Gregory's Server@FediThing That’s seems like a very odd design solution, given that a third of the elderly suffer painful arthritis in their fingers and dialing motions require multiple hand and wrist motions, where button-pushing uses far fewer. But maybe I don’t fully understand the problem or solution. Is there some published science to this “muscle memory” theory besides the maker’s.
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4 comments
 @FediThing Yeah, I’m just skeptical of the claim that muscle memory has any relevance here. I grew up using rotary phones and can’t figure out WTF they are talking about. Nothing about them was easier, physically, and many dementia victims lack enough cognitive function to make all those motions, or even correlate the dial with written or memorized numbers. It just just feels like a maker overreaching on claims. The other features sound good, tho.  p.s. Just for context, we had already other dementia phones such as mobiles with a limited number of buttons, but all of them were too confusing. The simple action of lifting the receiver was easier and matched up with what they had done thousands of times before. |
@shoq
Yeah, it's not going to suit everyone, if you have trouble lifting a receiver it obviously won't be for you!
Agreed that dialing is physically harder than buttons, but if you don't know which button to press then buttons aren't any use either.
It's mainly meant to give them the most familiar interface possible, which matches up with what they would have used for most of their life. Dial phones were used everywhere, and continued in use for a very long time. I remember another relative still having a dial phone in everyday use in the early 2000s.
A lot of people in Europe went straight from dial phones to mobiles.
@shoq
Yeah, it's not going to suit everyone, if you have trouble lifting a receiver it obviously won't be for you!
Agreed that dialing is physically harder than buttons, but if you don't know which button to press then buttons aren't any use either.
It's mainly meant to give them the most familiar interface possible, which matches up with what they would have used for most of their life. Dial phones were used everywhere, and continued in use for a very long time. I remember another relative still...