Cognitive Hassles Following forum topics

[SimonInEdinburgh]

Hi
Just wondering if anyone else shares my confusion when using this forum ?

I don’t have a repeating or repeatable strategy for finding new posts and contributions. I tend to rely on the replies, the likes, the forum 'watching’ flag at the bottom of the posts etc and then the app feeds me a flow posts.
when I click on them it gives me a "since your last visit” line and then the new contributions .

The problem I have is that: every thread - give or take - appears like every other thread when presented like that. I’ve no idea when it’s apears what the theme of the conversation in this particular thread is, no idea what contributions we’ve all previously made, so it’s a moment in time divorced from context . This extends to the poster too in that I can’t remember for each individual The conversations we’ve had, when they had their stroke -was it last month or 10 years ago, whether they’re walking or they’ve been pretty much physically unaffected etc. I remember fragments and some things to stick but generally not where to attribute conversation and opinion etc to in either terms of the containing conversation or particulars of the participants to the conversations

To get context I have to scroll backwards and check what the original poster (OP) started with, what other people have replied - which I’ll have already read once or five times perhaps. I left to try and go and look at the profiles which mostly don’t say anything useful and I’m normally on a mobile phone where they don’t format to be actually be readable; It’s all a fog. in the sense that I’m not able to differentiate different strands of conversation easily.

I noticed the same thing watching films or the telly. not quite to the same degree but at any moment I’m lucky if I can recite the plot upto that point. In fact modern films of an action nature seem to me to be a series of fist fights punctuated with a bit of technology or kissing and crying or something similar and then another fist fight.

Doubtless these are evidence of cognitive issues. Since this wonderful forum is full of people who potentially have similar issues I wonder if anybody has solutions to share?

[SimonInEdinburgh]

@jane.cobley
Sorry to hear you have the same problem. I guess I wasn’t alone - Here’s hoping somebody does have a solution

[chris67]

@SimonInEdinburgh maybe someone from the stroke association tech dept can look into this for you and all of us. I generally have to scroll back to the very top to read the topic again

[Pds]

Yes I’m a member of your club just thought it was me being a muddled technophobe. When send home with my bag of medication, laxatives and paracetamol was told the prognosis was for good recovery but processing will be a problem. Ok ! So not a good time to learn computer skills. This Forum has been fantastic in all sorts of ways for us all. So to hear I’m not alone has cheered me up no end​:hugs:. Paul

[EmeraldEyes]

And I’m yet another member of that club

I tried opening the forum once on my mobile and… …never again So my advice, get yourself a computer

I can remember posts fine enough if they’re from the past week but anything earlier than that I need memory joggers.

To find if I’ve replied before in a post I just scroll up and back down again and it’s easy enough to skim through other replies along the way. When I say easier, I’m on a computer with a full screen monitor in front of me and keyboard. That really speeds up the whole process compared to mobile…to my mind anyway

If I need more of a persons stroke history in order to respond then I just look through their “activity” page at all their, uninterrupted, posts and responses. For some, those are only one screen long, for others you have pages and pages to scroll through to get to their first post where they usually describe their stroke and condition.

This it how the Activity page looks on computer:

And this is how the Home Page looks:

Once I’ve been through the New and Unread posts eg what’s on the home page and click on “More” (at the bottom of that screen) and it goes to the “all tags” screen:

Here I can basically see all the forums posts in list order with the unopened ones in Bold. They are listed in order of most recent responded to basically. On there you can see both who the original poster was plus all those who replied in order of when they replied. If I hover the mouse over an avatar it gives the person’s name, click on an avatar (profile pic) opens a mini profile of them.

So, just for the purpose of this post I’ve logged onto the forum on my phone once again just to see what you are seeing…and I have to say I still don’t like it, even if I am managing to handle it far better than the last time.
And I think one of the main advantages might be that, on the computer, I can be writing a post/response and still go into other post without losing anything including my place. The other is being able to see all who responded to a post and whether I have or not. Plus, the text box that I write my reply in also has a preview pane next to it to show you what your finished post will look like…handy when you are posting pics.

But it’s weird seeing this very reply of mine also on my phone but I’m finding it too restricting and not as versatile as my computer. Can’t help this feeling of being blinkered and hemmed in with the phone app whereas the computer feels wide open and free

[SimonInEdinburgh]

Hi @EmeraldEyes
Thanks for the very comprehensive walkthrough of how you use the forum.
There’s also lots on the discourse user guide/manual web page and there’s a wiki that uses discourse to discuss discourse.

