A Barrie teen wants to help Barrie seniors get - and stay - connected.
Matt Rodriguez, 19, recently moved to Barrie from Burlington, where he ran Seniors Tech Help, a business where he would assist local seniors learn not only to use technology, but master it.
Rodriguez, who has been operating virtually due to the lockdown, told BarrieToday many seniors have been left feeling disconnected from the world during the pandemic due to their lack of tech knowledge.
“Our world is becoming really driven by technology, and I think many seniors are feeling left out. It’s a whole new language for many of them, and without help they can get very lost,” he said.
"It’s a whole different world and they can feel out of touch with their loved ones… it’s not like people are writing to each other anymore,” he said. “When I work with them they’re telling me about how they used to have pen pals and it’s not like that anymore.”
Rodriguez initially started his business when he was 16 after volunteering at his local library where they had a Seniors Tech program. He found he enjoyed assisting the seniors and helping them learn new skills.
“Pretty much every time when I would work with a senior, they’d get to a point where they would understand the technology and most of the time they would get to the point where they could even master it,” he said.
Bill Dunstan said the teen helped him become confident when using all of his technology.
“I have a PC, an Apple Ipad and a Samsung Android Cellphone. I'm able to now stream all my hockey games on all three devices as need be. I can use my PC through my 60 inch TV if I wish and I can cast from my phone as well as my Ipad to any applicable TV,” he told BarrieToday. “Matt helped me load some very useful apps onto my phone and Ipad and gave me an excellent tutorial on how to utilize them.”
His phone, he noted, has never been more useful to him now that he knows how to maximize its potential.
“I can now do all my banking, access my Government of Canada tax account as well as I'm set up for paying any of my bills,” he said, adding the flexibility of having all of that set up now means he can do anything from anywhere.
Dunstan credits Rodriguez for his patience in helping him learn these new skills.
“Matt had excellent teaching skills and patience. (He) slowly built on knowledge learned, reviewed to reinforce, made sure he was working only with information that you would find valuable and gave multiple examples of how to apply the various websites or applications,” Dunstan said.
“I have the ability to interact with family and friends in numerous formats now (such as) WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat. All of these have been great tools for spending some time with my family and grandchildren all of which live in Thunder Bay (and) I reside in Burlington."
Taking his tech help online during the pandemic has definitely been a challenge, Rodriguez admitted.
““I feel like there are some things I definitely can’t help with virtually, and it’s definitely not as successful as it would have been if we were in person, but it’s the best it can be with current restriction,” he said.
“I usually send them a link which makes it easy. The biggest struggle is typically knowing how to unmute their mic and turn on their camera when we first connect, but after the first couple times, I’ve been able to teach them how to use Zoom," he explained.
The work, he said, is gratifying.
“It’s very rewarding to see how happy they are when they finally realize they know how to do it," said Rodrigues. "You can see how left out they feel when they don’t know how to do these things.
"COVID has been scary for them physically, but it’s also been emotionally difficult for them because everything is curbside and they can’t necessarily do that,” he said. “I try to help open a whole new world for them and they love it after.”
