color printed pictures. It costs $139 per year.
• And—don’t shoot me, it has a daunting product name—there’s the D-Link i2eye 1000 broadband TV-displayed videophone. If they have a broadband network connection like DSL, cable modem, or other broadband provider, you can buy one, get one free from the D-Link shop for $179.99.

Let me add it up for you: $359.97 for hardware. $22.45 per month, plus whatever the lowest ISP charge imaginable is in their service area, and let’s say $14 per month for basic DSL. So let’s assume $450 per year service charges and $359.97 one time for the hardware. Even if we add $179.99 for another D-Link in the future for another adult child to stay in touch, we still haven’t matched the price of a laptop-and-printer combination. So for that price, grandparents get to see pictures of their family pop out on a printer, send and receive e-mail messages and watch the grandchildren giggle during a phone call.

It’s a little crazy and maybe unjustifiable (or just plain wrong) math. And lots of gear to avoid a PC. But crazier things have happened.

Posted in Aging in Place Technology, Assistive Technology, Communicating with Loved Ones, Gift Ideas