Project: Seniors ‘23 Teach Seniors
Southwest Arkansas is a rural area that embodies southern hospitality and country living. When someone is in need of help, support and love pour from our communities and we solve the problem with the resources at hand. Just as electricity was slow to reach rural areas, the digital divide is evident and hinders progress seen in more urban areas. Just as we come together for potlucks, we will come together to make sure there is access to learn digital skills.
I designed a community service teaching program to help senior citizens in nursing homes learn digital skills and how to be cyber safe. We are partnering with five nursing homes to provide a community device for residents to use and bringing high school students in to teach skills such as setting up an email, video chats with family, being cyber safe and other interests that the residents have.
“Rural Arkansas can already feel disconnected from the world, and even more so for our senior citizens in nursing homes. If we make an investment in bringing digital skills to folks, we can start to create connections that positively impact their wellbeing. As a teacher, I noticed the gap between our youth and elderly citizens was far too wide. Our elders have contributed so much to society and advancement, the least we can do is help them build skills to navigate technology and maybe in the process help each other to see that they are not that different from each other.”