论文部分内容阅读
A generation who grew up with black-and-white TV are now video chatting like teenagers—and for many the transition has been relatively painless. 看著黑白电视长大的一代人，如今也像青少年那样视频聊天了，而且这种转变对很多人来说也没那么费劲。
“I used to look at some people using WhatsApp video and think， I wonder what that’s all about，” says 74-year-old Jillian Cheetham. “Now， you know， I’ve discovered it’s pretty easy.”
Her book club， which has been going for 10 years， has just had its first Zoom meeting. “It was lovely to be together again and feel that we can keep on going，” Cheetham says. “There’s no wine and cheese on the table or tea and cake at the end of it， it’s not as much fun when it’s virtual. But we’re discussing a book we all really enjoyed. And， apart from a few hitches like some people’s frames freezing， it was really， really satisfying.”
A few short weeks ago， that would have been unthinkable. “Technology wasn’t really relevant until perhaps the last 25% of my career，” says Cheetham， a former high school teacher， business owner and financial industry professional. “There was no training whatsoever. And if my computer wasn’t turning on I’d ring IT and they’d sort it out. Up until about 2000 you could learn the program specific to what you needed to do. There wasn’t a need to go beyond that if you didn’t want to.” But that’s all had to change for her generation： “We’ve been forced to encounter technology in a very different way if we want to continue to have any quality of life.”
The need to connect is precisely what’s driving many seniors to do just that， according to RMIT’s Dr Torgeir Aleti， who’s researching how technology helps support connectedness and social inclusion among older people.
This confirms what he and his colleagues have suspected for a long time： “It’s just a stereotype that is constantly perpetuated， that seniors don’t know this stuff.” “The idea that it’s not for me， I don’t have the skills， or the resources， or I’m afraid of being bullied， or of doing something wrong—these things are now being pushed into the background because we’re in a situation where it’s that or just patting the cat for two weeks while I’m waiting to… go out again，” Aleti says.
Many are turning to younger generations for help， with mixed results. “Over the phone， it’s， ah， it always starts off civil， and I always begin with the intention that somehow I’ll be able to solve her problem for her，” says Cheetham’s daughter， Naomi. “But as you know personally with technology， sometimes it becomes overwhelming， no matter how tech-savvy you may be.” Tasks that could easily be demonstrated in person quickly turn into a multi-step tangle of complicated workarounds—like talking someone through using Zoom for the first time.
“I taught her to do a video call on WhatsApp first， and how to switch her camera around so I could see what she was doing on her screen rather than her face. It was an enormously clunky way to do it，” Naomi says. “That’s when I realized she’d need a cheat sheet. I used the Snipping tool to show all the screens. It was like Ikea instructions—as few words as possible.” Her mother sent that on to others， who passed it on to their friends too. “Naomi is great，” Cheetham says， “I can’t sing her praises enough.” But… “I find the best teachers are people of my own generation. That seems to work best for me， anyway.”
Glen Wall， the vice-president of U3A Network Victoria， agrees. He’s seen a remarkable uptake in technology among members of the University of the Third Age organization， which runs courses for older people， and has been moving classes online since early March. In less than three weeks 15 tutors in his area of Whittlesea were running sessions over Zoom， taking about half their students—the early adapters—with them. Wall says a second wave is now coming onboard. “People are sort of socially figuring it out，” he says. “I know of a 94-year-old… who talked his 93-year-old mate into buying his old iPad off him. He bought a new one and he’s taught his mate to push that button so he can talk to him every morning.”
“Community connecters” are crucial to spreading the knowledge. “They’ll be the sort of person that can use technology or find out how to， and then have the ability or passion to share the experience，” Wall says.
One such person is U3A member Awhina Te Amo， a full-time carer for her 70-year-old mother， who has Alzheimer’s disease. Before social distancing， Te Amo accompanied her mother to line dancing， choir， tap dancing， chair aerobics and tai chi. Now a lot of it is virtual. “We also stay connected with others through WhatsApp， email， and I’m currently working on a YouTube channel，” Te Amo says. “We have a little group on Facebook and I’m teaching others what I’ve been learning. I’m just passing on the knowledge as best as I can.”
Relying on a trusted circle of people is the key to solving many technology dilemmas， according to Wall. “If a person talks about what they are looking to do—not how—in their group of friends， they will most likely find someone that’s actually done it. And that person will show them.” Meanwhile， Cheetham is persevering with the unfamiliar. “If there’s one thing this coronavirus is going to do， it’s going to shift the balance from interactions more strongly in the direction of tech communication，” she says. “So it’s one thing to prefer something else， but to be functional my generation are going to have to do it.”
