In some cases, seniors and new technology do not mix. Although businesses are continuously developing great new technology to help improve people’s lives, most devices are just too complex to really simplify your life. Take for example the recent purchase of a GPS for Grandma. Because of some recent memory loss, Grandma began to get lost more frequently when she left her small neighborhood. It seemed like a good solution to buy a GPS for her car. The concept of having a device that would make sure that she could never get lost seem like a really good one.

We purchased the Garmin device, installed in her car and began to train her. It quickly became evident that the GPS had too many features and options to actually simplify navigation. I started out by setting up specific destination points and saving them in memory so that she could just access one of them and then the GPS would tell her where to go. Then I tried to explain how she could recall a new destination. The first problem was that the process of re-calling a destination point was not always the same. Depending on the status when the car was turned off the menu options are different. In case A, it took six selections to reprogram a new destination and in case B, it took seven selections. As I tried to explain this new “simple device”, I realize we needed a sheet of paper to document the process of selecting a new destination point. What a waste.

That wasn’t the only drawback. Although I only live about 2 miles away, I noticed her, one day, down the street walking into a neighbor’s house. I went down and asked her what she was doing. She said that the GPS told her that was my house.

The third and most significant option is that finding a new destination point that is not preprogrammed can take over 20 key entries and would take longer then asking for directions. I really don’t think she could do it in an emergency situation.

The fourth problem appeared one day the GPS stopped working. It turned out that it does come unplugged from the cigarette lighter. The GPS just gave an error that the battery was low and did not tell her to plug the GPS back in. This made it very obvious that the GPS has very little benefit for someone who is not technically inclined with strong troubleshooting skills. If you are considering buying a GPS for a Senior who has difficulty with a DVD player or microwave or TV, the GPS is an even more complicated device and could actually be a disadvantage for some seniors. The GPS can actually be a distraction because there is more clutter in the car and more things to keep track of while driving.

So if you are considering a GPS for yourself or to help a senior get around their local area, you might want to quiz yourself/them on the usage of some of their other high-tech labor saving devices. If you/they ever have any problems finding a TV program that you/they want to watch then a GPS will only make life more complicated and you will waste 300 to 600 dollars.