It’s a big day for my Mum, she’s going to get hooked up to the Internet for the first time ever. Having eschewed computers as far too complicated and expensive, my Mum (who has been retired for years) has at last decided she wants to get online and see what she’s been missing out on.
I can remember when I first got online with a 14.4 baud modem, so with a 3G Vodafone Dongle my Mum is going to be spoiled from day one. Laptops are amazingly cheap nowadays and the purchase of a from the Daily Deals is well under £200 these days. The only other thing you really must have is of course a printer and you’ll all set to go.
Once you’ve got the kit setting up is easy these days. Windows 7 ships with an email reader and basic Office programs (Word and spreadsheets) for free. Email address are free and gmail gives POP3 and IMAP access with auto setup for the Windows 7 email reader. Anti-Virus is of course essential but easily for under £300 you can have everything you need to be online for a year including your Internet USB Dongle
The big question is having been online for a couple of decades I know my way around but where should I send my Mum first? Which are the best sites (barring of course Google) for her to start with? Should she just be browsing or jump straight into shopping? What about news sites, customised home pages with news feeds, social sites, or chat rooms?
If your Mum was going online for the very first time which sites would you recommend? Help me out here… I’m going to have to suggest some websites for Mum to visit first in just a few hours from now!
11 Responses
I found that asking my mum about what she had an interest in / what she always wanted to know was a good start. Take a few of these, show her how to find what she needs (and ofc how to avoid the usual pitfalls) For shopping I would advise an Amazon account for starters, its so easy for the inexperienced.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/index.html
my mum has been dead for 40 years
it would be some cracking site that could hook up to her
My mum (who is 72) plans holidays on-line and books direct with hotels.
If any shopping is needed she asks me to do it.
Checking in on-line is also a favourite (for flights)
Other than that, if she is like my mum…a good conspiracy website with lots of political scandals will do the trick 🙂
I would have thought any Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury website that enables you to do your shopping online and have it delivered to your doorstep would be handy. Frees up time for mum to see more of you!
And what about http://www.laterooms.com for that last minute hotel break?
My Mum does all her shopping online, even down the greatings cards and wrapping paper. She books flights, car-hire, cruises. Buys Kindle books and sends online greetings cards too.
The ONLY place she won’t go is ebay.
She likes this site too https://www.yours.co.uk/
My mum is quite a whizz and certainly wouldn’t be without internet banking, Skype and all the various travel websites for booking her various holidays and jaunts. She also loves Amazon.
Interestingly, I can’t get her much interested in eBay either. She prefers to do her buying and selling at car boot sales and collectors fairs.
What about astrology websites?
Mums seem to like that sort of thing.
Thanks for all the suggestions… she’s starting with a couple of charity sites she supports, local groups and Tesco (the only people that’ll deliver groceries to where she lives) 🙂
email is all set up to download gmail to her computer and she’s got Skype so that she can get hold of me and screen share in emergencies 😀
The most amazing site on the planet has to Wikipedia
If she likes old photos (and who doesn’t) https://www.retronaut.co/ . “Time capsules” which are sets of photos of the weird and wonderful from 1800 to the present. I can get lost in there for hours at a time. Here’s my current fave – https://www.retronaut.co/2011/11/black-cat-auditions-in-hollywood-1961/