Vocal Voices

A think-tank calling itself Policy Exchange has called for all oldies in the UK to be taught how to surf, how to send emails and use social networking sites, in order to cut down loneliness. Keeping people in contact with friends and family is not the worst idea ever put forward so long as it is not also used as an excuse to put all services and essential information online.

I am involved in a volunteer group already doing what the think-tank asks. It is fantastic, and so rewarding, taking people with no knowledge to the point where they can do things competently and in safety. To see someone Skype a grandson or daughter for the first time is magical. To enable them to send and receive e-mails with photos attached is the same. Getting them to surf the web where they can pick up news, follow hobbies or take up new interests broadens their outlook and brings them into contact with new friends. They love it....... and they are not as incompetent as some people would have us believe.

Sounds good WM.

It's better than good Rodo, it's bloody marvellous.

A lot of the ladies were office or secretarial workers and their arthritic hands fair fly across a keyboard! Another thing is that because they are new to the game they do not have the bad habits many of us have picked up so it is easier to teach them to be safe.

It really is bloody marvellous Frank. I wish there was something similar here for Mr PP. I've tried to teach him and he can surf a bit but that's about it. He might be more amenable to learning if the teacher wasn't me. The slightest, simplest thing goes wrong and he calls for me. If I'm out he has to wait until I get home.

Teaching family and friends, especially one-on-one, is fraught with problems Liz - as anyone who has ever tried to teach a son, daughter, wife or husband to drive will testify. Very often people pick things up much quicker when they are part of a group and can bounce ideas off each other.

Have you tried the local council or volunteering groups to see if there is anything out there?

Workingman wrote:and they are not as incompetent as some people would have us believe.

I'm glad to hear of this WM and not surprised you're involved in it. Information and communication is the greatest change in our time. It is fundamentally greater than landing on the moon or splitting the atom. It has changed the lives of people and societies more than the railways and they were a truly massive sea change in how the people moved and communicated.

That point you make above is an interesting point WM. People, professionals, who have been competent all their lives, are suddenly denigrated by the younger masses for being "PC/Internet Stupid". Well they may not know much about the modern day internet and modern day computers, but they sure aren't stupid.

Watching people use Skype to contact relatives is one of the most rewarding things. Also, as you say, typists who learned to type can create emails much more easily or print letters much more easily than struggling to write with arthritic hands.

Teaching is not an issue, but problem resolution is. You and I will move so fast around the screen, open and close windows before people have even seen what is in them and go to places they have never seen. Sadly I've noticed that people become unnerved when this has to be done. It is much easier to move them away from the machine, fix the problem and then go back to training.

Workingman wrote:Teaching family and friends, especially one-on-one, is fraught with problems Liz - as anyone who has ever tried to teach a son, daughter, wife or husband to drive will testify. Very often people pick things up much quicker when they are part of a group and can bounce ideas off each other.

Have you tried the local council or volunteering groups to see if there is anything out there?

My pain, my pain. Mrs S used to be a teacher. If I can avoid it, I will not try to teach a teacher anything. Also she wants to hate technology. Yet, I see her as captivated as I was with the early days of Windows as she plays her games on the tablet or the laptop...

I've noticed that older people who use computers often see them as some nuisance which must be endured. Yet young people see them for what they are. The gateway to the largest library of information ever seen in human society. Of course young ones are also constantly yammering on facebook and twitter and addicted to games.....

Suff wrote:Teaching is not an issue, but problem resolution is. You and I will move so fast around the screen, open and close windows before people have even seen what is in them and go to places they have never seen. Sadly I've noticed that people become unnerved when this has to be done. It is much easier to move them away from the machine, fix the problem and then go back to training.

We addressed that in the very beginning Suff. We set up our network with a projector. When anyone had a problem one of us volunteers would link up the projector so that everyone else could see what was happening, then the volunteer would walk through the problem telling the person what to do, but they would do it themselves and in their own time. As the work was going on those watching could ask questions and take notes - a bonus. We all know from our own life experience that a question from one person is often a question many would ask but are too shy to do so.

i am so glad my lovely neighbour got me interested in computers
i just love it altho i typ with one finger
and also its brilliant for form filling and emails as i am a bit shaky
i did try lessons at my comunity centre but found them hard to figure out
im better if somebody sits down and shows me what to do
my bill would never learn how to use it
WM you are doing a grand job and you as well suff
how are the trains boats and planes these days
i miss reading about your travels take care tho

Hi Saundra,

I took a few months off back in December. Still looking for work. So not a lot of travel. I'll get back to it, but hopefully a lot more easy than it has been.