A week after Christmas,
many Americans are no doubt trying to
figure out how to use the
high-tech gadgets they got as gifts.
This can be especially challenging
for seniors. But a number of programs
across the country are finding
just the right experts to help usher
older adults into the digital age.
For
Pamela Norr, of Bend, Ore., the light
bulb went off as she, yet again,
was trying to help her own elder parents
with a tech problem. To whom
did she turn?
"My
teenage kids," she says.
Norr
happens to head the Central Oregon
Council on Aging, and thus was born
TECH — Teenager Elder Computer Help.
"I
thought if my parents need it, probably
other seniors need it, too,"
she says.
High
school students studying computer tech
or involved with the National
Honor Society sign up to teach local
senior citizens about Facebook,
Skype, smartphones, even something as
seemingly simple as a camera.
Norr discovered that many seniors had
been given digital cameras by
their children.
"They
were going around town taking all these
great pictures that they wanted
to send to their family members," she
says. But they "couldn't figure
out how to connect to the USB port or
take out the SIM card."
Many
elders have moved to central Oregon to
retire. Sigrid Scully, 84,
signed up for a TECH class because she
was struggling to stay connected
with far-flung family.
"My
kids were not returning calls," she
says. "They don't write letters.
They are so knowledgeable about texting
and email, and so I needed to
get to know how to do that."
Scully
worried she'd never catch on. She'd read
a computer manual once, but
didn't understand words like "icon" or
"cookies." She says her teen
tutor was personable and used plain
language.
"So
many teenagers think that seniors are
just old people that don't know
anything," she says. "And actually, the
camaraderie and knowledge that
we can transmit to one another is so
wonderful and so helpful. I had
that feeling with this class."
Sensitivity Training
"It
has made me think about what life was
like without Facebook and the
Internet," says 15-year-old Tucker
Rampton, who's helped train about a
dozen Oregon seniors. He's been
surprised to have to explain email,
something he thought everyone had
mastered. Then again, a lot of
seniors ask him about Twitter, which
Rampton admits he knows nothing
about. He says teaching tech to seniors
has changed his perspective.
"I
think it's a very good idea to work on
your patience," he says, "and be
more understanding when it comes to
what's going on in their minds."
At
Pace University in New York, college
students who tutor seniors in
local retirement homes are prepped with
sensitivity training.
"They
get to feel what it's like to be 70, 80,
90 years old," says associate
professor Jean Coppola, who directs the
program. "They wear specially
prepared glasses that give them
different visual impairments."
Coppola
also has students do things like tape
two fingers together — to
simulate the effects of arthritis or a
stroke — then try to navigate a
mouse. By the time they're at the
computer with an elder, she says,
they're not frustrated at all.
"They'll
say something a hundred times because
they've worn cotton balls or
earplugs in their ear," she says. "They
understand that they have to
speak up, articulate their words."
Coppola
says the whole thing is a bonding
experience for both generations.
Applause often breaks out the first time
a senior receives an email.
Some have been able to see new
grandchildren for the first time through
emailed photos.
Pamela
Norr, in Oregon, says young trainers
also gain new confidence. They see
that the seniors are "not criticizing me
for the way I dress," she
says, "or clucking their tongue. They're
actually respecting me for the
knowledge base that I have."
Perhaps
most unexpected, some teen trainers and
seniors have even become
friends. They keep in touch long after
class ends — through Facebook,
of course.
