CyberSmarts For Seniors: Interview with Giorgio Menegon

Our CyberSmarts for Seniors Project provided older adults with guidance in using mobile devices and computers to navigate the Internet confidently and safely. Here, Giorgio Menegon, one of the participants, discusses why he decided to learn about computers and how using the internet has made life easier for him.

Transcript:

My name is Giorgio Menegon. I'm Italian. 

Interviewer: When you were working, did you ever use computers and smartphones?  

No, because they don't have at that time. It was everything manual, at that time. Four or five years before I retired, they just start having the computer in the lathe, milling machine. You know, all, all those machinery we were doing manual. 

And they take some young to sent in school to learn. And I ask, “Can I go, me too?”  The manager, he said, “No, you are a little bit too old.” But, you know, it's okay. At that time, with experience I have, I was teaching the other, younger, but no, no, in the computer or stuff like that.

Interviewer: What made you decide to learn about technology now in the CyberSmarts Class? 

I learn to stay above with all the, all the rest of the people. Any other way, you are second class. I have two grandsons. They prepare all that computer. They bought a computer for me, and this and that. I got to learn. Well, right here. Come at this class, this I learn everything. And then, when I go home, right away — don't wait, because I wait, I start forgotting now. So, I learn a little bit. I don't want to learn too much — a few things here and there. I like to, yes.

Interviewer: What would you tell other seniors who are afraid to try to get into computers and use their smartphones, the modern smartphone?

I try to tell them to not to be afraid. I was afraid to learn. Wrong, very wrong. Gotta learn. Until you are 100, if this one [pointing to brain] is okay, learn.

Interviewer: What's your favourite thing to do on your phone or your computer? 

Computer is a shock. When I, I make an email, in Italy, they answer me back right away. They… we got a call, and then waited — the line is busy. With a few seconds, I go over there, and they answered back to me. So, that is something.

When they sent me something, I have to copy, type it in Italian, because in English I like to, but you know, not yet. And then I got to send it to all the other member in Sudbury. Whatever they sent me from Italy, I sent it to them. That before, I got to make a letter, make with an envelope, with the stamps, sending the mail, and now it’s all easy like.

Interviewer: Have you ever received a suspicious phone call? 

Yes, yes, I have that. But before answer, I leave like it is. And I call, here in Elliot Lake, I have a nephew, everything… I call them to come and check this thing. Now I know. Now I know what to do. I learning there what she said.

Interviewer:  What would you say to seniors who are afraid of the scams and they are not sure how to be safe with these new technologies? 

If something they don't know, if that is true or not, don't… leave it and ask who knows. If you know how to do it, don't answer at all — get out of it. That's it. There's only one way to find out exactly it is, what she teach me up there.

Interviewer: What surprised you most about learning…?

The smartphone, I don't have it. But in the computer, is… is like when you was kids, and you were in school, and you, you know, you are so excited. The same thing is now with us, with a computer.

Interviewer: What keeps you motivated to learn new things, specifically on your computer?

Everything, everything what I do is an excitement, a shock. That — what it is.

Interviewer: How has this class changed how you feel about your computer?

Well, over here, you learn every parts, everything. From Windows 11, from Google, you learn exactly. So it's nice, yes. I think if I am in together with somebody, some other senior, whatever, I can stay above, me too. I'm not quite like before — don't say nothing, because you don't know. So it's nice, yes.

Interviewer: Is there any final word you like to add?

Well, every senior, I know I meet quite a few, they were saying no. They don't agree to go, older like that, to learning. And I was say to them, never get too old to learn if you wanna learn. I encourage everybody who can, who have a chance to go. They are not scared or ashamed or stuff like that, come and learn.

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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.

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