Teens Teach Grandmas to Google in Hungary's Libraries

In a neo-baroque library in Budapest, 64-year-old Györgyi Petik Kis is learning something that could change her daily life: how to use Google Translate on her phone.

She's one of thousands of Hungarian seniors getting tech help from an unlikely source. High school students across the country are volunteering their time to teach older adults the digital skills that younger generations take for granted.

The program is called Netrevalók, and it pairs teens with seniors for two-hour sessions once a month. Students help with social media, internet safety, downloading e-books, buying tickets online, and even using AI tools.

"I was afraid to click on things. What if I messed up?" Kis says. Now she's discovered she can take photos of text and translate them instantly, opening up a world she couldn't access before.

Launched in 2019 by Hungarian telecom company Magyar Telekom, the program has reached about 59,000 people nationwide. In Budapest alone, it runs in 25 library branches, partnering with local high schools whose students need community service hours.

But the impact goes far beyond teaching someone to send an email. For seniors in Hungary, where over 65s make up a growing portion of the population, digital skills can mean the difference between connection and isolation.

Kis spent four years in a coma after an accident at age 30. "When I awoke, I had to learn everything all over again," she explains. Keeping her brain stimulated is now a medical necessity, and mastering the internet helps her stay engaged with the world.

The Ripple Effect

The teenagers are learning too. Supervising the program at Ervin Szabó Library, Virág Bartucz watches students practice patience as they repeat instructions multiple times. They're discovering that what feels intuitive to them can be completely foreign to someone else.

These monthly meetups create connections between generations that rarely interact. Teens get a window into lives shaped by different eras, while seniors gain guides to a digital world that increasingly excludes them if they can't navigate it.

Some seniors arrive not knowing how to connect their phones to wifi or create an email address. They leave able to register for concerts, book appointments, and stay in touch with family online.

The program proves that bridging the digital divide doesn't require expensive solutions or fancy technology. Sometimes it just takes a patient teenager, a curious grandparent, and a few hours in a library.