Blog

Anna Greenblatt

Technology has become a dominating force in today’s day and age. The streets are filled with people, phones in hand, posting about their experiences as their day goes on. Lessons are learned from reading posts written by people we have never met, but who have mastered the ability of using technology to spread a message across the world. The generations before us had no such tools. Not too long ago, you couldn’t simply press a few buttons and send an instant message, tweet, call, post, or picture through some invisible wireless infrastructure to the people you wanted to reach.

While some claim that technology and, in particular, social media,  has created many challenges today,  many believe that technology has tremendously improved our world and given us capabilities that our ancestors would have never dreamed of; this includes the capability to connect with others who we may have never met before (and perhaps will never meet in person) and to instantly circulate the wisdom we have gained from others.

Ellie Epstein, founder of Wire the Wise, has taken advantage of some of the good that could come from the  use of technology.  Ms. Epstein realized that many seniors often have more trouble working electronic devices than those of the younger generation. Yet, many seniors have great stories to tell and can impart important lessons they have learned from their experiences. Ms. Epstein founded Wire the Wise in order to spread the knowledge from different generations to others using technology. This organization runs meetups located at various senior centers in New York City to connect young professionals (the “wired”) with experienced seniors  (the “wise”). These meet-ups give young adults the opportunity to gain knowledge from seniors, who get to learn how to use modern technology from young professionals in a one on one meeting.

We wish Ms. Epstein and Wire the Wise, as well as the “wired” and the “wise” great success!