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"Digital Heroes": Smartphone training for seniors in Konz

"Digital Heroes": Smartphone training for seniors in Konz

Conc, March 22, 2023

How do I look up a phone number on the internet with my smartphone? How does video telephony with the grandchildren work? And what other possibilities does the smartphone offer? Although many seniors have a modern mobile phone, they often only use it to make calls. A new joint project by the senior citizens' representative of the city & VG Konz and the Realschule plus would like to change that.

"Digital Heroes" is the name of the working group at the school, which has set itself the task of turning senior citizens into digital heroes. It doesn't matter what prior knowledge someone has. Because: "The smartphone training should not be a classic course," says the senior representative, Hermann Hurth, who initiated the project. “We want everyone to start by saying what he or she would like to learn. Then the students take care of the participants in very small groups and can respond to individual requests and questions,” emphasizes Hurth. This means that the participants determine the pace and the topics themselves, not a lecturer who simply explains what the smartphone can do.

When planning the course, it was important to the representative for seniors that the course is a cross-generational project - based on the concept of "reading mentors" of the Konzer-Doktor-Bürgerstiftung, but this time the other way around: It is not the young people who learn from the older ones, but the older ones from the younger ones.

Mr. Weiler, the supervisor of the "Digital Heroes" working group at the Realschule plus Konz, says: "We really like the cross-generational aspect. The students are enthusiastic about this idea and are happy to take away the fear of smartphones in older people.”

There will be a first meeting on April 26, 2023 at 2 p.m give. Venue is the junior high school plus . Pick-up at home with transport to the school is possible. Registration for the event is requested . Contact: Hermann Hurth, telephone: 0170-278 26 77 or by e-mail at: seniorenbeauftragter@konz.de