Big Brother is Watching You.

A pleasing byproduct of downloading the app for the camera on my dad's doorbell so I can answer the door on his behalf is I can now speak loudly to the village at any given moment like the God of Woolmer Green.

While I say this in jest, being able to keep an eye on what's happening at my dad's house will bring a lot of reassurance. From time to time, it can be hard to get hold of him, which based on previous experience can be more than a little concerning; he's been rushed to the hospital now more than once, with the only warning being the fact we couldn't raise him, so for me to be able to see when the carer's visited is great. Anything that creates a sense of contact is to be encouraged.

I demonstrated the app to him again while I was there today, in the hope he might take it on board and use it more often. The problem is his illness and inaction have made him so passive that he struggles to engage with anything, so the hope he might press the right icon on his mobile to be able to speak to the caller is largely fruitless. That's where I'll be able to step in in future to speak on his behalf; I'd rather do that than leave it to him to watch it all go wrong.

The next thing I'm working on is getting an Amazon Echo for his front room so we can communicate easier, he can feel more connected and more prepared to give things a go; it's frustrating that his biggest stumbling his himself, but if he embraces the technology then hopefully these things will improve it.

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