Caroline is a digital volunteer for Age UK supporting older people to get online

I started digital volunteering a few years after losing my dad a few years ago, who I spent a lot of time helping to use Twitter, Facebook and do online shopping. I missed the feeling of being able to help somebody, so I’ve found digital volunteering with older people so rewarding, fun and insightful.

For our generation technology is so endemic it’s become second nature to our lives. Whereas for a lot of older people they’ve never touched digital technology at any stage. It is so important now –  especially during the pandemic – for people to realise the fulfilling opportunities getting online provides.

One lady I helped had never used a tablet and is now able to read the newspaper everyday even with the local village shop closed. Isolation and loneliness are such terrible thing’s and it’s so important for those of us with a little bit of patience and some digital skills to help older people get online.