Helping seniors understand technology

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This article was published 20/12/2021 (1392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Portage Learning and Literacy Centre will hold iPhone and smartphone seminars for seniors in January.

“I plan on not so much removing the mystery but removing the fear of pressing the wrong button,” said Holly Asham, a technology literacy teacher at the centre who will lead the seminars.

Asham said the program will focus on basic introductions to phones and computers, with an emphasis on transferable skills that seniors can use to across many platforms.

“These are all separate things,” Asham said. “You know, this is a drill and this is a grinder and this is a screwdriver. We want to connect all of those.”

Asham said she believes in lifelong learning and that removing the stigma around technology for seniors didn’t grow up with it will give them another avenue of communication.

Asham recalled a student of hers whose nephew showed her how to download photos from her phone onto her computer.

“Unless someone actually shows (seniors) and says, ‘Hey, this is OK to do,’ then they’re not doing it,” Asham said.

The program is open to12  — a relatively small number due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“Seniors are a part of the community,” Asham said. “So they need to be included.”

For more information, call 204-857-6304, visit www.pllc.ca or email info@pllc.ca