[helghardt]

It does seem like paper notes are a good reliable option.

Thanks for pointing that out - I don’t mean all 50 year olds struggle with this problem. I guess it is more accurately described as a solution for parents that are depending on their kids/others to give advice/guidance on digital stuff.

The issue with the paper system comes in when they sign up for new things on mobile and they don’t have the paper at hand. It also becomes messy for password changes. And now that we are trying to force them to use unique passwords per service, the list becomes really long! Especially if it is for both parents. Across banking, utilities, social media, paid television, ecommerce, ebooks, etc they have at least 35+ accounts to manage each. They also struggle with their vision which means it needs to be written out in quite large font.

But the main issue I have actually is beyond password management. It is perhaps better classified as general digital security and online identity management. For example, if they use the paper password system I know for a fact they will snap a picture as a backup if I don’t tell and remind them not to do so…

The other issue with the paper system is that there is no good backup. And backups they certainly need!

I totally agree that authentication is general is not solved.

[brudgers]

On mobile, the old person I know (the one using the Rolodex s-3000) relies on their device (iPhone) to store credentials.

I think sometimes they also write passwords in the Notes app. I think that's in case they use their home computer instead of their iPhone.