Baby Boomers like Jeanette H. are schooling millennials on how to use technology

Liz Miller

Baby Boomers like Jeanette H. are schooling millennials on how to use technology
Jeanette and her friends.

Baby boomers took themselves to school during the pandemic and many of them are sharing their new skills with Millennials.

“My niece is too polite to call me old. I knew she was thinking it was a shock that I knew more about Zoom than she did. So I told her - ‘You are talking to the generation of folks that taught you how to use spoons and potty trained you. I might be a bit slower, but I can still learn. Plus I can explain what I learn to someone else too!”

When Jeanette went down from Detroit to Mississippi for a sisters’ reunion together she encountered her niece in a bit of a panic. Her teacher wanted her to put herself in a PowerPoint and submit a school project. While Jeannette didn’t know how to do that, she perked up when her niece said the teacher said it was easy with Zoom. However, her niece was struggling to understand how to use Zoom. All she was getting was audio and no video for a picture. If she couldn’t get it to work she was convinced she would fail the class.

“I said I’ve been to Zoom school - several times. I’d even say I’m intermediate with Zoom.”

After analyzing where her niece was looking and understanding why she couldn’t get video Jeannette chimed in,

“Open up the folder and if you open that you can see where you have the video.”

Her niece was impressed!  

“Wow, how did you know that?!”

Thanks to Jeanette’s help she was able then to complete her project and drama was averted. Her niece marveled,

“I just don’t know how this happened. I'm a millennial.”

Well, millennials watch out cause the boomers are still shaking things up and making things happen!

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Baby Boomers like Jeanette H. are schooling millennials on how to use technology
Baby Boomers like Jeanette H. are schooling millennials on how to use technology
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Keeping traditions alive virtually

Jeanette and friends.

Jeanette has been taking classes on GetSetUp thanks to seeing an advertisement from The Michigan Department of Human Services encouraging its seniors to learn new things. She dove right in; it sounded like fun! She’s been using GetSetUp since a bit before Christmas.

“I was anxious to have a Zoom family meeting and read stories around the Christmas tree."

Jeanette has been reading the same stories around the Christmas tree with her children for the last 25 years. With one son in Houston, Texas, and another in Richmond, Virginia it wasn’t possible last year to do this in person. However, Jeanette didn’t see any reason to not break out the classic Christmas stories to share this cherished tradition. So thanks to a couple of classes to enhance Jeanette’s Zoom skills it was made possible!

“Before taking Donna’s Zoom classes I was very uncomfortable hosting Zoom meetings. Someone else always did them for our church group. After I had taken a couple classes, I said I can do this!”

She then took over hosting some of the meetings she attends with her church.

Now Jeanette is learning new skills like how to improve her photography. She has enjoyed the photography challenge classes and learning how to take better pictures with her iPhone. She entered a rose picture from her recent trip to Mississippi for the flower competition. While it didn’t win that week’s challenge, she still thought it was a great option.

She thinks that GetSetUp is a great way for seniors to fine-tune their tech skills. Plus they can enjoy other great classes too. Next on her list of classes to explore are Spanish classes and learning a bit more about decluttering.

Explore GetSetUp classes

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