Tag: Twifties Gifts

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I have spent 90 minutes to accomplish a tech task, and I am at a dead end.

It is not because I am not “tech savvy.” I am surrendering because I value my time and I am frustrated when things don’t work as they should and are not streamlined when they could be.

I want to choose how I allocate my time, not have it stolen from me.

These pictures say it all. It’s a snowy day and I finally have the chance to work in my home office taking care of loose ends.

I decided to try to get my Honeywell wi-fi thermostat back online so I can monitor the temperature in my home while away and even turn the heat up before I come back. Great concept, right?

First I look up the password to get onto my Honeywell account. I had saved it and found it, and bingo, I’m on.

The emails that I get incessantly from Honeywell to reconnect say “click here for instructions on how to reconnect” and that link takes me to a page of the site where it asks me which model I have. I pull out the manual that I had stashed in a safe place by my cookbooks, and bingo, I have the model number. I write it on masking tape with a Sharpie and affix it to the thermostat. It would have been time-saving and convenient if the model number was put on the outside of the thermostat by the manufacturer.

Next, I have to download the app again on my phone, because it either disappeared or I removed it during the year that the thermostat was not connected, and I needed the space on my phone.

App downloaded, I try the same password that worked on Honeywell 20 minutes ago, and it says “wrong password or email.” Finally I open a new account with new info, and that works. Next I have to get the app and the site coordinated, because apparently these are now from two different companies.

I go back to my computer to choose my thermostat device. There are 12 pictures of models on each of 5 pages. It would have been time-saving if there was a box to type my model number into, or if the models were categorized by type, or any number of ways. I have to read the small numbers pictured in light blue under each photo to look for my model. And…it is not listed. When I finally get a dialog box to type it in, I get “Sorry, no search results found.”

I have spent 90 minutes to accomplish a tech task, and I am at a dead end.

It is not because I am not “tech savvy.” It is because I value my time and I am frustrated when things don’t work as they should and are not streamlined when they could be. I want to choose how I allocate my time, not have it stolen from me.

I think back fondly on my pre-computer life when I could make a phone call to a repair department and the person who knew how to do the repair would walk me through it. My wish in the Twifties Wishing Well today is that companies support their products and make it easy for people to set them up and get help.

These are product values that were important to companies and customers in the past.

Products that look out for their customers’ time and needs are products that I would go out of my way to purchase and recommend to others.

What is your wish for the #TwiftiesWishingWell ?

This article is available free for publication/syndication. And Lauren can guest post on your blog. Please contact me.

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Drop your Wish in the Twifties Wishing Well

by Lauren Traub Teton

Lauren models “Blanket Chic” during cool weather outdoor dining. Photo by Kenny Lee, Burger Bar & Bistro, Norwalk Connecticut

This article was first published on LinkedIn, here, in 2020. It was edited to please Yoast’s SEO algorithm on this site.

In my Twifties blog post of January 4, 2017, I invoke the “Twifties Wishing Well. As you know “Twifties” are the fun people over age 50. In fact I focus particularly around my birth year, 1956.

 The Twifties Wishing Well is where I toss my digitally written wishes for products. And for services that will make my life simpler and more efficient. And probably yours too if you are a Twifty.

Product Design in the 60s and 70s

We grew up in a time where product design and marketing strove to fill our needs, not dictate them. So let’s reclaim that ethos, let’s design and produce products to delight people like us. And to satisfy us, in the lives we live now.

 In the fertile Twifties Wishing Well, with the LinkedIn Community as nutrients, I send energy for these products and services for Twifties to sprout and manifest.

Some of the wishes from that blog post are:

 Instant Tech Help by phone $5 for 5 minutes

Flattering clothing for women as our bodies change

Let’s address our eyes and vision as it changes

A personal concierge

Twifties Sharing What Works

I envision an online gathering place where all of this information can be shared, Like a Craigslist for Twifties!

 Throw your wishes for products and services for the fun people over 50 into the Twifties Wishing Well too, by posting below, and use the hashtag #TwiftiesWishingWell.

 Watch for Lauren’s next post, titled “I just want to take a picture.”

 Lauren Traub Teton is an inventor and the creator of Twifties, VibeMatch and other products, websites, and concepts. She is available as a guest poster or blogger, and is enthusiastic about finding partners to bring the ideas from the Twifties Wishing Well to life.

