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Every once in a while you hear about something that you have to share because it makes you smile, laugh and feel good...regardless of everything else happening in the world.
That was my reaction when I heard about "Cyber-Seniors," a documentary film about a group of teenagers in Toronto, Canada, who volunteer to visit a local retirement home twice a week to teach interested seniors how to use the Internet (click here to see the trailer). But the stars of the film are the newly Net-empowered residents who learn how to use Facebook to see photos of their grandkids, to play online games, use email, and to create and share video online.
Check out their YouTube channel, cyberseniorscorner. You'll love Shura's cooking video. Her technique to make grilled cheese sandwiches with a clothes iron is really inventive.
What started out as a required high school community service project for Saffron Cassaday's (the filmmaker's) younger sisters, turned into a documentary project when she saw the impact of the Internet and the teen tech mentors' interaction with the residents. You can learn more about Cassaday's experience making the film in this interview.
Cyber-Seniors is touring the country with screenings coming up across the U.S. You can see the schedule on the film's website.
There's nothing here about a new killer app and it's about as far away from the cutting-edge as you can get. But in many ways, Cyber-Seniors is more relevant because it's about technology making a deep and meaningful changes the quailty of people's lives.
As Saffron Cassady says, "You're never too old to try something new, and you're never too young to make a difference in your community."
