Students help seniors with tech skills

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This article was published 10/06/2023 (861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When 87-year-old Joyce Hopper needed help using her social media account, she didn’t want to bother her grandchildren, so she signed up for a technology session at a Brandon seniors’ organization.

Seniors for Seniors Co-op offered a program that paired their members with high school students who helped the seniors learn or brush up on their skills using a computer, laptop, phone or tablet.

Hopper said she had already mastered making video calls to her family in Alberta on the FaceTime application on her phone, but she needed to know how to filter out “the overwhelming stuff” that appeared on her Facebook page and wanted to learn for herself.

“In the past, I asked my grandchildren for help when they came to visit, but we have so many other things to do when they’re here, and I don’t want to be sitting on that phone and getting instructions,” Hopper said. “I don’t mind asking for a little bit of advice, but I want to enjoy them, not spend time looking at a phone.”

Hopper is one of hundreds of seniors who has taken part in the technology access program for seniors (TAPS), offered at Seniors for Seniors as well as numerous other retirement communities in the Wheat City once or twice a week over the last year and a half.

The sessions are 45 minutes to an hour long and included one-on-one instruction with students from Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School, Vincent Massey High School and École secondaire Neelin High School.

Hopper was paired with a Grade 12 student from Crocus Plains.

“She helped me make notes, and then had me practise, so that she could see that the message got through to me. She was very clever,” Hopper said. “And even now I can go right to the notes that I wrote, with suggestions that she added to help further explain what I needed to do.”

Students who volunteered to take part in the program are involved in Youth in Philanthropy (YiP) in their schools, which provides young people hands-on experience in giving back to their community by helping people.

Archi Patel is in Grade 12 and president of Youth in Philanthropy at Crocus Plains. She was one of eight students involved in TAPS and showed seniors everything from how to add contacts to a phone, to sending emails and searching Google for different items.

Patel said she looked forward to teaching each week because it was, “fun talking to seniors about their lives, so it was back and forth teaching, and they were all really good students.”

“There’s technology everywhere, so even if someone has to find a document online or something, it’s good that they know how to do it,” Patel said.

“And most of the ladies we met lived alone and weren’t able to drive long distances any more, so it was important that they learned how to FaceTime with their family.”

The number of Canadian seniors using the internet is increasing, from 32 per cent in 2007 to 68 per cent in 2016.

But that percentage of the population is still lower when compared to non-seniors, those under the age of 65, according to Statistics Canada.

The generation that grew up with technology is referred to as Gen Z born in 1977, with computers in schools, the internet, and social media at their fingertips.

Dawn Milne said she considered herself computer-literate at 71, but added, “You know that old saying, ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it,’ right?”

Milne said she “got behind” over the years and needed a refresher on scanning and saving documents from her email account, so when she saw the advertisement for TAPS, she immediately signed up.

“I don’t mind asking for help because these young people are whizzes, having grown up with technology, and I felt comfortable asking every kind of question. Just because we’re older doesn’t mean that we can’t learn something new. It might take a little bit more explanation, but the kids were great,” Milne said.

TAPS started out as a pilot project, spearheaded by Seniors for Seniors executive director Rob Lavin, who has a background in technology and community economic development, which focuses on creating healthy and inclusive communities.

Teaching technology to seniors falls within the organization’s mandate.

“We try to offer programs and services that allow seniors to remain independent for as long as they can,” Lavin said. “So, the more tools and resources they have in their toolbox to stay at home and stay connected with technology is just one small piece of that.”

Original funding for the program — to provide laptops for the seniors to use — came from the United Way, the Brandon and Area Community Foundation, and Brockie Donovan.

The program has become so popular, Lavin said, that in addition to the high school students from YiP, university and college students have contacted him to sign up as volunteers.

“It’s evolved into something much bigger and greater than we ever anticipated, and the intergenerational piece has been a huge success,” Lavin said. “The young people have lots of patience, and there’s also been mentorship opportunities for our seniors to share some really good life skills with some of these students.”

The TAPS program wrapped up at the end of May, but Lavin added they may offer something similar over the next few months involving summer students at Seniors for Seniors.

Hopper said she has great memories of her technology teacher, who was Mahee Patel, a Grade 11 student at Crocus Plains.

“Mahee told me, ‘You know, you’re going to be OK, you’ll be fine, my grandpa is exactly the same way.’ So, she used that analogy, and I thought that was kind of nice. It gave me a boost of confidence.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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