Diary-July 15, 2023——Grandpa's Eye Health

Tonight, around ten o'clock, my family suddenly messaged me on WeChat, saying that my grandfather had undergone cataract surgery today. It was a free examination for elderly people in our village, and they found the cataracts and arranged for him to have surgery at the county hospital.

Before I could process this information, they added, "Grandpa is always on his phone, even at night. He spends hours looking at it. Now he's addicted to it like a child. You shouldn't have bought him this kind of phone in the first place."

To be honest, I didn't really know what cataracts were. But when it was associated with my grandfather, it scared me. So I immediately searched for information about cataracts and found out that it's a common condition among the elderly. I'm really worried about how the hospital will handle this issue for someone of my grandfather's age. It's too late now to disturb him while he's sleeping, so I'll have to ask him about it tomorrow. Hopefully, everything will be fine!

Now, let's talk about the phone situation.

I bought a phone for my grandfather in April this year after I quit my job. He is 82 years old, and he has fewer and fewer friends. Nowadays, TV doesn't interest him much, and there seems to be no radio signal in our village, so he can't find any programs. The phone I bought for him is still a basic feature phone.

I just wanted my grandfather to feel less lonely in his old age, and at least experience some entertainment from the internet. That was my original intention behind buying him a phone. However, smartphones are not user-friendly for the elderly, and there are concerns about inappropriate content as well.

Therefore, I made some preparations:

Firstly, I bought a phone with a minimalistic mode, so he wouldn't accidentally access unnecessary applications.

I only kept Douyin (TikTok) and an app for watching live TV programs. For Douyin, I registered an account with my own phone number in advance. To prevent it from recommending inappropriate content, I followed some healthy accounts such as official news, anti-fraud awareness, food, and movie reviews. Additionally, for several consecutive days, I continuously clicked "not interested" on unsuitable content to train the recommendation algorithm to avoid random recommendations.

The phone doesn't have a SIM card, only Wi-Fi connection. Without a phone number, we can minimize the risk of scams.

But using a touch screen smartphone is still quite challenging for older people. After all, their fingers are not as nimble as ours, and even simple taps may turn into long presses, causing accidental touches and triggering various settings. Especially, my grandfather often accidentally turns off the Wi-Fi without knowing what happened.

However, with time and patience, he's slowly adapting. I only wanted my grandfather to have more things to see, without the phone completely disrupting his original way of life.

So, when I heard my family openly blaming my grandfather's cataracts on excessive phone usage, I felt really upset. If it's indeed because of the phone, then I would be greatly responsible. However, if it's not caused by the phone, then it's just a misattribution. After researching and understanding more about it, I don't believe that a few months of phone usage can immediately cause cataracts. I think it's more likely that he had it before, but it went unnoticed because he hadn't been checked. Therefore, these baseless accusations make me feel unjustly treated.

But regardless of the cause, what worries and upsets me the most is my grandfather. I'm concerned that he will be blamed for his eye health due to his love for phones, which will put a tremendous psychological burden on him. It's true that excessive phone usage has more disadvantages than benefits, but that's not where the blame lies. I detest being attributed with the wrong cause. I only want my grandfather to be happy and healthy.😔