Students come up with simple guide to help older people make most of their phone
When James Donoghue’s granny was gifted a smart phone at Christmas, she struggled to use it. She would ask her grandson to help her with text messages and to go online but as soon as she was on her own in Castlefrench near Caltra, she would find herself at a loss again.
So James started writing out easy to follow notes for Kathleen Donoghue so that she could consult the instructions whenever she reached for the phone.
When James and his mate Paul Mannion were trying to come with an idea for a student enterprise competition as part of the Fifth Year business class in the Holy Rosary College Mountbellew, they immediately thought of granny’s dilemma.
“We thought there must be so many people out there like her, so we decided to write a book setting out all aspects of a smart phone, from going on zoom calls to making a WhatsApp video call,” explains James.
The book, called Know Your Phone, covers other topics such as being internet savvy and avoiding scams. It also goes through the very basics of a phone such as adjusting the volume and turning the power off and on.
“My granny was the guinea pig. Every time we wrote a page, we would give it to her to see if she could follow it. If she didn’t, we would amend the page until she did. We also contacted the ICA (Irish Countrywomen’s Association) and they suggested we broaden out our target market and make it useful for people that may have learning difficulties.”
Their teacher Sarah Stephens also served as a good sounding board for the project, which has been universally well received.
They have had to reprint the tome six times as sales have been much better than expected. The pair have also enjoyed a little celebrity as their book has been featured on the likes of Highland Radio, Shannonside, Radio Kerry and Midwest Radio. They even merited a mention nationally when it was namechecked by broadcaster Ray D’Arcy.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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