MetroFocus: “First-of-Its-Kind Tech Training Center Gets Older Adults Online”

Scrolling through a screen bearing numerous five-star reviews, Barbara Nathan is all smiles.  “I try to see how many consecutive fives in a row I can get,” she says.  “[…]That’s how I start every day, opening my computer and looking at my record.”

Nathan is a recent addition to the freelance writer economy, though she may not be your typical stringer.   Nathan was unemployed for over a decade after leaving her job in 2000 to tend to health problems and an ailing mother.  At age 67, she decided to jump back into the workforce.

But Nathan is one of many older adults confronted with a generational divide between post-millennial “digital natives” and older “digital immigrants.” As the internet age plows forward, many seniors are seeking resources and training to get up to speed.

Enter the Senior Planet Exploration Center, the nation’s very first tech-themed center for people over 60.  The center was launched in March 2013 with a combination of city, federal and corporate funding, and a mandate to train older adults in the digital revolution. Read more