In a day and age where everything is online knowing technology is vital to everyday life.
Picture this… You’ve just purchased a new computer for your grandmother so you can communicate with her via email. You help her set everything up and show her how to use Gmail as well as Facebook, so you can connect and chat more easily.
One day, you get a call- it’s your grandmother. She tells you that she received an email from a Spanish millionaire, who explained that he is on his deathbed and wants to give her some money as one last generous act before he passes away. All he needed was her bank information, she said, and he would send her the money. But now she says that all the money in her bank account has been stolen.
Without realizing it, you forgot to teach your grandma basic digital literacy skills, and now you must deal with the reality of a family member falling victim to a common internet scam.
The internet is more prevalent in our society than ever before, The Pew Research Center found that 96% of Americans are online as of 2024. Not only are more people online than ever before, but we’ve also seen AI become incredibly advanced. In just a few short years, AI models have become scary realistic in terms of speech, video, and photo generation, leaving those who are uneducated in a very vulnerable position without the proper knowledge.
A study done by Stanford University found that Ai has already surpassed humans at producing high quality video and completing programming tasks within a certain deadline. On top of this, McAfee.com reported that the average American encounters 2.6 deepfake videos online daily presenting just how present this threat is for those who lack digital literacy skills.
Now, imagine dealing with those challenges on top of moving to a new country where you don’t know anybody and you don’t speak the language. Thankfully, Camino a non-profit organization that has been an ally of the Latino community for over 25 years exists to equip people to live healthy, hopeful, and productive lives. One of Camino’s four key service areas is Camino Arriba, whose focus is to equip those individuals with productive lives. Camino Arriba gives immigrants the opportunity to acquire the needed skills to pursue professional careers through its three pillars of employment, education, and entrepreneurship. Under the pillar of education they offer business and technological literacy courses.
“We teach internet safety because, we have a lot of instances in our community of people asking for money, so we protect our customers, and we explain to them that not every email or WhatsApp message is true they always have to double check.” Said Project Manager, Nori Maldonado when asked about the importance of digital literacy courses.
Camino Arriba offers help for people of all digital literacy levels—from those who can use most office programs with ease, to those who have never even used a computer before. “In one of our courses, just having a computer in front of them makes them panic. Another common thing I’ve seen is that they feel afraid when they have to go to an ATM or a bank,” said Maldonado.
With the massive grasp technology has on America, knowing how to use a computer or smartphone is paramount to operating in our society today. You cannot use banks, connect with family from around the globe, or even apply to jobs unless you have these skills. With Camino Arriba we give our local community the opportunity to better themselves professionally and prevent your grandmother from gifting $500 in Google Play gift cards to a “Spanish Millionaire”.
