Helping Seniors Learn New Technology

He soon recognized that he didn’t know what to do with it. “I needed instruction,” he told me in an interview conducted — perhaps surprisingly — by e-mail. “The technology of the Internet, cell and iPhones was like a foreign language.”

Mr. Phillips then attended one of the first classes offered by OATS, a New York City nonprofit (the acronym stands for Older Adults Technology Services) that provides free tech training for seniors.

Photo: Anita Monik, standing, and Emilia Rysinka attend a technology class for seniors offered by OATS (Older Adults Technology Services) in New York City.

Photo Credit: OATS

Despite serious hearing loss from an injury in the Korean War, Mr. Phillips learned his way around his desktop, went on to more advanced OATS classes and now, at 83, uses his computer (his third) to blog, write stories and theater pieces, and to communicate with friends and family from England to California. It’s become “the most important activity and creative outlet in my life,” he wrote.

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 OATS website 


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