iPad: Not Just for Hipsters—It's for Grandparents Too!

In the Spring of 2010, weeks after the Apple iPad hit store shelves, my wife and I were enjoying dinner with my grandparents when the subject of email arose. "I'm the only person in my golf foursome who doesn't have an email address," my 86 year-old grandfather submitted. "I think it's time to get a computer." After years of pleading from his children and grandchildren to get a computer and email address, the final straw for Grandpa to get digital was that he wasn't getting his tee times.

He then proceeded to pull out an ad from Reader's Digest for some all-in-one PC that was definitely marketed to the 55+ crowd. "I'm thinking of buying one of these. What do you think?"

A video I sent my Grandpa of my nephew, Henry, using an iPad

Looking at that computer ad, I was having flashbacks from 10 years earlier when I set my grandparents up with an old Mac desktop and dial-up internet. Between Grandpa having trouble with the mouse and both grandparents not really understanding that they couldn't use the phone when they were on the internet, I was in 24/7 tech support purgatory. Barely a day went by when I didn't receive a tech support request. After two months, Grandma called me and asked me to remove the Mac from their kitchen. They were breaking up with their computer. And if the computer had feelings, I'd bet that the split was mutual.

There was no way that I was going to recommend another desktop to my grandparents. "We just got a new iPad from work. It's basically a like a big iPhone," I suggested as I pulled my iPhone out to show them. "I think something like this will suit you guys well. Let me bring it over next week and you can see if you like it." Intrigued, but unimpressed with the iPhone, they agreed.

I brought the loaner iPad to their condo the next week and Grandpa immediately fell in love with it. Being in their eighties, neither Grandma's or Grandpa's eyesight is what it used to be, and the ability to zoom in on text by pinching the screen was amazing to them. The touchscreen was so intuitive. If you wanted to select something on the screen, you just touched it. There was no fussy computer mouse and cursor. It was so simple, so user-friendly, and, most importantly, it was so grandparent-friendly. I left their condo with Grandpa's Visa card in hand and instructions to return with an iPad.

They opted for the iPad with 3G, so we wouldn't have to worry about ordering DSL and then installing a wireless router. With 3G, the iPad just gets internet access from the cell tower. There was only piece of equipment for me to support: the iPad.

Within one hour, they had a new Gmail account, had an app where they could play the card game Bridge, had other family members' email addresses in their address book, and some interesting websites  bookmarked. They were all set.

I could really tell that Grandpa loved his iPad when he arrived at a family BBQ with it tucked under his arm. This was definitely going much better than the Mac desktop experiment from a decade ago. But outside of an occasional email from Grandpa, I didn't know how much he used his iPad. But one day he called me and asked, "How do I get on facebook?" It was right then that I knew that I would not be getting a request to return the iPad. It was here to stay.

We live so much of our lives online. This is how we share pictures, videos, and stories. For so long, my grandparents were not a part of this digital community. Now they can follow the lives of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren scattered around the Midwest. And they can share their lives, too.

For all the criticism people have for the iPad (underpowered, overpriced, doesn't support Flash), it has been a transformative product. The iPad has opened the digital world to many people that wouldn't be online using a traditional computer. It has made my life richer by being able to share my digital life with my grandparents.

Now I'm just waiting for Grandpa to ask me to set him up with a twitter account.