Groton program brings in teens to teach technology to seniors
Groton — Mario Cardoso, 65, likes new technology, but he needs help.
He made a CD of pictures from his phone and tried to see them on his computer, and it wouldn’t work. On Tuesday, he brought the problem to Aaliya Mohamed, 13, who volunteers at the Groton Senior Center.
“Your phone is Apple but your computer isn’t Apple,” she explained.
“Oh, is that right?” he said. Then he followed her workaround.
The help came via “Techy Teens and Savvy Seniors," a partnership between Groton Public Library and the Groton Senior Center that brings teen volunteers to the center to help senior citizens with their computers, phones and other devices. Four students at a time typically volunteer from 1 to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays to help whoever stops in the computer room for help.
The program started earlier this year, program supervisor Cindy Morrison said. Tuesday was Cardoso’s first visit.
“It’s definitely a great feature you guys have in here with the kids, and I’m going to use it more frequently,” Cardoso commented. He didn’t have time before.
“Now that I’m retired, I’m going to have more time to educate myself,” he said. “I like the technology. You either use it or you’re going to end up falling behind. But I haven’t had the time to have someone take me by the hand and teach me how to use it.”
Ron Thomas, 73, got help adding contacts to a Google document so he could share information. “If you snooze, you lose,” he said. “You got to keep up.”
Tuesday was Mohamed’s second week volunteering with the program. She’s answered simple questions like how to turn on Wi-Fi or change the font when writing an email, as well as more complicated ones, like how to stop iCloud, a remote server, she said.
Richard and Betty Filippetti, ages 85 and 80, respectively, brought in the phone they bought in January. He pushed a button and “messed up,” he said. A sales representative from AT&T explained what he actually did: changed the Apple ID password.
Pamela Oliveras, 20, the sales representative and frequent volunteer, attended the program to help with technical problems. She fixed the password issue. Then she moved on to explain how to change the volume on the ringtones.
“You saw that ad where the grandkids come and you bring everything to them? That’s what we do,” Richard Filippetti said.
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