How to drag DW into the 21st century ?

[frayne]

Or should I say how to drag DW into the 21st century and away from her flip phone? Back story here is she has never used a smart phone but uses her iPad for its functionality i.e., FaceTime, search, research, Amazon buying, etc. She has had a flip phone since the beginning of time and it's like you are not going to pry it from her unless it's from her cold dead hands. She is on a Verizon plan talk and text only and they recently jacked the rate up to $45 a month and she is livid. Fortunately I'm iPhone user from way back and still on my old employers plan with no monthly fee, just have to maintain and upgrade my phone as needed and do a little consulting now and then. Any others out there married to a DW with a Luddite mindset and tendencies when it come to tech and how do you approach, broach or manage without a loss of sanity.

 

[Car-Guy]

Any others out there married to a DW with a Luddite mindset and tendencies when it come to tech.

Good luck. Took me years just to get her to use a laptop. I've given up on her using any type of cell/smart phone.

 

[statsman]

Keep plugging away, and don't go with a high-end smartphone. That just puts more pressure on the person trying to learn and gives them no out if they really can't adjust without incurring a cost penalty.

Heck, my DW and I were still using sliding keyboard phones (Pantech Duos) as recently as mid-2017. We were having a difficult time texting with our kid, who had moved out of state the year prior, so I found some new old-stock Samsung S5 Actives. It didn't take long to adjust and see some of the benefits.

To this day, we're not "power" users of our smartphones, but there are just some things, like text messaging, that are easier with a smartphone. DW really likes her latest smartphone, the iPhone 13, as long as she has local customer support. Me!

 

[Spock]

My DW can't copy/paste. She has the instructions to check voicemail taped to the back of her phone.
I have a BSEE with minors in math and comp sci, and worked in IT since 1980.
Oil and water.
More often than not things get tense around tech.

 

[aja8888]

Or should I say how to drag DW into the 21st century and away from her flip phone? Back story here is she has never used a smart phone but uses her iPad for its functionality i.e., FaceTime, search, research, Amazon buying, etc. She has had a flip phone since the beginning of time and it's like you are not going to pry it from her unless it's from her cold dead hands. She is on a Verizon plan talk and text only and they recently jacked the rate up to $45 a month and she is livid. Fortunately I'm iPhone user from way back and still on my old employers plan with no monthly fee, just have to maintain and upgrade my phone as needed and do a little consulting now and then. Any others out there married to a DW with a Luddite mindset and tendencies when it come to tech and how do you approach, broach or manage without a loss of sanity.

Sounds like my 80 year old neighbor.

Has an iPad
Has a landline phone (will not give this up).
Has a Verizon flip with a screen so bad you can't see the numbers.
Won't take a free iphone from me.

Calls me once a week to get her printer to print.

 

[skyking1]

it could be worse. My DSIL will take her phone maybe 40% of the time, so we do not try to contact her too much
The other day DB and I were on that massive road trip and had not heard from her and he could not raise her on the phone.
She went out the day before and then left it overnight in the car. It took her a while to figure that out.

 

[razztazz]

I don't see where the problem is?

I'm expecting my next phone to be a smart phone only because I don't think they will still be making flip phones anymore

 

[Qs Laptop]

Or should I say how to drag DW into the 21st century and away from her flip phone? Any others out there married to a DW with a Luddite mindset and tendencies when it come to tech and how do you approach, broach or manage without a loss of sanity.

This one is easy. The quality of the pictures taken on her flip phone are grossly inferior to any decent smartphone.

You can show her pictures on your iPhone and then pictures from her flip phone. Better yet, if you take identical photos and then upload them to your computer and compare them side by side it will be instantly obvious.

Since you have an iPhone I would suggest she gets one too. Even the most basic iPhone will take excellent pictures. Plus, your familiarity with Apple will make it easier for you to teach her how to use it.

 

[Sunset]

You could buy a smartphone from QVC (I bought 2 of these)

At $60 each and comes with a year of light talk & text & data included.

This is a 2021 yr phone, I find it works great and it can be unlocked after 2 months and then can go with any carrier if you want to change.
A year plan of light use with tracphone is $125 for the year, after you use up the first year.

https://www.qvc.com/Tracfone-Moto-G-Stylus-5G-Smartphone-with-1500-TalkTextData.product.E315229.html?sc=SRCH

 

[Winemaker]

My 56 yo sister refuses to get a cell phone, nor does she do anything online but research.

 

[Andre1969]

My 71 year old uncle accidentally washed his cell phone with his laundry a few years ago. Said it was one of the best accidents to ever happen to him!

 

[pb4uski]

Since the OP's DW like her iPad, I think I would "flip" the argument around and pitch the smartphone as a tiny, portable iPad that can also make phone calls.

To me the value is in if I'm out an about and need to look up an address or a phone number when away from home it is easy peasy. managing email during downtime at appointments, etc.

 

[MarieIG]

No - but one of my DSs (who works on some of the world's most sophisticated equipment by virtue of his "job") totes around an old flip phone.

 

[JoeWras]

Get her off Verizon. Consumer Cellular has unlimited voice/text for $20 per month. You get 1GB data too, which she may not use.

I have a friend who insists on a flip phone also. Some people just don't want the distraction of a smart phone. We all are different. Recently, he broke his. I don't know how, but he managed to produce a new flip phone. EDIT: actually I see Best Buy still sells them.

