Technophile Anne Goldberg has become accustomed to formatting PowerPoint presentations in her career as a recruiter.
As a result, when she found herself between jobs in the fall of 2013, she was happy when a friend paid her a fee to create a slideshow for a relative’s 80th birthday party.
The guests loved the display and congratulated Golberg, then 61, on her digital prowess, which dates back to being an early adopter of computers in the 1980s. She thought nothing more of it.
Over the next 10 days, she was surprised to receive a series of calls from older adults seeking her advice on operating their laptops, iPads, and iPhones.
Goldberg called an independent living facility
Their queries led to a lightbulb moment. “What if I turn this into a business?” she thought.
The next day, harnessing the cold-calling skills she’d deployed in recruitment, she contacted an independent living facility in her home city of Boca Raton, Florida.
She spoke with the activities coordinator and asked whether the residents might be interested in a beginner’s course in operating electronic devices such as smartphones.
Courtesy of Anne Goldberg
“I got the gig,” Goldberg told Business Insider. She hosted her first class within a week when seniors turned up with their seldom-used iPhones and Android devices.
Many had been coerced by their families, who had tried unsuccessfully to show them the ropes. Golberg broke the ice by joking, “I know you hate the idea of being here.”
But the session was a resounding success. Twelve years later, she teaches classes at retirement homes in Florida.
She said her work was rewarding
She recently published her book, “Take This Phone and Shove It!: A Frustrated Senior’s Guide to Smartphones.”
“It’s incredibly rewarding,” Goldberg, whose average client is 85 years old, said. “It’s great to see the glint in their eyes and the sense of achievement when someone finally ‘gets it.'”
Most of the seniors, she said, are drawn to the fact that she’s in her 70s. “They prefer the advice of someone from their generation — or close enough — who understands the challenges.”
Here are three tips that Goldberg shares with her clientele.
You’re not dumb
Goldberg said that many of her clients are scared of looking incompetent in the face of technology.
“They think they are dumb and feel threatened by having to learn,” she said.
Still, they soon prove to themselves — and others — that their fears are unfounded.
She recalled helping an octogenarian save a photo to her iPhone that had been sent by text.
The boomer talked her through the process, and she was amazed by how easy it was. “She said, ‘Are you kidding me? Is that all I have to do?”
Curiosity and a positive attitude go a long way. “Don’t say, ‘I can’t do it,'” Goldberg said. “Say, ‘I can’t do it yet.'”
Don’t get too nostalgic
It’s tempting to hark back to the “golden age” before every Tom, Dick, and Harry owned iPhones.
Courtesy of Anne Goldberg
They might seem like halcyon days — and Goldberg respects that point of view — but the reality is that modern technology is here to stay.
She encourages her students to think about the benefits of electronic devices, especially when their families live far away.
“I say, ‘You can talk to them and see them at the same time nowadays,'” she said. “‘You couldn’t do that 50 years ago.'”
As soon as they learn how to use FaceTime, they wish they’d known about it sooner.
Goldberg recalls the thrill of receiving a FaceTime tour of her son’s new apartment in Colorado. “I want other seniors to experience the same feeling.”
It’s difficult to break your phone
Goldberg understands people’s misgivings about breaking their expensive devices.
However, she said there are only a handful of ways to make that happen.
“If you throw your phone against the wall in frustration, it will break,” she tells her clients with a laugh. Crushing it with your car wheels is not a smart idea.
She used to say that dropping an iPhone into the toilet was curtains, too. More recent Apple models can withstand immersion in water up to 6 meters for 30 minutes.
Students often tell her they’re scared of damaging their screen by tapping it too hard. Goldberg asks if they’ve ever licked their finger and touched an iron to test the level of heat.
“Everybody nods their heads except for the rich people who never had to,” she joked. “I say, ‘You touch the iron fast because you don’t want to get burned — and that’s exactly how you tap on your phone.'”