“我见过有人用瓦次普视频聊天，就想弄明白这玩意儿怎么用。”74岁的吉莉安·奇塔姆说，“现在，我发现这挺容易上手的。”
奇塔姆所在的书友会已经办了10个年头，不久前才刚用Zoom开会。“又能聚到一起太好啦，感觉我们的活动又能继续办了。”奇塔姆说，“没有美酒奶酪，缺了会后茶点，线上不如现场会那样有趣，但我们要聊的书是大家都喜欢的。除了一些人的画面有些卡顿的小状况，效果真的令人非常满意。”
这种聚会形式要放在几周前，连想都不敢想。教过中学、开过公司、做过金融的奇塔姆说：“我大概在职业生涯的后四分之一时间才真正接触技术。我半点儿也没学过，电脑一旦开不了机，我就得找技术部门把问题解决。到2000年那会儿，可以专门去学需要用到的电脑技术。如果不想学也没必要学那么多。”但她那一代人的生活方式得改变了。“但凡仍想過得有质量，那就得换个态度看待技术。”
皇家墨尔本理工大学研究技术如何助力老年人交往和社会融入的托尔盖·阿列季博士表示，正是交往的需求促使不少老年人做出那种转变。
这证实了他和同事长期以来的猜想：“总说老年人不会弄这些东西，这只是个固化印象。”他说：“‘这不是我该玩儿的’‘我哪有那两下子’‘没地儿学去’‘怕被网暴’‘出了错怎么办’，此类担忧如今都被抛到脑后了，毕竟事已至此，要么转变，不变就只能在家逗猫干等俩礼拜，看什么时候能再出门。”
于是好些老年人开始找年轻人帮忙，但结果因人而异。“电话里啊一开始都好声好气的，我的出发点永远是无论如何都要帮她解决问题，”奇塔姆的女儿内奥米说，“但你懂的，技术嘛，不管多精通，有时候就是让人难以招架。”
有些操作当面演示起来原本很容易，但很快就成了步骤繁杂的一团乱麻，比方说教新手用Zoom聊天。
内奥米说：“我先教她怎么在瓦次普上发起视频通话，然后教她切换摄像头，这样我就能看见她屏幕上的操作而不是她的脸。但这个教法十分费劲儿。我这才意识到她需要的是一张提示小条。我用截屏工具截取展示了所有操作界面，就跟宜家安装说明单子一样，词越少越好。”内奥米的母亲把这张小条分享给了朋友，朋友又转给朋友。“内奥米太给力了，”奇塔姆说，“怎么夸都不过分。”不过……“我发现，好师父还得是同龄人，这样我上手才快。”
维多利亚州老年大学网络的副主席格伦·沃尔也这么看。他发现老年大学组织里的学员对技术领悟得相当快;学校从3月初就转为线上授课了。不到3周的时间里，他所在惠特尔西地区的15位讲师都用Zoom给约半数的学生上了网课，这批学生都是对技术适应得快的。沃尔表示，第二批学生也马上要上网课了。“可以说，大家都是在交往过程中学到这些技术的，”他说，“听说有位94岁的老人鼓动他93岁的老哥们儿买下了他的旧苹果平板，自己又去买了个新的，教会了老哥们儿该按哪个按钮，两人就能每天早上视频聊天。”
“社区联络员”是数字技术传播的关键。沃尔称：“将来，这群人自己会用数字技术，或是能找到方法学会，还能教给别人或乐于分享自己的经验。”
老年大学的学员阿维娜·蒂阿莫就是这样一个人，她全天候照料自己70岁高龄患阿尔茨海默病的母亲。“社交隔离”实施前，蒂阿莫陪着母亲跳排舞、练合唱、跳踢踏、做椅子有氧操、打太极，现在这些活动有不少都在线上进行。蒂阿莫说：“我们还利用瓦次普和电子邮件跟大家保持联络。眼下我在做一个优兔频道。我们在脸书上建了个小群，我把学会的东西在群里教给大家，尽自己所能传播这些知识。”
沃尔表示，求助一群信赖的人是解决许多技术难题的法宝。“要是有人和朋友们谈起想做什么事儿却无从下手，多半会找个过来人。这个人自然会教他们。”
同时，奇塔姆对新生事物可谓孜孜以求，她说：“要说新冠病毒的影响，有一样，那就是把交往大力推向了技术交流。喜不喜欢是一回事，但我们这代人要想老有所为，新技术那是非学不可。”
（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）
“I used to look at some people using WhatsApp video and think， I wonder what that’s all about，” says 74-year-old Jillian Cheetham. “Now， you know， I’ve discovered it’s pretty easy.”
