Geraldton seniors get switched on to internet tech

Retiree Rosslyn Nagle recently showed her husband Rolf Nagle how to download the card game Solitaire to his phone. “I won’t use the word addicted, but he likes it. I won’t be showing him any more games,” said Mrs Nagle. National Seniors Australia suggested a $10 per month supplement to help older Australians pay for internet costs in a recent Federal Budget submission. CEO Ian Henschke said: “with social interactions and services increasingly being delivered online, it’s unfair that many pensioners don’t have the skills, confidence or funds to use the technology”. Mrs Nagle and her husband take part in Switched on Seniors, a free tech literacy course taught through the Queen Elizabeth II Community Centre in Geraldton, and she said the cost of her internet plan was not a problem for her. “It’s not the issue for me, but it could be for others,” she said. According to Mrs Nagle, her main barrier to easy internet usage was the price of equipment and figuring out how to use different devices. “You need somebody to guide you at a pace you are comfortable with,” she said. However, she said she checked regularly with her telecommunication provider to ensure she’s getting the best deal, and that’s not something everybody has the tech literacy to do. Switched on Seniors volunteer Roger Cefai said navigating internet plans and general affordability were preventing some older Australians from accessing the internet. “There’s quite a few students who didn’t know what their phone plans were and what type of data they were capable of using,” he said. However, he said learning how to use the devices was still one of the biggest challenges for seniors to overcome when getting connected, and that was why courses like the one he teaches were so important. “We’re trying to make the students more comfortable accessing these services because it will improve their daily lives,” he said.