Going online is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity, and it is one that should be encouraged: Kathy Sundstrom

Going online is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity, and it is one that should be encouraged, writes Kathy Sundstrom

Former Daily journalist Kathy Sundstrom now works for Sunshine Coast cyber safety company ID Care. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“I never want to go on my computer again,” the elderly client told me between tears.

She had recently lost several thousands to a scammer posing as someone from the National Broadband Network. But more than the money she couldn’t afford to lose, she had given the scammer access to her device and had compromised her identity and the identity of her nephew.

He wasn’t talking to her, and she was heartbroken. She felt stupid for believing the scammer and hadn’t touched her computer for more than two weeks. She said she never would again.

She isn’t alone in wanting to completely disengage from the online world. IDCARE conducts Cyber Resilience Outreach Clinics in regional and remote communities across Australia and, without exception, we will meet someone at a clinic who is reluctant to use a computer or a smart phone.

At our last clinic at Tin Can Bay we met several residents who said they didn’t’ need to go online as they preferred to travel to Gympie – about 40 minutes away – for essential services like banking and Centrelink.

More and more people are also reverting to stupid phones (what is the opposite of a smart phone if not stupid) which only allows them to make and receive calls and then, for extra measure, they block the calls that aren’t in their contacts.

With scams, cybercrime and identity theft making headlines daily, we may think this is good practice and we may be tempted to discourage our elderly residents from dabbling in cyberspace.

We shouldn’t.

Increasingly going online is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity, and it is one that should be encouraged. It is fun and creates a wealth of opportunities particularly for those who may be less mobile.

Here is an interesting little fact that may provide reassurance. It is not the elderly who are most vulnerable to cybercrime anyway. Our research constantly highlights the age group which most reports being impacted by a scam, identity theft and cybercrime is aged between 35 to 44.

But just as our parents never gave us the keys to the car until we had learnt the basics of driving, so we should take responsibility for helping our parents and the elderly in our community drive through cyberspace safely. It is the least we can do!

IDCARE has a wealth of resources in our learning centre which provide useful information and tips to for people of any age. It’s not a bad place for those who have limited knowledge of cyber risks to get their L-plates. We also produce a newsletter where we highlight the trending scams to look out for.

Being aware of the potholes will help all of us avoid them.

Originally published as Going online is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity, and it is one that should be encouraged: Kathy Sundstrom