Seniors logging on, one trembling tap at a time

At a municipal classroom in Mesolongi, 28-year-old mathematician Christina Dota finishes another session teaching people over 75 how to navigate a digital world that has become unavoidable.

Her students, she says, often behave “like small children,” celebrating when they send their first e-mail. They take careful notes, sketch icons, and return each week eager for more.

Demand for the free digital skills courses, organized by the Western Greece Region and local municipalities, has surged. For many older Greeks, the pandemic made smartphones a necessity. “To book a doctor’s appointment, to pay bills, even to make a bank appointment – you need a smartphone,” said 74-year-old Dimitris Samaras. Without one, he added, “you wait for hours outside.”

At repair shops in Athens, workers describe long morning lines of older customers anxious about malfunctioning apps, pop-up ads or unfamiliar menus. Some seek help that staff refuse for safety reasons, like accessing bank accounts. Others ask how to delete a message or why their phone “throws ads all the time.”

“We need someone to take us by the hand,” Samaras said, “like we’re in first grade.”