Cyber-Seniors
Studio: Virgil Films
Directed by Saffron Cassaday
Feb 03, 2015
Web Exclusive
Technology has, for better or worse, broken down barriers of communication in unpredictable ways, and established a whole new infrastructure of human interaction. We can reach across the globe and keep in touch with old friends, a rather mundane reality that tech-savvy millennials take for granted. But with the advent of social technology, the generation gap between young people and senior citizens grows even wider. Yet for people in retirement, who are increasingly losing relationships and connections to the erosions of time, engaging with younger people is crucial to their happiness and vitality.
Cyber-Seniors, the directorial debut of actress Saffron Cassaday, follows a program she initiated with her mother that enlists volunteer teenagers to assist the elderly in simple tasks like checking their email and setting up Facebook accounts. The program became such a hit with the seniors they worked with, they ran a YouTube video contest and helped the seniors create and star in their own viral video.
The evolution of people struggling with remembering their email passwords (or what email even means) to using Facebook to convince their friends to “like and share” their videos is pretty endearing. The film itself is heartwarming and adorable, but carries the implications of how cut off many elderly people are simply because they never grew up with a PC. Nevertheless, it is impossible not to feel their excitement when they finally figure out how to Skype their children, or find their grandkids saying naughty things on Facebook.
Cassaday takes a more personal detour through the film as well, as she documents her younger sister, Macaulee’s, cancer and remission. Macaulee’s illness parallel’s her grandfather’s, and thanks to their use of technology, they can bond over shared pain. Unlike the other stories in the film, it is the one example from the perspective of someone younger who benefits from their grandparents’ use of social media—a reminder that it is not only the elderly who need young people in their lives, but that we still have something to learn from our more experienced citizens.
www.cyberseniorsdocumentary.com
Author rating: 7/10
Average reader rating: 10/10
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December 6th 2018
9:15am
There are family members who like to teach the family’s seniors how to use a computer and how to use the Internet. Also, some people resort to specialty assisted living services Albuquerque just to take care of someone dear to them, but who can not take care of himself. There are many families who need such professional care services, but they don’t know how them. Recommendations from friends may be the best way to select a company which offers home care or other assisted living arrangements.