I have always been interested in community initiatives, particularly those that contribute to the well-being of senior citizens and the elderly. However, of late, my focus has broadened to include the younger generations as well.
Instead of focusing on the differences between generations and trying to bridge the divide, why not look at what each generation brings to the table –working together for mutual benefit and understanding? Whether it be at the family level or at the workplace, each generation has something to offer the other.
The young have physical strength, energy and are technologically savvy. The older generation have more life experiences, values and lessons to share. Each generation can fill the gaps in the other generation.
The first gap that springs to mind is the technological gap. Baby boomers now in their 70s grew up in an era where most things were done manually and communication was on a personal face-to-face level. They feel lost in the digital ecosystem where everything is done via electronic devices and gadgets, and apps on smartphones. They are confused and bewildered in a world that is unfamiliar to them.
They need help with online registrations. They forget passwords. Biometrics is alien to them. They don’t trust online banking and cashless transactions. They get into a panic and become flustered when the short time limit to execute an online transfer closes in on them. Many are clueless about ordering food online and booking e-hailing rides. Yet there are those who refuse to learn. Too complicated, they say, and there’s also the fear of being scammed.
This is definitely one area where the young can step in to teach their elders digital skills and online safety. However, they must have empathy and patience to guide them through the instructions, step by step.
It’s not that older adults can’t learn. They just take a bit longer. That is why family members are usually not the best teachers. Familiarity breeds impatience and frustration. It’s much easier to teach other seniors but not your parents and more so your grandparents. Anyone teaching older adults must bear in mind that they may have issues with hearing and vision, on top of not understanding technical jargon. Adjustments have to be made for effective learning and teaching.
Understanding and empathy
An understanding of the principles of geragogy is essential for those involved in teaching older adults. Seniors can provide feedback on digital apps and devices meant for older users. They may find the navigation too confusing and the features not age-friendly. Their feedback helps adjustments to be made for improvement.
Don’t ever think that seniors are beyond learning. Give them a reason to pick up new skills, new knowledge and they will rise to the occasion. Look how they take so enthusiastically to WhatsApp. It’s their favourite means of communication with friends and family. They are fully aware they need to embrace new technologies or be left behind when the rest of society moves on. All they need is some guidance.
Older adults must cooperate too and be willing to learn. There are those who think they are too old to learn new things. With such a negative mindset no one can teach them anything. They have made up their mind. This is the worst kind of ageism: Self-ageism.
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| Instructor Osama (blue top front row) with his senior students at one of his digital skills workshops. |
The private sector can pitch in to help empower older adults. A leading institution of higher learning has offered our senior community a free venue for workshops on digital skills, and a young IT-savvy instructor to teach us. To date, he has conducted 20 workshops covering a broad range of topics and apps for services and recreation. Indeed, technology companies can help support similar initiatives to bring older adults into the digital economy.
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| The young team of trainers helping Lily and her peers build and maintain their muscle strength. |
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| Yie Xiang and Jun Hong were indispensible at our recent Seniors Bazaar. They helped to carry, lift, and move items. They were a huge help in offerimg assistance for the vendors. |
Older adults can also tap on the muscle strength of the young in carrying and lifting, as in setting up a space for an event. Our community regularly organises activities that require arranging tables and chairs, setting up the projector and sound equipment, as well as running around to ensure everything goes smoothly. We appreciate their efforts to give us a helping hand.
A win-win solution
To add on, university students, for example, can provide transport for seniors who no longer drive. They can also help out at aged care centres on a voluntary basis or as paid work during their free time.
In return what can we senior citizens do for young adults? We can share our experience with them so they can avoid making the same mistakes we made. Sure, the young may say let us learn from our own mistakes. But mistakes could turn out to be costly or painful.
At the workplace, there should be intergenerational cooperation, not rivalry for jobs or posts. Senior staff can be mentors, offer advice and show how things can be done more efficiently. The younger staff can learn from the experience of their seniors. Indeed, that was how learning took place in the past – through apprenticeship.
What else can young adults learn from us, seniors? Plenty, for example, value investments, public speaking, relationships, craftsmanship, work ethics, caregiving, frugality and more.
What can daughters learn from their mothers, and what can fathers teach their sons? Each generation passes down traditions and values to the next. Each generation builds on the knowledge and skills of the past generation. That is progress. That is legacy.
We can be instructors in areas such as in cooking traditional dishes, preserving heritage art, crafts and skills, and ensuring dialects continue to be spoken. For example, there are young doctors who are now making efforts to improve their Hokkien and Teochew to better communicate with their elderly Chinese patients who can’t speak or understand English.
Should the need arise, couples know they can depend on their parents and trust them to look after their young children while they are at work. Indeed, grandparents bond well with their grandchildren. They make excellent baby-sitters and child carers, and home tutors too.
Respect goes both ways
It’s time for the generations to show respect towards one another. Universal values should continue to be practised by the old and nurtured in the young. It should start right at home with parents and grandparents providing examples of acts of kindness, good manners and respect for the elders. The older generation should not habitually nag or criticise the young for this and that. It drives a wedge between the two generations. Instead, let us look at the positives of each generation and learn to do better.
In royal families, the children are groomed as future leaders from young by their elders. It’s the same in family business conglomerates. The sons and daughters are taught how the business is run so that one day they will take over the reins from their parents, and improve on what they have learned. Likewise, in families, the elders groom the young by teaching them valuable lessons necessary for success in life.
That is how each generation builds upon the legacy of the past generation. From father to son, from mother to daughter.
When we extend this to those outside the family, everyone becomes an adik, abang, kakak, makcik or pakcik. These are more than terms of address, but terms of endearment. We become one big extended family, across all generations, that help and support one another. That’s how it should be. Too idealistic? Well, we can try, can’t we?
Lily Fu is a gerontologist who advocates for seniors. She is the founder of SeniorsAloud, an online platform for seniors to connect and enjoy social activities for ageing well. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.
(The above article was first published in the print edition of The Star on Wed 12 Aug 2026. It can be accessed at this LINK
