City's seniors put thumbs to test
THE world of predictive text, MMS and text messages will soon be a stroll in the park for Warwick seniors.
The U3A will host a free texting workshop during this year's Seniors Week calendar of events.
President Arthur Maynard said he believed it was important for all seniors to understand the ins and outs of their phones, particularly texting.
He said not only was texting often cheaper than calling but many voicemail messages were converted to text messages and seniors needed to know how to retrieve that information.
"Seniors are getting text messages and they don't know where they are, how to get to them, how to reply or what to do with them," he said.
"We are going to look at all of the buttons and what they do, create contact lists, learn how to respond and send messages."
Once they have a grasp on the basics, Mr Maynard is going to turn things up a notch.
"We're also going to take photos with our phones and learn to send them, so that should be a lot of fun."
Mr Maynard has run a similar course previously and said all of the participants left with a newfound understanding of their devices.
"In 2010 we received a grant from Telstra to run a mobile phone course for seniors and we ran six classes," he said.
"The element people were interested in and concerned about was texting and I don't think anyone left without learning something.
"We changed our ringtones, used predictive text and even searched the White Pages and had a look at what was happening with the weather."
The texting workshop will be held at the U3A rooms, at the corner of Tooth and Wood Sts, on August 27 from 9am.
Participants are asked to bring their mobile phone and, if possible, its instruction manual.
A similar workshop will also be held in Leyburn on August 24.
For more information on the Leyburn course phone Cee on 0409 647 768.
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To find out more about the texting workshop or to register your interest, phone Arthur on 0447 612 449 or email warwicku3a@hotmail.com.
