Tobey Dichter
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It was supposed to be just five years – when I left my senior position at what is now Glaxo SmithKline in 1999. I just wanted to get the 21-million older adults in America online. So I started Generations on Line, a national nonprofit based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania devoted to overcoming the barriers to use of the Internet for seniors.
I figured all the big commercial enterprises would cannibalize the software we created within a year or two. It walks seniors through the basics of the Internet and email with large type instructions on each screen.
HAH! How naive. Big commercial enterprises don’t seem to care about the low income elderly. Now, 16 years later, we have trained only 80,000 people, and fundraising to keep it free to seniors is a slog.
But I’ve had such a good time! And now I am one of the “elders” I wanted to help. With a zillion excuses for not wanting an iPad or expanding our PC training, I gave in last year and we created an awesome tablet training program.
If you aren’t embarrassed to acknowledge everything you don’t know, and put your energy towards others, you can feel like a kid again every day. I lead the effort and work with the finest group of smart, fun and caring people to help our oldest and wisest generations get online.
Twinkly-eyed curious 80-year olds always grabbed my attention, from my mother to strangers. I wanted to change the face of aging — for them and for myself when I got to be them. The irony of free boundary-less mobility for a less mobile population who was scared to death of its complexities captivated me!
To watch passivity turn into action – boredom into excitement – solitude into community — it’s the best gift in the world! To each new learner who had no money, no interest, no experience, no confidence – who was able in 45 minutes to search for a lifelong interest or write to a grandchild – we have given a lifetime gift! And you know the old saying about “’tis better to give than to receive.” For me, it’s meant 16 years of mental stimulation, creativity, teamwork joy and hundreds of sleepless nights!
Older generations are used to assuming work means work! Of particular interest to me is this learning: poorer people stick with new efforts longer; they don’t give up; they’re used to struggling; they aren’t arrogant; they play by the rules. And they are SO GRATEFUL!