The Techie Seniors Thursdays

Techie Seniors Thursdays Article Writing Contest 2nd Place

This article was submitted by Reynaldo Gallardo to Techie Senior Citizens and Retirees PH for our Techie Seniors Thursdays Essay Writing Contest. Congratulations to Reynaldo Gallardo for winning second prize! ???? A photo and short description of the author are at the end of this article.

There are lots of pages and groups in Facebook with interesting contents. Some teach, others inspire.The Techie Seniors And Retirees Philippines community page have lots of them, the aim being, “…to help Filipino senior citizens to use the internet properly”. The page not only inspire but also give tips on almost anything regarding the internet. Take for example the malicious tagging that occured just recently. The page was one of the firsts, if not the first, in releasing a video tutorial on how to prevent your FB account from being tagged maliciously.

“[Techie Seniors] was one of the firsts, if not the first, in releasing a video tutorial on how to prevent your FB account from being tagged maliciously.”

The Thursday webinars, called the Techie Seniors Thursdays, TST for short, give instructions that could possibly be a bonding time for the tech-savvy millennials with their—please forgive my grammar—tech-norante grans and gramps. Imagine an apo guiding the elderly on creating accounts for Google or Facebook, or creating an email address while watching the webinar, making sure that the elderly understands the protocols and safety features. (It is interesting to note here that before the pandemic, these webinars are actually seminars where both the young and the old attended, making up, I believe for lively discussions in, as their collection of photos suggest, block programming, etc.)

“Imagine an apo guiding the elderly on creating accounts for Google or Facebook, or creating an email address while watching the webinar, making sure that the elderly understands the protocols and safety features.”

Topics for these webinars do not end on those stated above. They also include tips, tutorials for different programs/apps on productivity. Now let me try to expand on this one.

Let’s say you are thinking of starting a business or a side hustle. There’s a webinar that points you to a safe site and guides you to navigate through the page. So you’ve decided on one, what tools do you need? Spreadsheet. Word processor. Presentation. There’s a webinar that introduces a tools bundle that is cheap that some of it are free to download. Tools include group chat, forms and more.

There is even a webinar for your product marketing. For labels, logos, flyers and more! What could make you feel good about this graphic design app is first, it is created by a Filipino; and second, even if you decide to fork out some cash, to use their words, “…is donating all proceeds from any paid media used in your design towards relief and medical equipment for the Covid-19 crisis in India”. (I’ve been using it to create a storybook and – lucky kins who are celebrating this month will get my first creations—greeting cards.)

“Let’s say you are thinking of starting a business or a side hustle. … So you’ve decided on one, what tools do you need?”

All those past webinars and more can be viewed in the video section of the community page. But it is best if you can join live because then you can ask questions. Or voice your opinion. Just stick to the rules for a lively discussion.

How to become a member?
● Go to the Techie Senior Citizens and Retirees PH Group page on Facebook.
● Click Join Group
● Answer the questions. This is important.
● Agree to the rules. (Click on the square box on the upper right hand corner.)
● Click Submit and wait for approval.

You can watch the video below for instructions: