Chat with Sarah Reed

Sarah Reed will be turning 60 years this year. She was previously a brand manager for design strategies and now she’s running her own company "Many happy returns". She’s a volunteer for CtE (Contact the Elderly) and drives her 3 older ladies to the monthly tea parties. She also writes her own blog on older people and their place in British society. http://theagepage.typepad.com/the_age_page/age_rage/

In my telephone interview with her, she described how she has 3 elderly women she looks after through CtE. One is 99 years, the other 96 and the third lady is in her Mid-80s.
Sarah thinks it’s very challenging to design something for them based on a computer. She confirmed the notion of ‘social pruning’ for the 3 women. They still live independently but friends have moved away, no or only few relatives that live far away, so people locally are important. They take part in CtE to have contact with other people. She explained that the elderly women never call her. She always has to call them. She said their reasons are that the women think that they interrupt Sarah and it would be too expensive to speak.

Sarah explained that she runs workshops with children in the kindergarten and where she tells them to imagine how it was when people were born in the period from 1910- 1920 – no electricity, no running water, shower, bath etc

Sarah described the elderly women's generation: Respect for the authority, very private, doing their duty, don’t want to be a burden, hard grafters, women wouldn't go into a ‘public house’. They are used to face-to-face meetings. She explained how a vast majority of seniors from this generation don’t claim benefits (for which they’d need to fill in the form).

Items that make life easier were introduced throughout the 1960s, so this generation was already 50 years old. Computers are commercially easily only available for the last 12 years, so it’s understandable that the update it very low.

Sarah has a 92 years old auntie who uses a laptop. Sarah explained how money is very important. Some of the women from CtE only live on about £90 a week. It would be difficult to afford a computer, broadband and accessories.

Sarah also mentioned the example of an older and well-educated man (GP). She was in frequent contact with him and he saw her using her laptop. At the beginning he seemed to have been terrified of her laptop, but became eventually interested in trying out the laptop. However, just typing took him such a long while that he became frustrated and stopped being interested. Sarah also mentioned how eyesight is an important factor for computer use.

I'd like to thank Sarah for sharing her insights and information with me.