Download skills or be left behind
By Brian Moskowitz
bmoskowi@uwo.ca
He’s never sent an email, surfed the web or even typed. And that may never change, if he decides to retire before he’s completely lost in a digital world.
“I don’t know anything about computers,” says the 65-year-old Toronto criminal defence lawyer who asked to remain anonymous so that his clients and the police won’t think he’s incompetent.
He shares office space with a grey-haired real-estate lawyer, who’s also not comfortable with computers. This lawyer finds himself helpless without his computer-literate receptionist and sometimes postpones meetings with clients if computer work is involved.
They do not, however, represent a large number of their contemporaries who are using computers at an increasing rate.
The 55-and-over-crowd is the fastest growing demographic of online users in Canada, with a jump of 12 per cent between 2009 and 2010, according to data released by Internet marketing research company comScore.
But despite the surge of silver surfers, some people are getting left behind.
“I’ve spoken to people who have absolutely no computer skills whatsoever,” said the criminal lawyer.
The list he provided includes a 67-year-old defence lawyer colleague who refuses to take cases that require slightly more than the most basic of computer skills, an obstetrician who retired early because he couldn’t perform his job which became more computer-oriented, a prominent University of Toronto professor who jokes that he only knows how to send emails and a retired Ontario Court of Justice judge who feels fortunate he retired before his job became impossible without computers.
Not everyone has pulled the plug when they find themselves frustrated sitting in front of the screen. There are government programs for anyone who does want to learn regardless of how foreign or familiar computers are to them.
Computer literacy courses are popping up all over the country to provide baby-boomers and seniors the opportunity to learn new things online, use internet banking on days too cold to go outside and communicate with loved ones who are out-of-town.
From Schreiber, Ontario to Echo Bay to Brampton (where lessons are conducted in Punjabi), The New Horizons for Seniors Program sponsored by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada has given $250,000 to community-based projects, connecting seniors to the Internet in 13 locations.
Some communal organizations with less demand have taken the initiative to provide lessons to seniors at a minimal cost.
On a cold, grey March afternoon, a half a dozen people are at the Jewish Community Centre of London for a six-week course on computers, listening to Lilia Golverk speak in a hearty Russian accent: “You see now everyone, Microsoft Office Word.”
With her delicate hands, Golverk helps each student open up the icon on their screen. As the next person is assisted, the rest sit helpless waiting for her to show them what to do.
The smell of stale cigarette smoke is noticeable towards the end of the row where these new e-learners sit.
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| Photo by Brian Moskowitz |
| Lilia Golverk teaches Raia Luxenburg at the Jewish Community Centre. |
Raia Luxenburg, 77, enjoys her Marlboro 100s, and sitting beside her white-haired classmate who also smokes, the JCC library begins to smell like a high school classroom after lunch hour.
“I began playing solitaire immediately and didn’t need to be taught,” says Luxenburg. “But I figured if I learn how to use the Internet, I can communicate with my son in B.C. and friends abroad.”
The only male in the class sits with his legs crossed facing away from the screen and smiles every time he mentions to the teacher that he’s not sure what to do.
When Golverk comes to help him, he greets her with an even bigger, bashful smile.
In a Scottish brogue, Jim Gilday asks Golverk how he can bring the cursor down to the next line and learns there are a couple of ways, but Golverk points out that pressing Enter is probably easiest.
Later on, he laughs after learning how to highlight some words he typed out.
“I want to be able to go on Google Earth and see some of the places that I was in while I served in the British Army in the 1950’s: Egypt and Cyprus,” says the 76-year-old Gilday who was 19 at the time.
As Golverk proceeds with the lesson, some of the students’ frustration becomes clear.
“I don’t understand, this isn’t working,” says one student nervously. The process is slow and painstaking, but Golverk is helping them through every click and confusion – even through the pain.
“I’ve got arthritis in this finger, so I keep clicking on the right side of this (mouse) instead of the left,” says busy grandmother, Mary-Jane Stone, the group’s youngest member at 61 who prefers to be called M.J.
“I feel I should have learned this long ago,” she says. “I feel behind the world. It’s the future: the way to look up information – no more phone books; I can book an airline ticket. I’ve been doing it the old-fashioned way and it’s not good enough.”
Like many seniors learning computer skills for the first time, one of M.J.’s main goals is to be able to communicate with out-of-town family and friends online.
JCC program coordinator Efrat Gurman rolls in a 72” TV, and all eyes are on the blank Microsoft Word page on the screen.
Gurman began the program in October 2009, charging $20 for the six-week course.
Since it began, 25 people have benefited from the course, Gurman says.
“From my perspective, this is another program the JCC offers to the community, and from their perspective, it’s a way for them to connect to the world, present and future -- to get our weekly emails and to be able to chat with their friends that are already connected.”
“I’m making real progress,” says Luxenburg after her third lesson. She’s now able to use the Internet, and says she’s decided she likes computers.
Golverk takes pride in her student’s ability to learn and persevere, despite the frustrations they face, especially early on in the learning process.
“It’s remarkable how much motivation they have to learn something so foreign to them,” says Golverk.
“I admire their determination.”
What separates one group of late learners from another isn’t necessarily about age, says Robert Sandieson, associate professor at the University of Western Ontario’s faculty of education and an expert in the area of information literacy.
“I would be cautious about jumping into an age explanation,” he said, suggesting two possible reasons some people get “techno phobia”.
“Like math phobia, some people get anxious about technology. They may have had negative experiences with the introduction of new technologies.”
When routers were first introduced, they were a nightmare to set up, said Sandieson. “A lot of computer software is like that too...To some people this is very frustrating. To others, it’s a fun challenge to figure out.”
Cory Zaretsky of Aurora knows the frustration.
“Every time I touch the computer, things go haywire, I lose files,” says the 62-year-old, whose son helps her use the computer if she absolutely needs it.
“He might mind helping me, but I don’t,” she says with a laugh.
The other reason sitting down at a computer can be an anxiety-provoking experience for some is related to the way these individuals learn new information.
When the learning doesn’t take place in black and white, on a sheet of paper, or with physical tools that can demonstrate how something works, they become lost in unfamiliar, abstract ideas that are hard to locate and digest, says Sandieson.
Whatever the cause of Zaretsky’s computer illiteracy, she isn’t bothered by the fact that computers are a mystery to her.
“I’ve seen ads for discs that show you how to do it. So one day, when he’s not around, and we get a computer, I’ll learn.”
But the Toronto criminal lawyer isn’t ready to learn just yet. For now, he isn’t about to join the ranks of even novice silver surfers, although he has been offered computer lessons from his neighbour, a computer engineer.
“You better make sure you don’t use up too much of your time teaching me, because you’re a busy man and are going to be sorry,” he told his neighbour.
“At least now I know how to turn on the machine. At first I had to get someone to show me how to do even that.”
The next step for him is learning how to email, he says. But in the meantime, he’s sticking to paper.
