Is There a Simple Way to Video Chat With My Elderly Parents?
The pandemic has been rough on everyone, especially when it comes to maintaining connection with the people we love. Luckily, technology allows us to maintain these connections in all sorts of useful ways. It can be especially challenging, however, when you’re trying to stay in touch with someone who isn’t as technologically savvy or is otherwise limited because of age or circumstance.
The Dilemma of Technology in Senior Care
Many senior care facilities have strict policies where any technology would have to pre-program ahead of time as all the facility would do is plug into the power but they would not do anything else. Whatever technological setup you’re going to use to connect is going to have to be something that’s absurdly easy to operate. Since the facility workers won’t mess with a device for you, we have to rule out any kind of laptop-based setup.
You could set up and angle a smartphone, but that’s an awfully small picture to deal with. A tablet would be better, but there’s an even better solution: purchase a smart display, such as Google’s Nest Hub Max.
| Device Type | Suitability for Senior Care |
|---|---|
| Laptop | Impractical; requires manual power-on and troubleshooting staff won't do. |
| Smartphone | Suboptimal; the picture is often too small for elderly users. |
| Smart Display | Best option; foolproof, self-sufficient, and only needs plugging in. |
Why Smart Displays are the Best Solution
Smart displays are pretty foolproof. Once you plug one in and set it up, it’s going to be fairly self-sufficient; it’ll update itself as needed, reconnect to the internet if it ever goes down, and the most troubleshooting it’ll probably ever need is a quick unplug and plugging back in. That fits exactly what the facility workers would be able to do, should the need arise.
To prepare the device, you’ll probably want to make a new, dummy Google account for all of this, append a Google Voice phone number, and then add your primary Google account as a member of the household so you can control the smart display from afar.
Methods to Initiate Video Chats
If the recipient is not cognitive enough to push buttons on a tablet, you have two options to launch video chats:
- Google Home Routines: You can make a routine in the Google Home app for the account that calls your personal phone number when activated.
- Built-in Camera Feature: You can use the built-in “Camera” feature within the Google Home app to pull up a live feed from the smart display and talk to it.
I like the Google Duo approach myself, as I think it’s a more elegant solution. It might seem a little backwards to use a separate device to initiate a call from a smart display, but that’s the best solution for far-away family members.