There is a specific look of frustration on a client’s face when they open their iPad or iPhone and realize that their favorite app has updated overnight.

To a developer in Silicon Valley, an update is an important performance and/or security improvement. 

To a senior in Marin, an update is a disruption.

This is the Convenience Paradox: The more advanced our devices become, the more tenuous our mastery of them feels.

For an older adult who has carefully written down, “Step 1: Click the blue circle,” an update that changes that circle to a green square is sometimes an unnerving event.

It invalidates their notes, makes them question their memory, and their erodes their technology confidence.

The Apple device landscape is particularly guilty of this.

iOS updates often change the gestures required to navigate.

Suddenly, swiping up does something different than it did yesterday.

This state of perpetual newness that we face can be exhausting!

After all, in so many other areas of life once you learn the interface it remains consistent for years (eg. your car, toaster, or washing machine) not months.

In tech, the interface is seemingly written in sand.

With my senior clients I work on building “flexible mental models”; learning to look for icons (like the gear for settings or the magnifying glass for search) rather than memorizing positions.

Sadly, the burden will always be on the user of the technology.

And at Senior Tech Tutor Marin we’ll do our best to help clients stay current and keep up. 😀