GAWLER Care and Share Group is on a mission to help local retirees feel confident in searching the web, getting involved with national Get Online Week last Tuesday.

Retirees attended the Gawler Elderly Centre last Tuesday to learn new online skills to help them stay connected with the digital world, and to keep them safe from internet dangers like scams.

Gawler Care and Share Group leisure and lifestyle assistant Jane Bagshaw said elderly people could possibly miss out on the world around them if they weren’t online literate.

“For some it’s about looking at their online safety and being aware of scams, as well as connecting with family and friends,” she said.

“I think connecting to family and friends is really important as people age, as many of their younger family members want to keep in contact with them.

“Unless they have something like a smartphone or a tablet, they can’t connect with them with photos and general chat.”

Outside of Get Online Week, Gawler Care and Share Group helps mentor elderly people with their online activity whenever it is needed.

“For example, my father lives over in Moonta and is 89-years-old and he can ring me any time because he joined our connected program here,” Mrs Bagshaw said.

“It’s early days yet, but having a safe space where you can ask questions is a really good thing.”

According to the Get Online Week organisers the Good Things Foundation, around 2.5 million Australians do not access the internet, while a further four million have limited digital skills.

Elizabeth Grove resident Ken Bell, who attended the Get Online Week event in Gawler, said technology was changing the world, and he needed to catch up.

“We’re old, you have to remember that, it takes us a long time to learn something new,” he said.

“The world is changing; when I was young a computer would have been the size of this room and not too many people had them.

“It’s a good change, but not for the young – they spend too much time on them.”