A Group of Teenagers Make Time to Provide Answers for Elderly People Regarding Technology Problems
The world is getting more and more advanced as the years go by. Modern technology has paved the way for different inventions that made daily life more convenient. Cars now have parking sensors, televisions can be connected to the internet, smartphones have facial recognition, etc. People are living in a world where technology is already a vital part of their day — starting with gadgets. Smartphones are now essential items because you can do a lot of things with them. Communication is even better due to features and apps invented in this generation. You can easily connect with your loved ones, even those from abroad. Senior citizens can highly benefit from modern communication whenever they’re away from their families, but it’s still unfamiliar to them.
Elderly people can own gadgets, yet they are not fully knowledgeable of their phone’s capabilities. They need someone who can clearly teach them and is willing to spend time answering their questions. It’s also important for them to keep up with advancements since they’ll be encountering changes in different areas of their life. For instance, online medical forms, self-checkout cashiers, video calls, social media, automatic toilet flushes, and more. It’s difficult to live in a world where everything is unfamiliar to you. Also, being able to use technology on their own can make them feel younger and more capable.
Thankfully, a teenager from Fort Myers named Aaron Smolyar thought of a solution to the issue. Teaching about using gadgets all started with his grandparents, which he later shared with his friends from Canterbury School. A lot of the teenagers he knows shared similar stories — gadgets are still an enigma for their grandparents. “It’s a pretty much universal problem that no one is willing to step in and address,” Aaron said in an interview with NBC2 News. Due to their realizations, Aaron and his classmate Christian Laquis established a group solely for helping senior citizens understand technology. They called it CLEO, which stands for Computer Literacy Education Outreach.
NBC2 News interviewed elderly people from Brookdale Senior Living Community who had some technical problems. For instance, Irene Zimmerman, one of the senior citizens, had problems navigating Facebook. All of that confusion vanished when CLEO offered its assistance to the retirement community. The students, along with Aaron, were all patient and treated every older adult with respect. They happily answered each question — from phone settings to filling out online forms. The club is committed to weekly visits, specifically on Wednesdays, to have one-on-one sessions with them.
Aaron and his classmates have truly started a great service for the senior community. Due to its effectiveness, CLEO has branched out to different parts of the country. Apart from educating elderly people, it’s also a wonderful learning experience for teenagers. They gain life knowledge from adorable grandmas and grandpas. Every time they end the session, their conversation would turn into an interesting talk about life. Those interactions are vital for teenagers — as senior citizens learn how to navigate technology, the teenagers are given words of wisdom. The retirement communities visited by Canterbury students are immensely grateful for their service. Their youth is spent with purpose by giving attention to a problem neglected by others.