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And this is why I use a flip phone…

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My friend Robina told me yesterday that she hates her new washing machine, and gets anxious when she has to use it. I told her I have seen the new machines and used them at a friend’s house, and I knew exactly what she meant. Too many blinking lights, choices, sounds. Were these designed for the pinball generation? Methinks not, despite the multi-sensory entertainment they provide. I still have the “old” oven set; 2 electric wall ovens, non-electronic. Manual dials. So easy to use! No pressing and beeping, no fumbling, no cursing. Same reason I am using a flip phone, by choice. I have 2 smart phones for other purposes. But (every day) when I need a phone that is simple, not easily breakable, that does the job well, that’s frugal and easily replaceable if lost, well that is why I carry a flip phone. Low tech solutions can be better!

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Like things the way they used to be?

As Twifties, we spent over 2/3 of our lives writing with pen and paper. It is efficient! I have created a pad and pen set that is compact, fun, portable and will help you have your notes handy where and when you need them. I pitched it in the HSN new invention contest, and now I am selling it on Twifties.Gifts. You can see my 2 minute video pitch for the Twifties Idea Deck here.

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Yes, I should be saving that money, but…

Speaking of spending money for having fun while you are not super-flush with money, Kenny and I are going on 2 separate ski trips in Europe this winter, a month in Sun Valley, a season share at Hunter, Killington here and there, and…who knows, this winter and spring. Yes, I should be saving that money, not spending it on ski trips, but last winter in France, having a Club Med French snowboard teacher all to myself while being led around one of the most beautiful places on earth, in fresh powder on my snowboard, I decided, “this is what I live for.” So, I am making it happen! And I think it will turn out all right!    

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Want to live the Twifties Lifestyle? Twifties.Gifts shows you how, and offers you the tools to do it!

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Now is our time of life to do things we like to do!

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Today I went to a Repair Cafe in my town. The 2nd one we have had. What a great group of people was there, both giving and receiving. A high vibration, VibeMatch event. Btw, I just remembered that I have a movie of THE VIBEMATCH MACHINE in use at a party, in that very room, from a few years ago. Anyway, a nice couple answered my questions about too many pictures in my phone and if you erase them on your phone after they are in the cloud, do they still exist in the cloud? (Surprisingly, NO!) The person in front of me had the same issue. The person after me spent all day at the tech table getting help with her laptop, and was most appreciative. My point is, simple tech help is a highly valued commodity amongst people who are having a tech problem, or are about to. The people who know how to fix common issues that happen on our devices, should be able to offer their services to people who need them, at a reasonable price, if this kind of work is something they enjoy. It can even turn into a gratifying and successful new later life career. Right in line with the idealogy of the Twifties Lifestyle. Now is our time of life to do things we like to do!

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Twifties Universe

A Win-Win Situation
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I am finally starting my blog in Earnest. Whoops, was thinking of Ernest Hemingway, whose adopted home I just visited again and fell in love with again. You’ll be hearing lots more about that. This is the format I am adopting for now, with my new Twifties.Gifts Blog, that you are reading. I have ruminated for years on what my format will be for this blog, and ultimately, I am going to make it a blog that is fun for me to write, and hopefully fun for you to read!
I am writing it in “personal letter style.” So it’s as if I am writing you a personal letter, and that means an informal format, no rules. I am actually composing on an email letter format, so that is familiar and comfortable to me. Also practical, because as I write a blog, I can mail it to myself where it is safely backed up and easy to find.
For many years I have been noticing that the over 50 (and now I am over 60) demographic is not well served with products for us, and we are not marketed to.
Quick, think of a product that is marketed to people over 50. In fact, please tell me what you think of in the comments, below.
Now is the time for us to create our own “CraigsList type of Universe, where we fun over 50 Twifties can get together and chill out, and help each other. So many of us have skills to share that other people in our age group need. It’s a win-sin situation if we can work it out somehow.
We are a great group of people. Good conversationalists, nice manners, wholesome ways to have fun, we like book reports, (I do!) etc. And that is why Twifties was created. It’s an open source, open format online and real world group. All you have to do to be a Twifty is “Click your heels together three times and say ‘I want to be a Twifty’ and you’ll be there.”

Lauren