SINGAPORE — Retiree Tay Meng Huat, 67, has a “horror story” of sorts for his peers and other seniors eager to use digital technology and applications on mobile devices.

He recounted how his friend took a mobile phone to the bathroom and a WhatsApp call came as he was showering. The friend decided to answer it but to his horror, he realised too late that the call was on video mode, meaning the caller could see him.

Mr Tay said animatedly in Mandarin: “The (person) on the phone then asked my friend, ‘Hey, why aren’t you wearing any clothes while talking to me?’ Immediately after that, I warned my wife not to take her phone to the toilet… Who knows if something scary like this might happen?”

Mr Tay also recalled vividly the time he joined an introductory course to learn how to use a smart phone. The class was abuzz with many “clueless” seniors all needing help to navigate the new digital landscape, he said.

“It was so noisy, even more chaotic than a market… Everyone was using different phones, like iPhone, Samsung… The instructors were kept so busy running around to answer our questions… Most of us only knew how to make calls, and we were so surprised to know there were so many different functions,” he added with a chuckle.

Mr Tay is among the older generation of Singaporeans who are keen to pick up new skills to make sure they are not left behind in the country’s aim to be a smart nation. The courses that he has been attending have opened his eyes to a “whole new world”, he said.

In 2015, he enrolled himself in the People’s Association Senior Academy, attending lessons mostly at the Teck Ghee Community Club near his home. Since then, he has been regularly taking up various classes, such as the Seniors for Smart Nation courses which teach basic IT literacy skills on how to use WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, for instance.

On Friday (Jul 28), Mr Tay graduated with an advanced certificate in the Senior Wellness programme under the academy, which offers course modules on health and wellness, food and beverage, or craftwork. He attended the convocation ceremony held at Our Tampines Hub, and plans to pass on his newfound knowledge to other seniors in his neighbourhood.

Among the things he has been taught are simple photo editing skills, such as adding words on photos to record travel memories, and posting them on Facebook.

“Some of my friends use Meitu (a photo-editing app)… but I find that it’s a bit too fake. (You can use it to) erase too many of (your) wrinkles and look younger by 20 years,” Mr Tay said with a laugh.

He has also tried his hand at using apps for e-marketplace Carousell, for instance. As part of the class lesson, he put up a S$5 notebook for sale.

Mr Tay is loving the convenience of having group chats on WhatsApp and that it is all for free — it saves him time from having to call friends individually. His iPhone now “pings” all day long and he is answering messages from various group chats, be they from course mates or members of Residents’ Committees.

His children who are overseas are just a WhatsApp call or Facebook update away, so knowing how they are doing — like the time his daughter-in-law was down with food poisoning in Thailand — has given him peace of mind.

Mr Tay finds that playing around with new technology helps keep his mind active, and he intends to keep this spirit of learning “until one is old”. He even convinced his wife and brother-in-law to join the academy’s programme as well.

The downside of having a “life” in the digital world is that it can be painful to lose the contact numbers of friends and precious photos stored in the smartphone. Mr Tay quoted his wife in saying that she would “rather lose her handbag than lose her handphone”.

Other savvy seniors who have embraced the use of smart devices is cleaner Lily Low, 73, who is glued to the small screen watching crime and horror English movies, reads short novellas on her iPad, and plays Candy Crush on her mobile phone. She learns English via apps, and often turns to her teenage grandson for help on how to connect to the Wi-Fi or adjust phone settings.

“(My family) will always say, ‘Wah, this lao zhar bo (old girl) knows how to do everything on her own’,” Madam Low said.

Mr Tay said: “Society is advancing so fast. We must not be afraid, but try our best to keep up, even though we may be a bit slower… In the process of learning, we learn something new, make new friends… It makes us happy.”