quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Trying to put myself in his place, I believe that there is so much stuff that is new and strange, that I would feel I don't even know what I don't know.

Of course, but I imagine you would be able to tell us what you're trying to do and cannot. E.g.: Trying to add a contact. Trying to add a calendar entry. Trying to text somebody. Trying to add a WiFi network.

Just saying "I can't figure this thing out" isn't going to allow anybody to help you if you cannot tell them what it is you can't figure out. It's like saying "the car won't start" without giving any clue as to what is meant by that.

The unavailability of instructional documentation as formerly accompanied tech products is a trend that, I think, we will all have to get used to. I am one of those rare folks who actually "read the farking manual" before trying to use the stuff I buy, but manuals have been shrinking over the years, and are now almost vaporware. Instead, vendors now rely on on-line resources usually provided in the form of a volunteer-based forum, or something like a Wikipedia page. Those with a conscience sometimes designate an employee to contribute to these fora, in very rare cases a technically-oriented person who may have participated in the development of the product. It is completely understandable that someone new to a technical product can be confused and intimidated by this paradigm shift, it isn't that they are stupid, just that they have a different set of assumptions and lack the background to begin to assimilate new knowledge. Like a child who can't read being presented with the complete works of Shakespeare. Too much, too soon. Remember the kids on the talk show who were unable to use a traditional rotary dial phone? Same issue, they simply didn't have the necessary background.

The cure? Baby steps. Start with basic functions, like making and receiving phone calls. Read on-line sites that give background rather than detailed step-by-step instructions (e.g. Wikipedia entry on "Smartphone". Once you are comfortable with the background information, seek out and read information specific to your particular phone model. Only then begin looking at settings, apps, and other advanced features. It would help to concentrate on something your phone does that specifically interests you as you will be more highly motivated to clear the inevitable hurdles in the learning curve.

I just turned 79 yesterday and I just bought my first smartphone a couple months ago. Before that, I had a flip phone that I rarely used, so the smartphone was like some alien technology to me. I barely knew how to turn it on! So I got on Youtube and started watching every video they had on the model Iphone I bought. Some were useless, but some were very helpful and now I feel pretty comfortable using my smartphone. There are still tricks and shortcuts to be learned, but I no longer feel overwhelmed.

US Cellular has a 15 day return policy. (I think it is 15 but maybe 30) Can you return it to your source?

I have had an iphone for about 8 years. I'm amazed at the amount of things I can do with just a damn phone. I can control my Rachio 24 zone sprinkler system, I can open or close any of my 4 garage doors. I can view any of my 7 security cameras, I can track maintenance on my vehicles, I can take great pictures, I can turn on or off many lights that are on a zwave controller, I can control Spotify over my Apple airbuds, I can recognize a song that is playing via Shazam, I can set a timer, I can tickle calendar events, I can see the temperature outside, watch my investments, surf the net.........plus numerous other things including making a call.

I didn't learn all of these routines over night but over time. Wait, I just got a calendar notice my concealed permit expires on this date in 2024. My iPhone 13 Pro shows up today.

Mike

Here's the thing: You do NOT need to read and understand the whole damn manual. It's not like you need the directions on how to film yourself doing dance moves that you will then upload to TikTok, do you?

I'm an Excel wizard. The things I can do with Excel are above the abilities of 98% of people. But I do not know more than 30% of Excel if that.

You just need to master what you need to do: make a phone call and check your voice mail.

Maybe you need to learn to connect your phone to your WiFi at home or anyplace else.

Beyond that, if you'd like, maybe you can learn to take pictures, check your email., go on Sigforum on your phone.

But the most important thing you need to do is to protect yourself from scam phone calls, texts, or emails. But that doesn't need technology know how, just a healthy dose of skepticism and experience with the dark sides of human nature.

quote:

It's not like you need the directions on how to film yourself doing dance moves that you will then upload to TikTok, do you?

^^^^^^^^^^^
You never know he may wish to be a Geriatric social influencer. I think there are openings for that postion.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
Here's the thing: You do NOT need to read and understand the whole damn manual. It's not like you need the directions on how to film yourself doing dance moves that you will then upload to TikTok, do you?

...

You just need to master what you need to do: make a phone call and check your voice mail.

This ^^^^^

That's why I asked him what he was trying to do with which he was having trouble.

