CyberSmarts for Seniors: Interview with Gerald Bourcier

Our CyberSmarts for Seniors Project provided older adults with guidance in using mobile devices and computers to navigate the Internet confidently and safely. Here, Gerald Bourcier, one of the participants, discusses why he decided to start learning technology, how he uses YouTube to help with his hobby of playing the guitar, and why he believes staying curious and trying new things keeps him safer in today's digital world.

Transcript:

 When I was working, I never did use smartphones or computers in my jobs.

I decided to learn about the technology, because I was tired of my wife giving me heck, asking questions about it, one thing, but also I just wanted to learn more. Because learning at any age is a good thing. My wife helps me, and my brother-in-law, at times, helps me with the technology. 

I would tell other seniors to experiment, and you'll find that once you start learning a little bit about it, it's not as scary as you thought it might be.

I mostly use a desktop computer, and I like watching the YouTube videos just to see what's going on in the world. Also, I play guitar and sing songs, and I use the computer a lot to learn new stuff. I find it very, very good at that. Very useful.

I don't use a smartphone. I have a, I have a cell phone, but I'm not even sure if it is a smartphone or not. The first cell phone I had was a, was a flip-top one. And, the things I found easier about those old phones was to answer a call, you just push the button. Now, you're doing swiping and all these things, and I find with this phone I have now, lots of times they change how you do things on them, and then you have to relearn how to use the phone.

And, for instance, just lately, I used to have to swipe up to answer the phone. Now, I have to swipe sideways, and lots of times, what I end up doing is hanging up on people. And then I have to call them back.

With these new phones and all of the advantages they have — the Internet and so on — it's all at your fingertips. I'm not really comfortable with it, because I haven't learned enough about it yet to use what's there, you know, to use the technology. So I'm still learning.

I have received suspicious texts and calls on my phone, but on my phone I have a condition that, when it, when the phone rings and it shows up, it says “suspected spam,” so that I know not to bother answering it. That's how I deal with it, I just don't bother answering it. I don't recall, on the email side of things, I don't recall ever getting anything that I was concerned about on my computer. 

I think it is important for seniors to, to stay up to date with technology and to learn new things, because, for one thing, you know, we have to keep up with what's going on in the world, and, learning new things is never a bad thing. 

To any seniors that are thinking that they are too old to learn any of this new technology, I would say, you won't know what your capabilities are until you try it.

With the computers and the new technology, what I've been learning in this class is that there is really a lot to learn. The little bit I know is just like scratching the surface, so I have lots more too that I can learn by participating in these classes.

I’m, I'm, I’m motivated to learn new things on the phone and on the computer just because I want to know how they work. I feel like the more I know about them, the safer I am. 

Taking this class has… has opened my eyes to seeing more of the possibilities that are out there, especially on the phone side. I'm a little bit comfortable with the computer, but I'm not comfortable at all yet with the phone side of it. So, I'm hoping that during this process, I will become more able to use the phone, you know. There's a lot there to use, and I just basically don't use any of it.

I would just say to any seniors, you know, jump in both feet and see what happens, and don't be shy.

.

This resource is part of the CyberSmarts for Seniors Project, funded in part by the Government of Canada’s
New Horizons for Seniors Program and ELNOS, and delivered in Elliot Lake by Raknas Inc. and Golden Voices, the seniors-focused division of the DiversityCanada Foundation.

.