Let’s face it, many of us are guilty of giving a parent, grand parent or elderly friend a tech gadget, excited about bringing them into the “new age of tech”. However, often we quickly realize we don't have the patience, or the time, to help them learn how to use it. After all, isn’t it just intuitive? It’s easy, just play around with it and you’ll figure it out!
While often seniors get a reputation for not wanting to use the latest tech gadgets, many just need a few quick lessons and they are on their way. For example, they often simply need assistance setting up a gadget, understanding how they function, and most importantly ensuring they are using safe practices online.
It might seem obvious to many, but strange to a tech newbie that you wouldn’t open “that type of email” from a friend because it might be a virus. Or that passwords shouldn’t be your name and birthdate.
In comes the Culver City team’s Tech Assistance Workshop for the Culver City Senior Center. At the quarterly workshops that have been underway for many years now, Symantec volunteers join seniors at the Senior Center and help address their technology related questions. Questions range from how to send photos, how to use Facebook, to how save a new contact in their phone, how to use various apps, and just general questions to help them navigate techy toys better.
Typically there are about eight Symantec employees helping 20-30 seniors. Volunteers also increase their impacts through logging time and donating funds through our Dollars for Doers program.
While the workshops are not extremely technical in nature, more of a basic class on PC’s, cell phones and tablets, the seniors are incredibly appreciative of the assistance. Many seniors attend each quarter and are quickly increasing their tech savviness.
Symantec volunteers in Culver City help seniors address their tech questions.
The Tech Assistance Workshops have been extremely successful and we are looking into ways to expand our efforts. For example, we’ve discussed the idea of monthly workshops focusing on a specific topic such as iPhones, social media, etc.
For now, we look forward to our future workshops and continuing to help Culver City seniors take advantage of all that our new age of tech has to offer.
Trisha Hailston is a Symantec Senior Administrative Specialist and Culver City Community Relations Committee Leader.