A twist on the generations story
In the work we do with seniors we are constantly inspired by their humour, life stories and the experiences they bring into the digital learning sessions we run.
In one of the recent training groups, we heard a story that takes the cake. One of our workshop participants, let’s call her Jane, was very proud of herself. First, a little about Jane - she is 88 and not very confident with technology at all. In our welcome session we spent lots of time with her to help her get ready to log into the learning session with the other ten participants in her group. Once she got the hang of it she was all in though. The thing she loved most was voice activated texting and emails. She thought that was amazing, especially given she has arthritis and so finds the keyboard tricky to work with on her iPad.
So session #1 over, Jane is leaving full of beans and ready to explore her iPad. Session #2 starts, and she could not contain herself. She tells her story … “I am walking down the street and see my 22 year old neighbour”, she says. “She is a bright young thing and I love talking with her. I love that she always takes the time to chat”. The group is listening closely, wondering where this is going. “As we were chatting”, she continued, “I was telling her about my YourLink digital training. She was very impressed and asked me what I had been learning. Of course I said, “oh I'm sure it’s nothing you don’t already know”. We could tell at this stage, the punch line was coming.
“I told her about how I love how I can talk to the keyboard and it writes the text and emails and guess what, she said ‘what’s that?”. Well you can imagine how I felt when I was able to teach her how to use it. Me, 88, and her, 22, how about that?”
What a punchline! Of course, this was met with rounds of laughter and applause - as we all pictured Jane teaching her young friend.
For us, this story reinforces the power and impact of helping our clients, carers and care workers be confident using their devices, building their skills to feel excited enough to show others how to get more from their devices. As Jane was telling her story she was beaming, proud not only of her own digital skills, but also that she was able to help someone else. Isn’t that what it’s all about in our communities? Empowering everyone to be active members in digital conversation and the change that is happening around them?
Stories like this are what inspires us at YourLink - we have so many more we could tell you, so give us a call if your organisation wants to create Jane’s experience for your seniors, carers or care workers.
Contact Richard Scenna, Director by email richard@yourlink.com.au or phone 0408 742 743.
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