Gransnet Guide to the Internet

(From the "accompanying page") " and some of you (you know who you are) are just plain daft"

PHOENIX!!! They're talking about you again!!!

This isn't quite comprehensive enough. Could it please include a detailed explanation of how to post photos on Gransnet, straight from iPads.

Thank you.

If only Janet knew that I taught myself to use the internet so I could have bets on the gee gee's ....

Good a reason as any. Specially if you win.

(They never did cover that on Blue Peter did they? Shame. "Here's one I lost an arm and a leg on earlier")

When I was still working, our head of dept made a big song and dance about introducing us to the internet, as if it were something very complicated. A few weeks later, I was visiting DS at a watersports hotel he was managing in Corsica; it took him five minutes to point me in the right direction and I've been on the web ever since. Sadly I was no good at windsurfing.

It was so long ago when I started to play around with things other than spreadsheets that I remember being desperate because there was nothing to look at, at first. There was scarcely anything worth looking at over 20 years ago. In fact, I had a directory of websites, there were so very few in the world. It was like a big phone book. Most were in America, but there were quite a few here. Each one had to be painstakingly typed in, my, how things have changed. Amazon and email as we know it only started up 20 years ago. Most sites only had a photo and were an advert with a phone number - some still are! Five years on and it was a whole new world, and ten years ago if you didn't have a website your business either had to be very well-known locally, or you went under.

I think it's brilliant, and I feel very sorry for anyone who doesn't have access to a computer or is too scared to have a go at using one.

Who are all these thousands of people chatting on the forums?

Every day when I log on it's still the usual suspects.

We had a computer way back when you had "C:" and a flashing cursor in green on a black screen and then you had to type in what you wanted it to do. We didn't use the internet at first because it ran up your phone bill and it was easier to ring someone than disconnect the phone, connect the modem and then listen to the wail for what seemed like hours, just to send one email!!

I changed to broadband when I discovered the phone bill run up when my GD1 had monopolised the PC over the summer holidays.

Ah yes the dial up computer. Phone bill analysed when DDs were home. I was taken to but a laptop when the daughters left home. Do they ever email? No. I was told to buy a decent thingummy to skype with and do they ever Skype ? No . But it's all so useful.

We used to have to take turns, I could have the computer during the day, DBH would get home and have an hour while DD was having her tea, then DD would commandeer it to do her homework - even 19 years ago homework was being set to do on a computer and there weren't enough in the schools - then DBH would have it back to do his work. At the weekends little DS would have it for a couple of hours on rainy days to go onto to the CBBC website and play learning games. Now when DD and her family visit and we are all here, all seven of us are on the internet at the same time, on occasion! DS has found some online family games that we can all play together, it's not as if we all ignore each other.

I have been using a computer since 1990, it all began when my 19year old son bought himself a computer,I watched with awe and fascination. I just had to have a go at this. I asked him to show me how to get started, I had the briefest lesson, and then he gave me a book and left me to teach myself.....which I did, over time I became more confident wanting to learn more skills....I now have a desktop computer, laptop in the kitchen. And an IPAD for travelling.....I am a widow, live alone have no family for hundreds of miles, just a few friends I see occasionally. I am now 75yrs old, I can't imagine what I would do without my friend the computer....In winter and bad weather days it is so good to take a cup of coffee switch on the computer and enjoy all Gransnet chatter and forums, I have also found two pen pals, one in USA and one in CANADA....we email regularly with endless news about our lives and about the countries we live in, and often attach pictures of places we have visited and of our families....I never feel lonely anymore...apart from that I love browsing the internet, there are so many wonderful web sites for all my personal interests, and now I have joined Twitter. I just love my computer, I can't imagine what I would do without it.....incase people think this is my whole life, no. I belong to a book group, a discussion group, walking group, swimming group and Geology group.

My hubby who is mathematical bought a BBC Micro fairly soon after they came out in the early 1980s. The kids were too small then to use it.

I took to it straight away. I had to use one in earnest when I started working up here in 1988. That really honed my skills. Then t'internet came in.

