Teeniors brings teen-led tech help to Sandoval County seniors

Sandoval County seniors got a practical assist at the Placitas Senior Center as Teeniors brought teen-led tech coaching to a room full of older adults who wanted help using the digital tools that now shape daily life. The session, titled Loneliness & Connection in the Digital Age, took place Friday, May 15 at 10 a.m. in Placitas.

Teeniors, which says it began as a small business in 2015, pairs tech-savvy teens and young adults with older adults who need help with phones, computers and software. The organization says it launched a nonprofit arm in 2017 so it could support free coaching for seniors who cannot afford to pay. That model fits a county where many older residents live in rural and semi-rural areas and may not have easy access to one-on-one digital support.

The need is more than convenience. Technology now reaches into banking, health care, family communication and government services, making basic digital skills a matter of daily independence. Teeniors has framed its work around both confidence and connection, and the Placitas session leaned into that broader challenge by pairing hands-on help with the social side of aging online.

The local context is stark. The Administration for Community Living says older adults face increased risk of loneliness and social isolation, with about 25 percent of older adults in the United States socially isolated and 43 percent of people over age 60 reporting that they feel lonely. At the same time, Pew Research Center reports that 95 percent of U.S. adults use the internet, 90 percent have a smartphone and 80 percent subscribe to high-speed home internet, even as adoption still varies by age, household income and educational attainment.

Sandoval County Senior Services says it operates seven senior centers and serves adults age 60 and over, offering meals, social activities and supportive engagement across a large county that includes both rural and tribal communities. The Placitas Senior Center, at 41 Camino de las Huertas in Placitas, sits seven miles east of Bernalillo at the bottom of the Sandia Mountains. County officials say it is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with lunch served weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

For Placitas and Bernalillo residents, the value of the program was immediate: not a lecture about technology, but face-to-face help designed to make phones, computers and online services less intimidating and more usable.