How many of you out there have been unofficially designated as family tech support? How often have you been disturbed while relaxing or working to ask to do something with a computer or a phone that a family member could have easily done themselves? It’s a common and often distracting problem many of us face, and if you’re like us, it doesn’t get any more fun with time.
Having dealt with this issue a few times too many times from a family beach day in Brighton, we thought we’d try a more proactive approach. Instead of accepting this role as a permanent position, we tried a few options to encourage these family members to teach themselves. With the right approach, this can help not just make them more independent, but can even improve the quality of their lives.
The Gentle Approach
No matter who you are and where you live, the basics of teaching people tech skills remain the same. From Lands End to John O’Groats, the best ways of teaching are to be gentle, to explain how everything is easier than it was years ago, and to go slowly.
Explain that you don’t have the time to do everything yourself every time, but you’re happy to help them one time if they learn how to do it themselves next time. Take a notepad, explain everything you’re doing, and write down how it works along the way. You might also choose to use a screen recording tool like those built into Microsoft Windows or film a smartphone video to cover each step carefully.
“Google login screen” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Christiaan Colen
It’s also a great approach to simply Google how to solve their problem in front of them, to guide them on the way. Ask them if they have any questions, and if they don’t, get them to acknowledge that they no longer need your help to complete this task. After this, you then need to stick to your decision, and let them find their way if the same issue appears.
Better Sooner Than Later
Aside from removing a reliance on you for basic tasks, teaching family members the basics of these skills can aid their safety, confidence, and ability to accomplish a huge range of goals on the internet. If they wanted to travel to Rome, for example, teaching them how to write an itinerary and book flights would go a long way.
Self-reliance could also manifest in achieving bigger life goals. If a family member wanted to move out of the East Midlands to London, for example, they could use online systems to help them. Platforms like We Buy Any Home in Leicester are easy to use, requiring only simple details to generate free cash offers to users. With the confidence of basic skills, making a sale like this to move to their dream house could be done without you guiding them on the way.