Her book club， which has been going for 10 years， has just had its first Zoom meeting. “It was lovely to be together again and feel that we can keep on going，” Cheetham says. “There’s no wine and cheese on the table or tea and cake at the end of it， it’s not as much fun when it’s virtual. But we’re discussing a book we all really enjoyed. And， apart from a few hitches like some people’s frames freezing， it was really， really satisfying.”
A few short weeks ago， that would have been unthinkable. “Technology wasn’t really relevant until perhaps the last 25% of my career，” says Cheetham， a former high school teacher， business owner and financial industry professional. “There was no training whatsoever. And if my computer wasn’t turning on I’d ring IT and they’d sort it out. Up until about 2000 you could learn the program specific to what you needed to do. There wasn’t a need to go beyond that if you didn’t want to.” But that’s all had to change for her generation： “We’ve been forced to encounter technology in a very different way if we want to continue to have any quality of life.”
The need to connect is precisely what’s driving many seniors to do just that， according to RMIT’s Dr Torgeir Aleti， who’s researching how technology helps support connectedness and social inclusion among older people.
This confirms what he and his colleagues have suspected for a long time： “It’s just a stereotype that is constantly perpetuated， that seniors don’t know this stuff.” “The idea that it’s not for me， I don’t have the skills， or the resources， or I’m afraid of being bullied， or of doing something wrong—these things are now being pushed into the background because we’re in a situation where it’s that or just patting the cat for two weeks while I’m waiting to… go out again，” Aleti says.
Many are turning to younger generations for help， with mixed results. “Over the phone， it’s， ah， it always starts off civil， and I always begin with the intention that somehow I’ll be able to solve her problem for her，” says Cheetham’s daughter， Naomi. “But as you know personally with technology， sometimes it becomes overwhelming， no matter how tech-savvy you may be.” Tasks that could easily be demonstrated in person quickly turn into a multi-step tangle of complicated workarounds—like talking someone through using Zoom for the first time.
“I taught her to do a video call on WhatsApp first， and how to switch her camera around so I could see what she was doing on her screen rather than her face. It was an enormously clunky way to do it，” Naomi says. “That’s when I realized she’d need a cheat sheet. I used the Snipping tool to show all the screens. It was like Ikea instructions—as few words as possible.” Her mother sent that on to others， who passed it on to their friends too. “Naomi is great，” Cheetham says， “I can’t sing her praises enough.” But… “I find the best teachers are people of my own generation. That seems to work best for me， anyway.”
Glen Wall， the vice-president of U3A Network Victoria， agrees. He’s seen a remarkable uptake in technology among members of the University of the Third Age organization， which runs courses for older people， and has been moving classes online since early March. In less than three weeks 15 tutors in his area of Whittlesea were running sessions over Zoom， taking about half their students—the early adapters—with them. Wall says a second wave is now coming onboard. “People are sort of socially figuring it out，” he says. “I know of a 94-year-old… who talked his 93-year-old mate into buying his old iPad off him. He bought a new one and he’s taught his mate to push that button so he can talk to him every morning.”
“Community connecters” are crucial to spreading the knowledge. “They’ll be the sort of person that can use technology or find out how to， and then have the ability or passion to share the experience，” Wall says.
One such person is U3A member Awhina Te Amo， a full-time carer for her 70-year-old mother， who has Alzheimer’s disease. Before social distancing， Te Amo accompanied her mother to line dancing， choir， tap dancing， chair aerobics and tai chi. Now a lot of it is virtual. “We also stay connected with others through WhatsApp， email， and I’m currently working on a YouTube channel，” Te Amo says. “We have a little group on Facebook and I’m teaching others what I’ve been learning. I’m just passing on the knowledge as best as I can.”
Relying on a trusted circle of people is the key to solving many technology dilemmas， according to Wall. “If a person talks about what they are looking to do—not how—in their group of friends， they will most likely find someone that’s actually done it. And that person will show them.” Meanwhile， Cheetham is persevering with the unfamiliar. “If there’s one thing this coronavirus is going to do， it’s going to shift the balance from interactions more strongly in the direction of tech communication，” she says. “So it’s one thing to prefer something else， but to be functional my generation are going to have to do it.”
