How BLF member Sarah* got to grips with technology during Covid

*Name changed to protect identity

I was having difficulty as I didn’t know what Zoom was and I was a bit petrified I was going to do something wrong and sometimes I struggle to retain information.

This technology is all new to me. Some of us old people are just dinosaurs, we grew up without all of it! I am a bit scared about using technology, I don’t even want to do it in case it goes wrong. I don’t understand how it all works and I am worried about viruses and scams. There was no one here to help me in my home. If I could live without technology I would.

I had a lovely young lady help me from Hestia. She called me and talked me through it on the phone. To learn to use Zoom I had my laptop and she would video call me on WhatsApp and I had to turn my phone so she could see what was on the screen.

We needed to do it this way as there were things that wouldn’t be apparent to me on the screen and she would point out what the different icons meant.

I am learning to look around me and learn what the symbols means and I am beginning to get better at it.

Now I can see if someone sends a message just to me. I’m beginning to getting rid of the fear, it’s like doing a puzzle and you are a bit scared and get frustrated but then if you try and succeed then you feel excited.

It helped me out a lot but I am still trying to get my head around it. Sometimes it’s difficult having to type in the link from WhatsApp onto the laptop. The reason I use my laptop is because the screen is bigger. Having larger print and bigger screens is better.

If service users at Hestia are nervous about using zoom or technology, ask for help. My volunteer was great she was very patient with me. I feel a lot better now I can attend the meetings it was nice to see people’s faces.

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