I'm having a problem that I never thought of before but seems one likely to be more common in this digital age.
A friend of mine is the primary caretaker of her mother with advancing dementia. This presents new and awful problems pretty constantly but the latest is that she is increasingly and dangerously vulnerable to online scams. Ive been able to help with some issues but pop up ads in her games continue to be the biggest nuisance.
Its hard enough to avoid them as someone who doesn't have serious cognitive loss, god knows theyve gotten more predatatory and hard to correctly dismiss. This woman keeps downloading malware and scams and viruses and gorking up her phone in ways it somehow became my problem to fix. Her daughter is way over her head and doesn't do well with computers or phones.
It got a lot better when I disabled youtube and Facebook so there were less scammy videos for her to click (although smartphones find all kind of ways to let them in through news updates and whatever else...) but taking away the games is NOT an option. The puzzles and cardgames keep her from violence and destruction. At the same time I absolutely cannot be factory resetting this woman's phone every week.
Does anyone have some sort of tip or trick to dementia proof a smartphone? Its an android, a newer model galaxy if that matters. I haven't explored the options as well as I would have if she lived in my house and spending time with her didn't feel like a punishment for crimes committed in another life. Getting a new phone is not feasible. Much as I believe in dignity and autonomy I also believe something needs to happen to keep this woman safe from her own dementia.