“我见过有人用瓦次普视频聊天，就想弄明白这玩意儿怎么用。”74岁的吉莉安·奇塔姆说，“现在，我发现这挺容易上手的。”
奇塔姆所在的书友会已经办了10个年头，不久前才刚用Zoom开会。“又能聚到一起太好啦，感觉我们的活动又能继续办了。”奇塔姆说，“没有美酒奶酪，缺了会后茶点，线上不如现场会那样有趣，但我们要聊的书是大家都喜欢的。除了一些人的画面有些卡顿的小状况，效果真的令人非常满意。”
这种聚会形式要放在几周前，连想都不敢想。教过中学、开过公司、做过金融的奇塔姆说：“我大概在职业生涯的后四分之一时间才真正接触技术。我半点儿也没学过，电脑一旦开不了机，我就得找技术部门把问题解决。到2000年那会儿，可以专门去学需要用到的电脑技术。如果不想学也没必要学那么多。”但她那一代人的生活方式得改变了。“但凡仍想過得有质量，那就得换个态度看待技术。”
皇家墨尔本理工大学研究技术如何助力老年人交往和社会融入的托尔盖·阿列季博士表示，正是交往的需求促使不少老年人做出那种转变。
这证实了他和同事长期以来的猜想：“总说老年人不会弄这些东西，这只是个固化印象。”他说：“‘这不是我该玩儿的’‘我哪有那两下子’‘没地儿学去’‘怕被网暴’‘出了错怎么办’，此类担忧如今都被抛到脑后了，毕竟事已至此，要么转变，不变就只能在家逗猫干等俩礼拜，看什么时候能再出门。”
于是好些老年人开始找年轻人帮忙，但结果因人而异。“电话里啊一开始都好声好气的，我的出发点永远是无论如何都要帮她解决问题，”奇塔姆的女儿内奥米说，“但你懂的，技术嘛，不管多精通，有时候就是让人难以招架。”
有些操作当面演示起来原本很容易，但很快就成了步骤繁杂的一团乱麻，比方说教新手用Zoom聊天。
内奥米说：“我先教她怎么在瓦次普上发起视频通话，然后教她切换摄像头，这样我就能看见她屏幕上的操作而不是她的脸。但这个教法十分费劲儿。我这才意识到她需要的是一张提示小条。我用截屏工具截取展示了所有操作界面，就跟宜家安装说明单子一样，词越少越好。”内奥米的母亲把这张小条分享给了朋友，朋友又转给朋友。“内奥米太给力了，”奇塔姆说，“怎么夸都不过分。”不过……“我发现，好师父还得是同龄人，这样我上手才快。”
维多利亚州老年大学网络的副主席格伦·沃尔也这么看。他发现老年大学组织里的学员对技术领悟得相当快;学校从3月初就转为线上授课了。不到3周的时间里，他所在惠特尔西地区的15位讲师都用Zoom给约半数的学生上了网课，这批学生都是对技术适应得快的。沃尔表示，第二批学生也马上要上网课了。“可以说，大家都是在交往过程中学到这些技术的，”他说，“听说有位94岁的老人鼓动他93岁的老哥们儿买下了他的旧苹果平板，自己又去买了个新的，教会了老哥们儿该按哪个按钮，两人就能每天早上视频聊天。”
“社区联络员”是数字技术传播的关键。沃尔称：“将来，这群人自己会用数字技术，或是能找到方法学会，还能教给别人或乐于分享自己的经验。”
老年大学的学员阿维娜·蒂阿莫就是这样一个人，她全天候照料自己70岁高龄患阿尔茨海默病的母亲。“社交隔离”实施前，蒂阿莫陪着母亲跳排舞、练合唱、跳踢踏、做椅子有氧操、打太极，现在这些活动有不少都在线上进行。蒂阿莫说：“我们还利用瓦次普和电子邮件跟大家保持联络。眼下我在做一个优兔频道。我们在脸书上建了个小群，我把学会的东西在群里教给大家，尽自己所能传播这些知识。”
沃尔表示，求助一群信赖的人是解决许多技术难题的法宝。“要是有人和朋友们谈起想做什么事儿却无从下手，多半会找个过来人。这个人自然会教他们。”
同时，奇塔姆对新生事物可谓孜孜以求，她说：“要说新冠病毒的影响，有一样，那就是把交往大力推向了技术交流。喜不喜欢是一回事，但我们这代人要想老有所为，新技术那是非学不可。”
（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）