The reality is I’m not going to use a computer to access the forum
I spent 40 years sitting in front of computers. originally mainframes and I got a hulking great beast in the living room that I used to use in my study for video processing when I made training videos. it used to have multiple screens on it. it’s got loads of memory etc BUT it’s indoors, it’s in a fixed place where as my phone & tablets are in my pocket / hand/ on the kitchen table and so are there when I feel like I need a fatigue break from wherever I’m doing. Plus on Android I can use gboard which means I can dictate rather than having to type. The error correction process is a bit of a pain but generally speaking is much faster than one handed typing. So, I think the phone is a given. I think I can adapt elements of your strategy to be useful but I’m going to have to give it some thought because it’s in the realm of changing habits and habits are hard things to change.

Not sure I’m encouraged but I am not surprised that others have started saying yeah I have the same challenges. Things like the colour red for the number of replies on a post which are a ratio of the thread’s count of posts to count of likes make the interface complicated. I think basically we’ve got programmers tool serving as our forum but it could be worse we could have discord. Discord is a similar but I think even more un-friendly platform.

I’ll also see what others have suggest before I draw my conclusions. Once again thanks for the effort that you’ve put into some thoughtful and helpful
Ciao
Simon

[Mrs5K]

J guess its difficult to find something that suits everyone. I use my phone (via the app) & it works well for me. To find unread or new posts i click on the 3 lines at the top & select new or unread. I pick a topic & it automatically takes me to the place i last read too. I know i have usually responded if a post now appears under unread rather than new. If i need to re-read original post i scroll to top then click the number of posts to take me back to the last post again.

[SimonInEdinburgh]

You’ve a stronger grasp on reality than me I think

[DeAnn]

So very helpful, complete with pictures! Still amazing me, with every single reply you send out. thank you!
PS,I am with all of you who struggle. Between my very poor vision and minor cognitive issues with executive functions most especially, make it hard to navigate as much as I used to do. I used to be on the top end of understanding technology, but now I am much closer to the low middle end. It is not so much the understanding as the lack of user friendliness if one is looking for a particular subject. I think @Emerald Eyes way will help me further. Also, without reminders, most of us are not particularly great at staying on subject when we post. We speak as if we are in person, which is a big draw for me, but makes it harder to have one subject per conversation. I wouldn’t want the conversation limited too much.

[DeAnn]

This is what I do as well, on a ChromeBook

[DeAnn]

One other suggestion that is semi helpful is using a keyword in search. Sometimes I need to think about a reply before making it but can’t remember which conversation the question or conversation was in. Searching a keyword generally brings up a big bunch of places it was mentioned but the latest is generally the one I am searching for.

[EmeraldEyes]

When your search result brings down this dropdown box of results, for further search refinement click the 3 lines in the top right corner and you get this screen plus your search results below it…

…of which the very first result is on ShortCut keys
Useful article, must go play around with them and I wasn’t even searching anything in particular

Edit:
Again, these screen shots are from computer screen not from phone or tablet so layouts may be different and/or more limited.

[Ismeval]

That is how I see it too … on my iPad …
Val x

[msporshakimberly]

I see things on my phone and pad backwards

[Kusal]

It appears that there are attention/information processing issues - cognitive rehabilitation can help, but needs a proper assessment.

Kind regards

Kusal Stroke Occupational Therapist

[SimonInEdinburgh]

The only challenges accessing it .

Actually the challenges are accessing it and then the person you’ve accessed having good communication skills, high levels of empathy, correct understanding, ability to structure a useful intervention, conveying that to a person without the same framework of understanding or conceptual vocabulary,…

[Kusal]

Completely agree, once again. That’s why over the past 7 years, I have developed a two stage cognitive rehabilitation process without use of any jargon that anyone can understand, and apply in real life. This process helps to live life to the max possible extent. I have seen people returning to work within 1-3 months using this approach.

I hope that this makes sense.

Wishing you all the best.

Kusal Das, Stroke OT

[msporshakimberly]

I am trying get some Speech therapy for my Dimetrius

[Kusal]

Thanks for sharing your story, NHS SLT services are in pretty dire state. As a NHS employee, I am hating to say this for recovery now a days people will have to rely on private provision - unless you live where I work. I met therapists from around the UK last week, no services are providing what is needed for people to regain their function and enjoy their life to the fullest. SLT association website has a list of private SLT’s- it may be worth a look.

I wish you all the best.

Kind regards

Kusal Das, Stroke OT

[msporshakimberly]

I need some physical therapy