My first smart phone was an HTC Sensation. Switched carriers at the same time. (Palm Centro on Sprint to an HTC Sensation on a T-Mobile prepaid account.) All I did with it, at first, was phone calls and text messages. And I'm a tech geek.

Once I satisfied myself that was a good direction to head I ported my phone number over and committed. Learned all the features of the Android smart phone OS and that phone over time.

Once I was conversant enough with it I felt secure in doing so, I bought a second one for my wife and we moved her over.

As V-Tail said -> I feel that I don't even know enough to be able to tell anyone what I want to do. I feel that if I ask questions I will be reduced to the level of "I wanna put this square peg into this round hole"..... And Brother - I DO feel stupid for that. As I said originally -> "pile on"...... Fred

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Start by making calls and entering contacts. Move on to text messaging. Small steps. There is a lot of crap that is on the phone that you will never need.

Bingo!
Stop fighting and clear your mind, tell yourself to carve an hour and focus-in on a few things.

Firstly this is a communication device so, just narrow your focus to a few things, which are your most important:

* The Phone portion. How to make a Phone call, set-up your Phone Book (place to store contacts and their numbers), set-up Favorites, set-up the Voice Mail.

* How send a Text Message. If there's a regional emergency and cellular lines are overwhelmed, text messaging is the easiest method to communicate, not to mention doesn't require an entire process like a voice phone call. Major terrorist attacks and natural disasters around the world has shown texting/SMS are the way to get through to love ones. Send texts to family/friends or vice-versa to get the hang of it. Its not going to happen overnight, especially if you're not used to using a keyboard but, constant usage will result in picking it up. Nobody was a hot shooter after the first time to the range, remember?

* Set-up your Email. Having your email connected can be a help. Some people are very focused on their account, many others only check it once or, twice a day.

* Organize your screen. Having all the apps cluttering the screen can be intimidating, not to mention there's likely a few you will never use. Have your daughter show you how to move the app symbols around. The front facing screen should have only the most important and heavily used apps, which would be the ones above, along with calendar, camera, and photos.



While your 13 year old likely is very excited that dad is coming into the modern world, adolescents also can be very scatter brained and unfocused, which leads to frustrated parents. Talking with your friends who have a smartphone and getting insight from them on questions will make things easier and maybe more digestible for you.

My parents are in their early 80's, they're onto their second iPhone now, it took them about a month to 'get it' much of the time they picked things up as they spoke with friends, compared notes with each other, and asked questions. Now, they surf the internet most of the time with the device.

quote:

Originally posted by jtedescucci:
As V-Tail said -> I feel that I don't even know enough to be able to tell anyone what I want to do. I feel that if I ask questions I will be reduced to the level of "I wanna put this square peg into this round hole"..... And Brother - I DO feel stupid for that. As I said originally -> "pile on"...... Fred

If you can't even verbalize what you need to do, then don't worry about it. Seriously, it's that simple.

When you get to the point when you can say, "Hey, I want to be able to wipe my ass." Then ask for the basic way on how to wipe your ass. And when you learn that, that should be good enough. Now, this may seem like a crass analogy but it's actually a great example.

Because when you ask the question, there'll be a lot of answers on how to wipe your ass with some of them being quite involved (starting with 4, no more than 6 sheets, and ending 40 steps later) to others suggesting alternatives like using a bidet. You'll come across the simplest method, try it, and if it works, good enough for you.

They say the most basic smart phone today has way more computer power than what was in the space ship that brought astronauts to the moon. Well, you don't need to go to the moon, right? So you don't have to figure out how to use your smart phone to go to the moon.

But if you say, I want to use my smart phone to go to this new grocery store in town that I don't know the address, then there's a smart phone app for that.

And that's basically it, when you figure out what you want to use your smart phone for, the answer is basically the same: "There's an app for that."

quote:

Originally posted by jtedescucci:
As V-Tail said -> I feel that I don't even know enough to be able to tell anyone what I want to do.

I have to admit I'm at a bit of a loss. If you don't know what it is you want to do with the phone, then how can you possibly expect ever to do anything with it at all?

Maybe it's a confusion of terms. When we ask "What do you want to do?" we mean, as in, do you wish to:

• Make a phone call?
  
• Send a text message?
  
• Add a contact to the address book?
  
• Create a calendar event?
  
• Set an alarm?
  
• Make a note to yourself?
  
• Connect to a WiFi network?
  
• Set up/read/write email?
  
• Install an application?
  
• Navigate?
  
