Gen Z volunteers are helping senior citizens fight lockdown loneliness with technology

"My children have said, 'Mom, we're pulling you into the next century', and I said, 'I'm just getting used to the last one, but okay, I will come along,'" she told CBS News' Barry Petersen.

Generation Tech — or "Gen Tech" — is a volunteer group of high school students helping senior citizens combat social isolation, even as the problem was made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. .

"It's quite cool to know that this generation, at least, is being taken care of, and that we can do something in this time for other people," co-founder Zachary Wang said.

"I think that social media gives us this cocoon, this shell," Wang said.

Rachel Cohen, director of Linkages, a group promoting activities between young and old Americans to combat social isolation, said it was important to have those sorts of connections to fight off loneliness. .