I have a "Flip" phone too, but it is a bleeding edge Samsung Galaxy Z flip smartphone. Screen folds. I got it for free, otherwise I'd be too cheap to buy a $1000 phone.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

No such issues with my DW. When I upgrade me smartphone (Currently Samsung S12) she just takes my old phone and never utters a peep. She currently is using my old S8 and is very happy with it. She also has an Android S8+ Tablet that she adapted/migrated to in about 3 minutes when she upgraded from her iPad, she loves not being in Apple Jail. I do usually do some basic setups for her, resetting, putting her name in as such.

 

[Which Roger]

I don't see the problem. She's tech-savvy on the Ipad, so savviness is not the issue. Some people are just happy with the phones they have.


My SIL's SO uses a flip phone. She bought him a smart phone for his birthday, and it sat unopened and untouched for a few months. She finally returned it.

 

[Time2]

She is on a Verizon plan talk and text only and they recently jacked the rate up to $45 a month and she is livid. Fortunately I'm iPhone user from way back and still on my old employers plan with no monthly fee, just have to maintain and upgrade my phone as needed and do a little consulting now and then.

Seems like a high monthly price, my wife and I have the AT&T prepaid $300 a year plan, it is not unlimited, but I have never run out of data and I stream probably 16 hrs a day. Either Youtube videos, oldtime radio or a radio station. Ya, I stream all night, and do hear a lot on my pillow speaker during the night.
Btw, how did she not have to upgrade when 3G ? went away. Something went away and I have friends that had to get new phones.

 

[frayne]

Btw, how did she not have to upgrade when 3G ? went away. Something went away and I have friends that had to get new phones.

When 3G went away she had to upgrade to a new flip phone. That was probably two or three years ago. I think she will do fine once she gets a smartphone, she just isn't too keen on the idea after being attached to a flip for the last twenty years or so.

I can remember going from a flip to an iPhone and the transition was pretty seamless as smartphones are pretty intuitive in my way of thinking.

Thanks for everyone's responses and glad to know this is not unique to just my household.

 

[Midpack]

My DW isn't tech averse, but she doesn't embrace change that well. Fortunately for me, when all her friends went to smart phones, and started texting pictures to each other - DW had to have a smartphone. More persuasive than anything I could have said.

She bought an Apple Watch last year too. You guessed it, her friends had them and were looking at texts while playing pickleball...and that sealed the deal for DW. I haven't succumbed to the Apple Watch but neither of us would be without our iPads, iPhones or iMac (me)/Macbook (DW). And were Win PC users only for decades before we switched eco systems.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

You could buy a smartphone from QVC (I bought 2 of these)

At $60 each and comes with a year of light talk & text & data included.

This is a 2021 yr phone, I find it works great and it can be unlocked after 2 months and then can go with any carrier if you want to change.
A year plan of light use with tracphone is $125 for the year, after you use up the first year.

https://www.qvc.com/Tracfone-Moto-G-Stylus-5G-Smartphone-with-1500-TalkTextData.product.E315229.html?sc=SRCH

I have this 5G phone too and get a brand new one on the QVC or HSN Tracfone deals every year and move it to Tello after the 60 day unlock. Great way to get a decent new phone for less than $100. Not sure how long these deals will last since Verizon is changing all the rules for Tracfone.

 

[OldShooter]

I don't see where the problem is? ...

Exactly. She's happy. The only reason you're unhappy is that you are making yourself unhappy. So stop that.

 

[pb4uski]

When 3G went away she had to upgrade to a new flip phone. That was probably two or three years ago. I think she will do fine once she gets a smartphone, she just isn't too keen on the idea after being attached to a flip for the last twenty years or so.

I can remember going from a flip to an iPhone and the transition was pretty seamless as smartphones are pretty intuitive in my way of thinking.

Thanks for everyone's responses and glad to know this is not unique to just my household.

Do you have an old/spare smartphone that you can put her SIM card in so she can try it for a while?

I did that with my 92yo mother and it was a total failure. I evenually put her SIM car back into he flip phone.

One thing that we have done for the last 5 or so years is DW and I get the exact same phones at the same time... that way if she has any questions on how to do domething or has a problem of some sort then I am better able to help her with it.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

When 3G went away she had to upgrade to a new flip phone. That was probably two or three years ago. I think she will do fine once she gets a smartphone, she just isn't too keen on the idea after being attached to a flip for the last twenty years or so.

I can remember going from a flip to an iPhone and the transition was pretty seamless as smartphones are pretty intuitive in my way of thinking.

Thanks for everyone's responses and glad to know this is not unique to just my household.

She can get unlimited talk and text for a lot cheaper using a Verizon MVNO, for example usmobile has an unlimited talk and text plan for $7.50

I applaud her for not wanting the distraction of a smartphone and you bugging her won't help. When a friend shows her some features that she does not have on her dumbphone she'll be more willing to consider an upgrade.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

Mother in law finally got a smart phone so I welcomed her with this in a text....the best use of technology I could come up with.... hehe

 

[pacergal]

If she enjoys the iPad, I would think an iPhone would be a pretty simple learning experience. All of the functions from her iPad are at her fingertips, everywhere she goes with a smartphone.
It sounds like what she doesn't like is the increasing cost of her flip phone data plan.
So, unless you can change that, she may need to move to a smart phone. And there are some that are "flip" or foldable screens. But I would imagine an iPhone would be more intuitive Ince she has an iPad.
Good Luck!