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[Letitia Miele] Welcome to Internet Protocol with Tish. I'm Letitia Miele.
Okay, think fast.
I want you to imagine what the average computer user must look like. That's right. Right now.
Imagine the average computer savvy person and what they look like. And where does he
or she use their computer?
I bet the average computer user many of you pictured is that person hanging-out at a local
coffee shop with their laptop connected to wifi. Or that teenager walking through the
mall texting. Or maybe you even pictured yourself buried in a spreadsheet, or designing in Photoshop,
or gaming, or answering a pile of emails.
But most people I run this scenario by almost never imagine a senior citizen playing cards
online, or an elderly woman searching Google for her ancestors. And speaking of senior
citizens and computers, some people tell me their grandparents don't even know how to
turn on a computer. Still others assume of course that all elderly people just simply
hate technology.
Well, many of us just presume that people in their golden years have given-up on technology.
Surrendered and honestly couldn’t care less about it.
But that's not the case anymore.
Dan Wagner, Internet Protocol’s Executive Producer went to the popular retirement community
of Vero Beach, Florida and he found that seniors these days are a lot more tech savvy than
you might think. Hi Dan.
[Dan Wagner] Well, hi there Tish. You know, we arrived here in Vero Beach not really knowing
what we'd find. Like you said, it's mainly a retirement community. But we quickly found
out that senior citizens here are debunking stereotypes. And the same is true across the
country. Seniors don't want to play shuffleboard anymore. They'd rather update their Facebook
pages and check-out YouTube.
[Voice over: Dan Wagner] John Meikle’s job is also his passion. He loves helping senior
citizens get online.
[John Meikle] I mainly go out to customer’s homes that have problems with their computer.
I concentrate mainly on senior citizens because I know there’s a need for that. And I hear
so many horror stories of how different computer shops have taken them because they do not
know any better. And I’m trying to give them a good, honest, reliable economical service.
[Dan Wagner] And what a service it is. Miekle tailors his computer classes to the specific
needs of his clients. Then he drives anywhere along Florida’s treasure coast teaching
senior citizens in their homes on their computers.
[John Meikle] And they mainly call me if they have virus error messages, or if their computer
doesn’t come on... or if it’s not running right, they’ll call me. Or they also call
me if they need help learning how to do e-mail or if they need help learning how to do Skype.
[Dan Wagner] Learning Skype was on the minds of Tom and Avalon McGann when they called
Meikle. The retired couple wanted to learn to video chat on Skype to stay in touch with
their family and friends across the country.
[John Meikle] As you notice on your desktop, there and on that computer, these are both
the same screens, and that’s where Skype’s installed, okay? So all you have to do is
double click on that to launch it. As you notice here, this is where all your contacts
appear. So when you add your nephews or grandsons, their names will appear in here. You’ll
notice there are no contacts in there, so I am going to show you how to add a contact. Okay?
[Dan Wagner] Patiently teaching seniors how to use a wide variety of software programs
one step at a time, is the key to Meikle’s success. And thanks to companies like his
PC Repairs for Seniors, more and more senior citizens are quickly becoming computer savvy,
and are taking technology with them everywhere they go.
[Tom McGann] We go on cruises once in a while and my wife goes down once a day to go on
the computer just to get the mail and things like that to find out what’s going on.
So when we go away, just for overnight… we go up to visit my son in Tallahassee, we
take the computer with us. Because we’re always… it’s not a convenience, it’s
a necessity. You know, it takes all the news with you and it makes it all available to
you anytime you want to turn it on.
[John Meikle] Like I said, in order to call somebody, all you do is just click on their
name to highlight them. Okay.
[Tom McGann] But if there’s no green they are not there so…
[John Meikle] If it’s not green, they are not online. And then just click on “video
call” and on the other end it beeps like this too to tell them that somebody is calling
them.
[Woman on Skype] Hello.
[Avalon McGann] Hi. We’re all set up this time. How are you?
[Woman on Skype] I’m doing good. How are you guys doing?
[Avalon McGann] Good thanks. You still doing your puzzles?
[Woman on Skype] I finished it yesterday.
[John Meikle] Okay, there are several things at the top you can see here. If you want to
just take a picture of this, a snapshot, you can click here and it does a snapshot. Or
if you wanted to go full screen, click on “full screen” right here.
[Tom McGann] Oh, I see.
[John Meikle] It will make a big full screen. Okay.
