Targeting seniors for mobile phones
I remember my grandfather telling me about his first experience with the
telephone. It was 1942. He had just enlisted, was in St. John’s,
Newfoundland, undergoing basic training before crossing the great North
Atlantic for eventual deployment in Italy. It was his first trip in eighteen
years outside his outport home, population 200, give or take a half dozen
babies. A lot of firsts witnessed that year, but eighty years later, of all
the stories he told, the telephone story was his favorite. Not so much a
story, but an acknowledgement of wonder. Grandfather had relatives in St.
John’s and a young female cousin took a particular shine to his lack of
technological finesse. The girl would get a grand chuckle watching my
Grandfather answer the phone, watching his confused attempt to put the
correct end to his ear and howl with laughter as he screamed into the
mouthpiece in his fervent attempts to be heard by the unfortunate caller.
The story seems somewhat ludicrous in a world wired for global
communication, but there remains a large segment of our population for whom
the cell phone is as mysterious today as it was sixty years ago. Strangely
enough, that segment is the same populace that witnessed the birth of this
powerful mode of communication.
Cell phone designers have yet to focus on this potentially huge market,
perhaps because seniors themselves profess a disinterest in cell-phones. The
mobiles are too small, the buttons are a hit or miss, and cell phones
require a degree of technological savvy that seniors either can’t or won’t
master. There is, however, a market here, and better yet, there’s a need.
Community-help organizations are already collecting and recycling old cell
phones, reprogramming the donated dinosaurs to call only 911. Seniors carry
these recyclables with them at all times and take comfort in the security
they offer. Recent cell phone designs include one-button phones that connect
to a call center where seniors are rerouted to find assistance with daily
needs and activities or emergency response relief. The possibilities are
enormous.
I recall my own first cell. In comparison to today’s model, it was as big as
a boot, and I quickly became embarrassed with its large, ugly personae as
friends and colleagues switched to the neater, streamlined version. Truth
is, though, that model was a good fit for Gramps. With hearing not as keen
as it was sixty years ago, that oversized earpiece was pretty much the right
size for my grandfather, and the mouthpiece fell into the right area. With a
quick push of his glasses to the top of his head, he could easily read the
numbers. He needed that loud ringbone, too. Gramps hears music and he’s
yelling for someone to turn off that darned radio.
What is required by designers and service providers is a rethinking of the
consumer. Seniors are besought with physical and limitations that require
modifications in cell phone design, options, and service. In many ways, the
modifications are already there. For this particular segment of the
population, we need to step back a little, rather than surge forward.
Bring back the wonder. Give Gramps a cell-phone he can call his own.
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