This wins the internet for Stupidest Practice In A Memory Care Assisted Living Facility EVER! Let's shrink their world because they're incapable of managing life and complications, yet let's give them ROKU TV requiring 2 remotes to operate!!! Sheer stupidity.
I'd be complaining to the Executive Director about this daily. It's THE most senseless thing I've ever heard! You've got poor VegasGuy going into the facilty 6-8 times a DAY to switch channels for his loved one, for crying out loud! UNACCEPTABLE.
There is an item called a universal remote. Buy one and read all the instructions carefully. I got one for my sister, she thought it would magically work out of the box with no setup, it didn’t so she threw it away. Didn’t read the instructions. You will have to set it up for your mom when you visit. If you find tech confusing find a younger tech savvy relative to help (my joke on tech how-to is “first find a 13 year old”)
I agree the MC has really created a stupid situation using Roku TV. Most all cable TV requires 2 remotes. The TV remote (to turn the TV on and off) and control the volume. Then the cable channels are on the other remote. Sometimes modern technology is a royal pain. Most modern cable TV setups require 2 remotes.
I have DISH TV. I use those plastic wire ties ("P" ties), to connect both remotes together (back to back) securely. Pull them tight and trim the excess plastic tips off and lightly sand the sharp corners off. Mom won't be able to take them apart without wire cutters. The new "double remote" will be big enough to handle and not easy to loose!
The Roku remote should turn the TV on ECT. Once you pair a remote to the Roku device when you hit the power button it should turn the TV on at the same time it turn the Roku on. You can get a Roku voice remote at Walmart for $20. Then all she has to do is hold down the speaker but say something like Roku Netflix and it will open the Netflix app. Same if she wants to watch a certain show. Say she misplaces the remote all she or anybody else has to do is say Roku find remote and the remote will start beeping so you can follow the noise. Just needa to be plugged up every now and then to charge but it last a long time on one charge.
Roku Voice Remote (Official) for Roku Players, Roku Audio, and Roku TV™ https://www.walmart.com/ip/613211282
I followed a Reddit thread the other day on how hard it is to find a simple-to-use workable electric can opener. We're talking about "anybody" here -- not just or even primarily seniors. In fact, the thread didn't even mention Seniors. I myself had to buy three different ones recently which had to be returned (broken right after 2 or 3 uses, arrived broke, etc.) before I got one which is more-or-less serviceable. Then I saw someone on the Reddit thread who beat me on my numbers: he had to buy 4. And believe it or not I ended up going to a YouTube video on how to use your typical electric can openers. (There is no "typical" anymore -- there are a number of different types). I remember one comment for a useful YouTube video saying something like: Golly. I'm sure glad I found this video. I was so embarrassed to admit I didn't know how to use a can opener...
When my Dad’s AL did this I literally asked them if they were insane!?!? Seniors are used to on/off and channel numbers. I think the change is all about the $$$. His MC now has Direct TV but unfortunately he’s not too interested in TV any longer. 😢
Lordy, would I ever be the wrong one to ask. The current smart TVs with their one or even two remotes, is enough to drive someone my age absolutely over the top. I'm 81. I finally have got good enough to be friends with the "new" TV, which likely means its about at the end of its life, given how long the disposable electronics of the current era last. The one remote does a lot of "stuff" but wow, what a learning curve. And the buttons all so close together on one little remote, that a hand recently lotioned (or, let's be honest, having eaten potato chips) will just slide off some central button onto the next, and poof.....you're in a whole other world.
I don't know how our elders operate these things, but I do know that typically, at my brother's ALF, people gave up their TVs, used the central common room TV, and it was so hard for them to operate that one that the staff would take the remote into the office, and do the TV channel changes FOR them half the time.
I sure hope you have good luck here, and post the secrets.
So on target Alva. I was given Smart TVs about a year ago. They and the done are the only "smart" things in the house because I still have the devil of a time just turning them on and trying to get to "regular" cable tv. I'm too cheap to drop cable and pick up and pay for the 20 networks that are out there like Roku and Tubi. We won't even discuss what happens when I try to turn the TVs off!
That's strange--ours just has one. Is it because it's also using a sound bar or goes through a cable box? I'd wire it directly into the cable or set up wifi for it, and ditch anything extraneous that requires that second remote so you can use just the single 'on/off' Roku remote, or buy a very simple universal remote for seniors and set that up. (Though this inability to use the remote may just be progression of her disease.)
The last time I visited my mom she was watching TV. She wanted to change the channel, so I got up to grab the remote. There were 5 remotes sitting on the table. I had no idea which one to grab, so I took a best shot guess. Ended up having to ask one the attendants to change the channel for us. I was just as clueless as my mom.
I have a couple Roku installed as a app installed on a Smart TV and several set-top Roku devices. They are intended to work interactively with the TV (most TV's) Meaning she should be able to use the Roku remote to press home (pic of house), from there press the button with a microphone and say what you want, release the button and will switch. So many variables like streaming TV versus cable/satellite TV but that's how all mine work. If the facility has a old Roku it might not have the microphone in remote, tell them to switch it out for one that does. (20 bucks online).
I'd be complaining to the Executive Director about this daily. It's THE most senseless thing I've ever heard! You've got poor VegasGuy going into the facilty 6-8 times a DAY to switch channels for his loved one, for crying out loud! UNACCEPTABLE.
If you find tech confusing find a younger tech savvy relative to help (my joke on tech how-to is “first find a 13 year old”)
I have DISH TV. I use those plastic wire ties ("P" ties), to connect both remotes together (back to back) securely. Pull them tight and trim the excess plastic tips off and lightly sand the sharp corners off. Mom won't be able to take them apart without wire cutters. The new "double remote" will be big enough to handle and not easy to loose!
Roku Voice Remote (Official) for Roku Players, Roku Audio, and Roku TV™ https://www.walmart.com/ip/613211282
Nothing is simple anymore. Older people aren’t always able to catch onto newer technology.
The current smart TVs with their one or even two remotes, is enough to drive someone my age absolutely over the top. I'm 81. I finally have got good enough to be friends with the "new" TV, which likely means its about at the end of its life, given how long the disposable electronics of the current era last.
The one remote does a lot of "stuff" but wow, what a learning curve. And the buttons all so close together on one little remote, that a hand recently lotioned (or, let's be honest, having eaten potato chips) will just slide off some central button onto the next, and poof.....you're in a whole other world.
I don't know how our elders operate these things, but I do know that typically, at my brother's ALF, people gave up their TVs, used the central common room TV, and it was so hard for them to operate that one that the staff would take the remote into the office, and do the TV channel changes FOR them half the time.
I sure hope you have good luck here, and post the secrets.
So many variables like streaming TV versus cable/satellite TV but that's how all mine work. If the facility has a old Roku it might not have the microphone in remote, tell them to switch it out for one that does. (20 bucks online).
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