[Tom McGann] I just go on there and I go into Google, anything I want. If I get a prescription
and I want to know exactly what it is all about I go in there, type up and it gives
you hundreds and hundreds of answers to any possible questions you would have about it.
And that has to do with anything not just prescriptions. It has to do with any question
that you have. Everything is right there. It’s an amazing technology tool.
[Avalon McGann] When you get to be our age, we don’t go out dancing. We don’t go out
to the barrooms anymore. There’s a lot of things that arthritis and a lot of things
you know, that we just can’t do anymore like we used to do. And this fills up our
time. I don’t know… without them. I just don’t know what I would do without the computer.
[Dan Wagner] And Avalon is not alone. The number of senior citizens who were also members
of social networks, doubled in the last year alone. Some estimates say over 27 million
senior citizens in America, use the Internet regularly.
[Tom McGann] Another thing that I think of once in a while… I think of older people
that are in retired communities and who have lost their husband or their wife and they
are living alone. And with the computer, they would never have to be alone. They could be
on there all day long doing something. Because no matter what your hobby would be in life,
there is plenty of it on there. So it would be something that I think could help people
in their old age not be lonely. Not be so lonesome.
[Dan Wagner] The McGann's say their lives really have changed for the better ever since
they hired John Meikle to help ease them onto the Internet. And he explains it all to them,
step-by-step, in simple everyday terms that make sense to them.
And I also wanted to share this with you. NeilsenWire, the online division of the Neilsen’s
Ratings Company, has created a top 10 list of the things senior citizens do online. Here,
let’s check it out.
10. They read business and financial news. 9. They search recipes and plan their meals.
8. Plan trips and book tickets on cruises and airlines.
7. Check personal healthcare information, like researching their prescriptions.
6. They follow political news. 5. View family photos online.
4. Pay their bills. 3. Check the weather.
2. Get directions and print maps.
And the number 1 thing that seniors do online these days is check their personal e-mail.
Just like the rest of us. Tish.
[Letitia Miele] Thanks Dan. Let's write some Internet Protocol to help more seniors get
online.
First of all, senior citizens should take it slowly. Learning to use technology will
seem overwhelming. But if you take it in small doses, you'll understand it better and you
are going to feel more comfortable around it.
Take Avalon's advice and focus on one of your hobbies, but do it online. You'll be amazed
at how many other seniors are already on the web and have formed communities of people
who are interested in the same things. And it will be easier to learn the technology
if you are exploring something that is already interesting to you.
Remember, you cannot break the computer or the mouse or any other part of the system
simply by clicking on the wrong place. And almost anything you do by accident can easily
be undone.
Try to find a professional to help you who is patient and teaches without using highly
technical terms. Preferably someone who is close by, so you can work around your schedule
and class times and constraints. Also, remember you'll be hiring this person to help you.
They make their living at it, and it’ll be wise if you speak with them upfront about
what you can expect to pay for their time and training services.
And don't be too *** yourself. Learning technology can actually be a lot of fun. But
don't convince yourself that you'll never catch on. A computer will take some time to
get used to, but after a few weeks, it will all start to make sense and using it will
become second nature. So don't worry.
If you decide to buy a computer, ask your trainer if he or she wouldn't mind helping
you shop for the right one. I imagine most trainers would be happy to help-out and may
even set it up for you. They can help you pick out the system that is just right for
you and your budget.
Don't be intimidated to ask any questions if you may have some. If your trainer starts
using computer lingo that you don't understand, tell them to explain what they are talking
about. Ask them to use words or examples that make more sense to you. For example, a Facebook
status box may seem confusing at first, until someone explains that using it is just like
tacking a note up on your door for everyone to see.
Also, make sure your trainer helps you explore the various search engines. They usually have
funny names like Google, Yahoo and Bing, but they basically all do the same thing. They
are directories of everything on the Internet. You simply type in what you're looking for
and that search engine will give you many, many pages of web sites pertaining to that
topic. Search engines can be powerful tools to help you explore the Internet. They begin
with very basic functionality, and with a click you can enable more advanced search
features.
And probably the best advice we can offer senior citizens who make the decision to go
online is to make connections with friends, family and other people sharing your same
interests. Technology can really bring people together. Especially for those who have the
time and the desire to connect.
So there you have it; Internet Protocol on senior citizens getting online.
Thanks so much for joining us on "Internet Protocol with Tish." We look forward to seeing
you again next time.
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