“Zoom” also did it at the internet meeting point for seniors in Hauzenberg. At the moment, people mainly meet online. The senior citizens’ advisory board of the city of Hauzenberg launched the internet meeting point in 2012 under the direction of Franz Sommer. The events were held in the rooms of the VHS until 2020.
After consultation with the city of Hauzenberg, with the help of Alexander Höllmüller and the city administration, it was possible to move into the rooms of the city hall in the former “Kaiser area”. The possibilities of this room, the size, the digital offers and the parking facilities are a dream for senior citizens.
As is known, there have been significant restrictions in the education system, mobility and social contacts since mid-March 2020. Almost all facilities in the education system have been closed.
Franz Sommer set out to familiarize seniors with the digital world. Because of Corona, this was no longer possible face to face. Now he has made 18 senior citizens fit for Zoom and brought them together for weekly video conferences.
A look back: Enable social participation. That was and is the motto for nine years. With the help of Helga Fischer and Annemarie Kasberger, Franz Sommer accompanies senior citizens between 62 and 86 years in the internet meeting point, how they switch on PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones, how they Skype, write letters in Word, create household balances in Excel and photo books, such as they enter a PIN or adjust the brightness as they can make the letters bigger. He also shows how WhatsApp works. All of these functions and settings can be used in everyday life to communicate with the world. Sommer: “It’s about enabling older people to participate, to take away their fear of the technical devices and ultimately to show them ways out of loneliness”.
Why is this internet meeting point needed? There are repeated reports of seniors who would not dare to ask in their own families how exactly it works with the PC or smartphone. On the one hand, they would feel “terribly old”, on the other hand, relatives would often “explain things too quickly”. Others would have no one left to teach them that.
It’s different at the Internet meeting point: “We want it to be fun, I take all the time in the world and I have a lot of empathy with it,” explains Franz Sommer. “Our similarities were recently exchanged digitally via WhatsApp.” The exchange took place via messages from hiking, cooking, birthdays and Corona. “Everyone was happy about the comments in the internet group that was created before Corona.” The social gatherings were of course rarely possible recently. At a meeting of the women’s association, he became aware of the Zoom meeting. The questionnaire from all participants met with a positive response. Now it was time to get to work to create understandable instructions for the zoom meeting. Many one-on-one discussions about installation and use followed.
The internet meeting then went online. The first meeting with the open zoom room opened at 1 p.m. The first couple of seniors were already there, talking. “More faces appeared minute by minute,” says Sommer. At the same time his phone rang: “The picture doesn’t work, the sound doesn’t work, you can’t get in, something jumps.”
He totally underestimated the technical support, said Sommer.
14 senior citizens took part in this first meeting. The leader decided to allow the virtual zoom room around the clock for talking, practicing and exchanging ideas. At the same time, the weekly Internet meeting was initiated for two hours each afternoon. Little by little, those involved learned how to use Zoom.
Finally it was said again: Full house in the zoom round. Fifteen seniors between 62 and 86 years of age have recently been there with enthusiasm to learn new things digitally and to deepen the old.
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