I love my computer and I would be lost without it. All that information at our fingertips. Just look it up by pressing the "on" button. With my interests in all things Earth Sciencey I can pick up news feeds and wonderful pictures and articles.

Find a good knitting video which demonstrates techniques that seem complicated.

There are interesting people on GN to chat to or have a laugh or share information with. There is usually a lot of support and good advice when required.
Having someone else to help you talk through a problem or a dilemma can really you to clarify your thoughts about what to do.

I do know quite a number of people older than me who are regular users. a few in their 80s. How you start to get someone who has never tried using a computer might be difficult. I suppose it depends on their outlook on life. adventurous or timid.

I have an 80 year old friend who helped to set up the IT department when she worked at the local secondary school. Now that she has retired and is widowed, she refuses to use her home computer in case it goes wrong!!!! I have tried to persuade her to start up again, as she is often lonely and craves company, but to no avail. Instead she prefers to pester me with requests for information, price comparisons, AA routes etc.! You just can't help some people!

One of the biggest barriers must be getting broadband and a wifi router, then setting up a tablet or computer to access the internet. A large landline phone provider such as BT could help if it saw the need. The service provider could make it simple to install broadband and wifi and provide a tablet that has already been set up to access it.
For anyone that's interested, I've also added a link to a BBC news item about technology that aims to make access to the internet simpler for those who might find using a tablet difficult www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32511489

I find it quite surprising just how many older people use the internet. We recently set up a new U3A group in our village. There was no requirement to be on the internet, but out of 200 ish members only about 10 do not have access to the internet for email and newsletters. I run the web site and almost all the group leaders now edit their own web pages.
Is posting images from an iPad to Gransnet still a problem, if it is, I will look at writing a guide, pm me if you are interested.

FIL (87) loves his ipad, emails family, swaps photos, buys on Amazon, ebay, checks out all the coin prices ( he collects them) and buys train tickets/books hotels! He's found tripadvisor and researched his last trip meticulously. Internet is a godsend for him.

I love my tablet. I can take it anywhere. It is much better than the computer which is in my DS's old bedroom. I feel so isolated if I have to sit in there for very long. I have an android not an iPad which frees me from being dependent on apple technology.

5% of subscribers to the U3A have no internet connectivity in pompa's village. I make the assumption that extrapolating to a community as a whole indicates that the figure will be higher.
I volunteer for a charity that supports people with their IT needs, most already have access to the internet and they have to come to us, trainers are not insured to go to their homes. However, I am aware that, for some that would like to connect to the internet, the biggest barrier is getting on line in the first place. Just ordering broadband from a provider is difficult and seems expensive, buying a tablet or computer and setting up wifi is unthinkable without help. Yet these are the people that could benefit from being connected.
There seems to be so little community help for isolated and lonely people to get online. That's why I suggest that service providers could provision broadband and supply wifi-ready tablets. Do U3A run courses to help people access and use the internet sensibly and safely? Could U3A do more to help? What other initiatives are there? I think the Gransnet campaign to promote the benefits of being online is admirable but doesn't address the practicalities.

NMG, I may be confuse by your statement re the community as a whole.
As all of our U3A members are retired, therefore of a age, mostly 60 + and many into their 80's, this is the very group thta one would think less IT literate than the general population. So I would expect that the % without internet access in our Village would be much lower possibly just 1-2%.

I'm not suggesting our Village is typical of the whole population, but I would think it typical of a rural village in a reasonably affluent area.

As I have requests for help to upload pictures from an Ipad to Gransnet, here it is. If anything is unclear please PM me. .....................

Uploading pictures from Ipad IOS 8 to Gransnet

Open Gransnet & login to your account

Open “MyPhotos” >> “Upload more Pictures”

Click “Choose File” and choose either of the two options (in this example “Choose existing”)

Your Ipad will now offer you several options for the location of your pictures, select one and click on the picture you want.

Back in Gransnet, give the picture a name (optional)

Choose your privacy option

Click on “Send File”

Click “Store” (picture may also be resized, but I always stick with the default)

Job Done …...................................