Dear LPG, 

Did you know that according to the internet, 70% of us British adults take a look at our phones before doing anything else in the mornings?   It is generally thought of as not the best way to start any day, although the fact that those very expensive small must-haves seem to dictate our lives these days.  

But not so for us oldies, or at least that was never the case until this pandemic that we are still nowhere near finding the other end of.  I am not saying that we don’t have them, but I am guessing that we are the age group who are likely not to even pick them up unless we hear them ring or we want to make a phone call to someone.  I think that the reason that most of us who have one do is so that we can video call someone that lives abroad, or at least further away than we can get to; in fact, when I want to use mine it is usually at the other end of the house and I am rather good at forgetting to take it with me when I go out which has got me into trouble with my children on more than one occasion. Have you noticed how much they seem to worry when they can’t get an answer from you?

I read an old article that LPG posted and remember smiling (►►►) even though I can see the serious side of that message.  For all that I still forget the thing often.  But according to my children there is something else I really need to do and although I think they are trying to force me to become one of those who will push that 70% statistic up even further, I can see their point.

When we forget to answer them, they leave messages and texts, but the problem is that I never see those.  One of them also looked through my phone one day only to find a message inviting me for a ‘flu jab that was about two months old at the time.  

These days you nearly always must have an e mail address to make a smart phone work.  I must both thank and blame the pandemic for my WhatsApp account which helped me stay in touch when we were all under house arrest.  But we also have a habit of giving the number to people before we even realise.  Our children already have it because they set it up in the first place, and when we are asked if we have a mobile we give the number to our GPs, dentists, friends and others or when they call us we call them back leaving our telephone number with them into the bargain.

Now that we have all these things on the phone it is quite important that we look at them from time to time.

Practice makes perfect and makes sure you don’t miss anything, and I suggest that you find a time in the day to access one of the big four.  For me Monday is text day and with my first cup of tea in the morning (not as soon as I get up) I press the text button and see what I have been missing.  Each Tuesday is my phone history day; the day when I look to see if I have missed any calls.  Wednesday I just look at the emails which are usually all adverts but every now and then something of importance crops up, and Thursday is the day that I make sure no one has been trying to WhatsApp me unsuccessfully.  That leaves Friday, Saturday and Sunday for any other applications you might have that leave notifications or at least a couple of days’ rest. 

The youngsters will tell you that all you must do is press the right icon on the screen although I know that there are many who find it a struggle to just make a call on the things.   I suggest that when those younger ones come to see you, you get them to show you how and do so as many times as it takes for you to understand.  If that does not work get them to look at your notifications when they visit.  They will do it much more quickly than you can and, if you ask them as soon as they get to the front door enough times, it will become one of their routine things to do for you, after all they are the ones that are most likely to be bothering you about it.  

JE, Sydenham.