Age is no barrier to be tech-savvy
Published on: Wednesday, November 07, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Forty elderly citizens here proved that age is nothing but a number especially when it comes to keeping themselves abreast with the latest gadget technology has to offer. For Tan Chee Heng, who will turn 81 in a few days, said learning is a lifelong process and it is not an end in itself."Every day is a learning process, I think for any of the aspiring elders coming up to reach 93 like Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad, I think it is a good idea that they should not shy away from coming to learn.
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"I know many of this seniors, especially the males who shy themselves away saying 'Oh I think I have already had enough education'… I think that's a wrong idea about it," he said. Tan's next plan is to teach his 77-year-old wife the new knowledge he has gained from the camp saying, "My wife is not used to handling handphones so I told her that it is good that we keep one at our age.""Now, she will be reading news after news, hour after hour on her handphone," he said.Elizabeth Emmanuel, 62, also shared the same sentiment saying, "You are never too old to learn. Take every opportunity that you can to learn new things because we have to go forward and going forward means we have to keep up with the young and the innovations."
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"I am not a social media person. I have a Facebook but it is a very confined Facebook which has got an administrator because I am not really good at it."Previously, I don't have Instagram. I do online payments from the bank but I do not have any digital apps for payment which was the Boost application that we learnt.
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"So I just would like to learn a lot of things, although my sons could teach me, they said it was not important for me to have Instagram but I just would like to learn and go on forth and learn something new."Now that I have an Instagram account, I have already impressed my family because they have already sent feedbacks to me, my son said something like 'mom now everyone can see you'," she said with a chuckle.The two were among those who were selected to take part in the two-day Digital Innovation Camp for the G-Oldies organised for the 11th time this year by the Sabah Computer Society with the theme "Apps of the Day".Tan, who owns a Huawei 7, and Elizabeth, a 1Plus5 phone, earned the Camp King and Camp Queen titles for their excellent performance in and out of the class, each taking home with them a power bank as their prize. Meanwhile, participants were given a packed training programme and activities to learn more everyday applications such as Instagram (for social media) and Boost (for e-payment).In addition, they were also given free accommodation and meals, training materials and goodie bags with a Camp T-shirt to each participant. Among the activities was a competition where they presented what they had learnt, including posting their activities to Instagram and showing how they could use the Boost App to pay for their purchases.This is to prepare them for cashless transactions when making payments. The closing ceremony held here, Sunday, was officiated by the Ministry of Education and Innovation's Permanent Secretary Datuk Bruno Vun who represented the Minister Datuk Dr Yusuf Yacob. "Electronic gadgets has become a necessity. Ten years ago it is still a luxury, but today it is a necessity, you must master the technology but don't let technology master you," said Vun in his speech. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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