The Minnesota Star Tribune posts an Op Ed from a technology services coordinator at Senior Community Services, a nonprofit program based in Minnetonka…
Retirement, which should be relaxing, becomes a frustrating tangle of technology to unweave in order to access basic benefits. Unfortunate considering it could be a resource that greatly augments real life.
The hurdles aren’t lack of intelligence or effort. My work has taught me that using technology is a learned skill — sometimes intuitive, sometimes learned through repetition and no logic at all.
Not everyone has broadband access either, or a working device, in addition to the skills to navigate it all. Assuming everyone does is either dangerously optimistic or willfully naive. And yet we’re cutting federal digital equity funding. How are we to ensure these essential systems remain accessible? Technology becomes a barrier, not a benefit.
Digital literacy isn’t a luxury. It’s health care access, financial safety and civic engagement. In Minnesota alone, hundreds of thousands of households lack basic broadband speed to support access to video telehealth.
If the connection is unstable, video calls with a doctor can drop, freeze or lag. To the average tech user, these glitches are minor annoyances. But for someone who isn’t tech-savvy, they’re debilitating. But with the end of programs like the Affordable Connectivity Program and the derailment of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, low-income and rural households are being cut off from both the infrastructure and the support they need to stay connected.
Even if we solve the infrastructure problem, anyone who has upgraded their cellphone in the past few years could tell you that services and devices are more expensive than ever. I would never recommend a refurbished, low-cost, generic-brand device to an older adult. They’re often buggy and their user experience is the least intuitive and user-friendly interface I’ve seen.
Thankfully, local programs are stepping in to help. Many libraries now offer computer help clinics, and nonprofits, like ours, hold digital literacy sessions at senior centers and community hubs across the metro.
Volunteers and staff are helping older Minnesotans use their smartphone and tablets and build confidence in this new, vulnerable digital landscape.