• Etc.
  

That's what we mean by "What do you want to do?"

The phone can do all those things I listed. But don't worry about the phone's capabilities. Figure out what you want to do and ask "How do I...?"

You're never going to learn with this negative defeatist thinking. You asked for help here and have patient people trying--now help them help you. Baby steps.

"ensig" - it seems to me that you have asked a reasonable question, and that therefore I owe you a reasonable answer. Here goes. The reasons I got the "phone" in the first place are twofold. First, I have developed heart trouble in the past 3 or 4 years (AFIB) and I thought it would be a good idea to have some way to more accurately monitor my heart so that I could tell when it was "in" or when it was "out" - and when a trip to the emergency room/hospital was warranted. Well, I relied heavily on my brother, Frank (also a forum member) to set that whole process -involving both the personal EKG monitor and the "smart" phone - up for me. He has been an electronics technician essentially his whole life... so that task was no trouble for him.

Second, I got tired of being so far behind the rest of the world - in the gadget sense - (and that's what I have always considered smart phones -> gadgets), and I thought it might be nice to maybe catch up a little. Also, there were some features on smart phones that I knew about and thought it might be nice to have "at hand". Chief among them was the ability to program somehow (I knew not how) the phone so that it would talk me to my destination while I was on the road. I thought THAT would REALLY be helpful. And I thought the ability to browse the internet - no matter where I was at the time - would also be nice. And finally, I knew from being around Frank that texting is sometimes useful when conditions somehow keep actual voice messages from going through. You can talk to Frank about that & he'll explain it to you...as for me I am clueless.

So you see, there WERE questions that I needed to ask, but would not because I knew that the WAY that I would ask the questions would make me sound stupid and I REALLY get riled at the idea of someone thinking I am stupid. In fact, I am ignorant - not stupid... and I KNOW the difference. So I wound up with this phone and I spent about 2 months trying to do the basics...and trying with all my might to find a source - ANY source - of info that might help me. Now, you'll laugh - but at the end of 2 months I finally figured out how to turn it on & off. Common sense told me that at that rate I would NEVER get any practical use out of the gadget.

That's about the time I first posted here. I have learned a little in the meantime...and I may well be near the end of all I will ever learn to do with the phone. I can now turn it on & off. I can answer calls - at least I think I can if there is no one else in the room to distract me. I can "hang up" at the end of a call...although no one has called me yet; or at least I don't THINK anyone has (I don't know how to check). And best of all I have learned to talk to the phone and get it to direct me to where I want to go. Now lemme tell you something: There is absolutely NOTHING intuitive about this phone. And if something doesn't "flow" logically I have a real hard time with it. A real hard time. Basically this phone reminds me of a 3D "CAD" system that my old employer pushed off onto his engineering department ("Pro-E"). It was a bitch and I hated it. Still do.

Now you might laugh at me & call me stupid for the little that I have been able to learn in the past 2 months; but if you do I will point to one of the 2 degrees I have hanging on my wall - a mechanical engineering degree - and ask you whether you think that "they" hand these out to idiots?

I wrote to the forum in hopes that someone would be able to direct me to a good source of learning.... a certain book, maybe some youtube videos where the presenter doesn't literally RACE through his presentation, ANYTHING! But as I said a moment ago I feel that I am near the end of my learning process with this gadget so I HOPE not to worry about it too much longer. This may seem cold, but I could really care less if this thing does a million tasks. I feel that I will NEVER have need of about 999,995 of those.

To all who wrote in expressing kind words - I thank you. I have REALLY been at a low point and your encouragement has really helped. To ALL who wrote in with suggestions let me say how much I appreciate that. In truth I had actually tried all but maybe one of them... but I thank you nevertheless. And finally I want to say how glad I am that YOU ALL are forum members. It means the world to be able to share my thoughts with you...FredT

Fred, I don't think you're stupid. And you're right: Smart phones aren't very intuitive. They aren't intuitive at all, really.

You don't have to worry about anybody here thinking you mentally deficient if you ask "How do I...?" for anything, much less a smart phone Hell, I know for a fact I've asked some "duh" things here now and then. I can also guarantee you I'm not alone in that.

So, again, I would encourage you: If there's something you want to know how to do on your new gadget, ask away. Nobody here will think any less of you for it.

As for "call history": I don't recall how to get to that on an Android phone (that's the operating system Samsung smart phones use), but I'm sure several members here do.