The pandemic has kept seniors homebound during 2020, and folks have increasingly turned to their computers and smartphones to keep in touch with the world and connect with friends and family. Sadly, the scammers and hackers of the world have seen this as an opportunity to get even busier and more sophisticated with how they [Read More…]
Published in the Davis Enterprise
How tech can help this holiday season
Hearing the time-honored song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” may elicit more tears than laughter this year as the pandemic has many families staying put and not traveling in order to protect themselves and their loved ones – especially us seniors. Friends, too, are passing on holiday parties and other social gatherings. Less important, [Read More…]
How was your experience?
You’ve just spent an exasperating hour or more on the phone with a bubbly customer service representative. The reason for your call may or may not have been resolved. You’re frustrated and feeling like you’ve just been through the ringer. Not five minutes later, you receive a friendly email asking, “How was your experience?” They’re [Read More…]
Pandemic creates sink-or-swim moments for seniors
We launched our first column three years ago with a commentary on a 2017 Wall Street Journal article by Geoffrey Fowler titled, Want to Get Tech Savvy? Don’t Ask Your Children. This article has been coming back to mind for us lately as we hear from clients and their loved ones. Today we invite you [Read More…]
What’s your zone?
September is National Preparedness Month. Do you know which Yolo County evacuation zone you live in? Are you set up to receive emergency notifications and alerts? What would you take with you if you had to leave your home on short notice? And what do these questions have to do with our smartphones? Read on. [Read More…]
The bitter and the sweet of these days
In our May column we wrote about the experience we had going through the Starbucks drive-thru, when the folks in the car in front of us surprised us by paying for our order. We ended the column by saying that we would, to the best of our ability, pay the kindness forward. Last week we [Read More…]
“Stuck in the Middle With You”
Remember the classic song by Stealers Wheel? It came to me as I was preparing to write our July column. It couldn’t be more appropriate for this moment in time, as we begin to understand that the pandemic is not coming to a close as we’d all hoped by now. Instead, we seem to be [Read More…]
At the worst time, she had the best Mother’s Day ever
My mother will turn 94 at the end of this year. Each year our family tradition is to gather at her retirement community in the bay area. Not everyone lives close enough to attend, but as many as can make it, do. This year is different. Visitors are not allowed at the retirement community [Read More…]