The first surprise of training phone-bank volunteers is that anyone signs up to do it at all. Phone-bankers get hung up on far more often than not. Sometimes we get yelled at—by supporters of an opposing candidate or party, by people who’ve read too many Internet rumors, or by political allies who are simply sick of you calling me, I asked to be taken off your list!
Into this unwelcoming audience charges a volunteer army whose overall diversity is nonetheless dominated by one overwhelming demographic. Friends usually presume it’s college students. No. It’s retirees. Most of my trainees are ten to twenty years older than me. Few would call themselves tech-savvy. Hardly any have actually worked in tech.
How do they get past the technical hurdles? They’re relentless. A party organizer confirmed to me: Retired people in America are how elections get done. They have a secret that quickly becomes obvious: When they claim they can’t figure out Twitter, haven’t seen Instagram, haven’t even signed up on Facebook, what they’re not telling you is it’s only because they don’t want to.
One octogenarian advised me that when I’ve someday lived as long as he has, I’ll know immediately when it’s not worth my time to learn something new. He runs Chrome on his iPad, with a Bluetooth headset. He can FaceTime and Zoom his grandchildren. So he sees no need to spend time on Insta trying to keep up with them. He shrugged and smiled: “Do people think I have nothing to do all day?”
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