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INSPIRATION
SENIORS ONLINE ? YOU BET .
In our Spring edition we asked the question : “ Over 55 and online ? They don ’ t believe you .”
Below is one of the responses we received . And yes , we got it online .
Sixty-Nine and Online
Don ’ t I know well the feeling of being talked down to because of my age . We are the ‘ Wrinklies ’. Former Mods , Rockers , Flower Children , Hippies … so we can ’ t know anything . God forbid we ask a question about how to navigate online .
The latest for me was the Canadian Government . I wanted to perform a task which I was told was very simple and could be done ‘ online ’. After talking to four people for four hours ( one hour each day for four days ) I was no further ahead . And this , I was given to understand , is because I am stupid … or old , take your pick .
They were nice about it , the young people I spoke to , but none of them could help me because all the information I needed was ‘ online ’.
Almost crying with frustration I tried to tell them that what I really wanted to know , was not .
Finally , I managed to piece together most of what I needed , no thanks to the ‘ online ’ or government employees I spoke to , more of my own research through friends , filled in the documents , and because one part of the equation was getting a passport renewed I went directly to the passport office in Hamilton . I got the information I needed from them , actually asking a simple question and getting a simple answer . It took less than a minute . Nobody told me I was stupid for asking .
I started on manual typewriters at school and can type at 100 wpm . In my very first job when I was fifteen , having
– By Lynne McCarthy
graduated a year earlier than usual , I was trained on the comptometer and plug switchboard at the GPO in Britain .
Over the following years I graduated to electric typewriters , word processors , computers , and worked in advertising , broadcasting , legal and insurance , before deciding I hated being tied to a desk for 8 hours per day , and became a full time ballet teacher .
I studied for and received my Royal Academy of Dance Teachers Diploma , my Canadian Dance Teachers Association Certificate , and my Society of Russian Ballet . I was asked to be Team Canada choreographer in 2010 , so at age 63 , and for the next five years , found myself travelling with over 100 Canadian dance students and their parents to Poland , where the team my daughter and I were involved with , won Gold in Ballet , Jazz and Modern . My daughter is now training to become a World Judge .
I write e-mails . I am on Facebook . I book hotels and air travel online . I look for information on websites . I have made purchases online .
This year I have promised myself I will attend a course in computer graphics . Having owned a dance studio for 18 years , I figure it would be a good thing , since I don ’ t know how to construct a website or produce my own advertisements .
Time to move into the next era . What was that ? There is no next era for me ? Damn cheek !
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