Getting Started With a New Smartphone

There is a particular moment that almost everyone goes through with a new smartphone. The box is open, the shiny glass rectangle is sitting in your palm, and it lights up with a screen full of little coloured squares you have never seen before. Your heart does a small, uncertain flip. What on earth do all these do? And more to the point — what happens if you press the wrong one?

Here is the first and most reassuring thing to know: you are not going to break it. Not by tapping, not by exploring, not by opening something and having a look. Smartphones are built to be poked at by curious two-year-olds and impatient teenagers alike, so they are certainly ready for a thoughtful adult who is simply trying to find the telephone. Take a breath. You have driven cars, raised families, and filled in tax forms — a pocket computer is well within your abilities.

First Things First: Waking It Up

Before the fun begins, your phone needs a good charge. Plug it in, leave it for an hour or so, and resist the urge to hover over it like a nervous parent. Once it has some power, press and hold the button on the side until the screen glows to life.

What happens next is called the “setup wizard,” which sounds far grander than it is. It is really just a series of polite questions: What language do you speak? Which Wi-Fi network is yours? Would you like to sign in to an account? Answer them one at a time, and do not feel rushed. If the phone asks you to create or enter a password and you have no idea what it means, this is the perfect moment to call over a family member or ring the shop where you bought it. There is no shame in it — even the most confident phone owners had someone hold their hand through this part once.

Meet the Home Screen

Once you are through setup, you will land on the home screen. Think of it as the top of your desk: everything you use most often is laid out in front of you, and each little picture — we call them “icons” — is a doorway to something. One opens your phone calls. One opens messages. One opens the camera. Tapping an icon is exactly like knocking on a door and stepping inside.

To move around, you use your finger to swipe — a gentle brush across the glass, as if you were sliding a photograph across the table. Swipe left and right to see more pages of icons. Swipe up from the very bottom, or press the button beneath the screen, and you are whisked straight back home. That, right there, is your escape hatch. Feeling lost? Swipe home. Accidentally opened something baffling? Swipe home. It is the equivalent of saying “never mind” and starting fresh, and you will use it more than any other trick in the book.

Making It Comfortable for Your Eyes

Phones arrive from the factory set up for the eyesight of a twenty-five-year-old, which does none of us any favours. The good news is that you can change this in about thirty seconds, and it makes an enormous difference.

Look for the icon that resembles a little gear or cog — that is Settings, the control room of your phone. Tap it, then find Display, and then Text Size or Font Size. You will see a slider you can drag to make every word on the phone bigger and bolder. While you are in there, have a look for Brightness too; nudging it up makes the screen easier to read in a sunny room. Suddenly those tiny letters become perfectly comfortable, and the whole device feels as though it was made for you — because now it has been.

The Real Reason You Wanted One: Staying in Touch

Here is where the magic happens. Beneath all the technology, a smartphone is really just a wonderful machine for staying close to the people you love.

Start by saving your family as contacts, so that calling your daughter is a single tap rather than a hunt for a scribbled number. Then try sending a text message — type a few words, press send, and watch it whoosh off. Once that feels easy, try attaching a photograph to your message. And when you are ready for the crown jewel, try a video call. There is nothing quite like seeing a grandchild’s face light up on the screen, wobbly camera and all, when they realise Grandma has figured out how to call them. That moment alone is worth every minute of the learning.

A Quick Word on Staying Safe

Every now and then, a message or email will arrive that tries to alarm you — a parcel you never ordered, a bank warning that feels urgent, a prize that seems too good to be true. The golden rule is beautifully simple: if a message pressures you to act quickly or hand over a password, stop. Real banks and real companies never rush you like that. Do not tap the link. When in doubt, put the phone down and ring the person or company directly using a number you already trust. A moment’s pause has saved a great many people a great deal of trouble.

Keep a small notebook with your important passwords written down and tucked somewhere safe at home — not in the phone itself. And plug the phone in each night so it is ready to go each morning, just like you are.

Give Yourself Time

Nobody masters a smartphone in an afternoon, and nobody expects you to. Learn one thing this week — perhaps just sending a photo — and let it settle before you reach for the next. Bit by bit, the taps and swipes stop feeling foreign and start feeling like second nature.

Before long you will be the one at the coffee morning showing a friend how to turn up their text size, wearing the quiet smile of someone who remembers exactly how that first day felt. That shiny rectangle is not a test you can fail. It is simply a doorway — to your family, your photographs, and the wider world — waiting patiently for you to walk through at your own pace.