Cyberseniors Movie Review
By Dilara Kal
Screenshot from Cyberseniors movie
Digital equity is an issue that feels all-encompassing and omnipresent in multiple aspects of our society. While issues such as lack of access to a good internet connection or broadband make it hard for everyone in the world to be plugged in, I wanted to take the time to talk about a film called Cyberseniors that accentuates the generation divide between young digital natives and older people who are struggling to figure out how to use the internet. The film takes place from the perspective of the narrator and founder of the Cyberseniors program, Kasha. It goes back and forth between documenting the events surrounding the Cyberseniors organization and her own personal life as she interacts with her grandparents and her sister Macaulley. While the events of the seniors at the program learning how to use the internet and Kasha’s life may seem a bit separate in tone, they blend together to create a beautiful message about how the internet brings people together.
As we see the main seniors of the story and their young mentors get together, we not only see their triumphs as they learn to use the world wide web but their struggles as well. When we are first introduced to a senior named Ellard, he describes how he used to serve in the military. In the present, many people of my generation love to scoff at older people for not knowing about video games, anime, or our current struggles. But the mentors approach the seniors in an open-minded way, seeing not just the generational gap, but the human side of each other. One notable example of this is when Max, who is mentoring Shura, notices that all she wants to watch on Youtube is cooking videos. Inspiring Shura to make her own cooking video ends up kicking off an entire video contest amongst the seniors to see if they can make something fun and inspire those who spend a lot of time on Youtube.
As the contest progresses, throughout the film, we see more of a glimpse into Kasha’s life and her grandparents. When Kasha’s sister Macaulley falls ill and has to go to the hospital, she is seen connecting with her grandparents while on her hospital bed. I feel like this part of the film is especially notable because if Kasha's grandparents weren’t digitally literate, they wouldn’t have been able to call Macaulley when she needed them the most.
While each of the seniors struggled to use the internet at first, once they were encouraged by the mentors to keep going, they were able to not only connect with others on social media but also create Youtube videos for the contest that brought a glimpse into their thoughts on the world. When one grows older, they might believe that they’re not able to learn new things, but through the encouragement and patience of the mentors, this film shows that one is never too old to learn something new. As technology advances and the new generations learn how to use it, they’ll probably get stumped, too. I’m not sure if there’s anything companies can do to help older people learn how to use new products, but this film shows that patience, kindness, and encouragement can go a long way to teaching someone how to be digitally literate. And even those small things can help someone conquer things they never thought they were capable of.
If you would like to learn more about the film, visit its IMDB page here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2943992/
For more information related to the Cyberseniors organization, click here: https://cyberseniors.org/
