At 87 years old, Pat Seftel has an idea he'd like to share about just about everything.
On Tinder: “If you want to meet someone for a real relationship, that's not the way to do it.”
On artificial intelligence: “It can get out of control.”
On climate change: “It's destroying our planet.”
For more than a decade, Seftel has expressed these views and more on “CBS Sunday Morning,” where he has become a semi-regular favorite with viewers who tune in to his life advice and seasoned perspective on the modern world.
In the segment, Seftel appears from her home in Sarasota, Florida, and chats with her son Josh Seftel, a documentary filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn, over FaceTime. After a brief conversation, Josh asks Seftel questions about how he feels about quarantine during the pandemic.
“After I talk to my family, I hang up the phone and I'm on my own,” she said on the show on May 31, 2020. “It's very hard.”
In a recent interview, Seftel said the questions typically relate to current events or the students' own lives, but that he never tells mothers in advance what he will ask.
“I just can't prepare myself,” she said in a FaceTime interview. “I used to be so nervous.”
The CBS show begins with FaceTime conversations the couple began shortly after Seftel's husband of 50 years, obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Lee Seftel, died in 2009. Seftel and her two sisters decided to buy iPads to stay more in touch with their mother.
“I was enjoying the conversation,” Seftel says, “and I think she was too. And then one day, I was just experimenting, and I recorded it and edited it.”
Rand Morrison, executive producer of “CBS Sunday Morning,” said in an interview that the Seftels' show has been popular with viewers for several years.
“Josh and his mom have become something of a franchise for this show,” he says. “It's been so satisfying to have this on television.”
Seftel, a former nurse who retired as a social worker, said her videos have recently brought her fame in unexpected ways: She's become a common sight on the streets, in grocery stores and in parking lots, and some viewers have even sent her notes and gifts at home.
“It's kind of nice when someone recognises me,” she says. “I'm just a normal person. I'm not a movie star.”
Viewers are drawn to Seftel's videos for a variety of reasons: her candor, her calm demeanor, her wise advice. To “CBS Sunday Morning” host Jane Pauley, Seftel's perception and perspective are “unique and refreshing.”
“She's not a loudmouth,” Pauley said in an interview, “and she's calm and doesn't hesitate to express her opinions.”
For others, it may be the connection they have with Seftel as a motherly figure. A viewer named Connie likely spoke for many when she wrote to Seftel, “I think you're a mother to so many people around the world.”
Viewers may be touched by her unwavering positive attitude amid life's challenges: After undergoing quadruple bypass surgery in 2022, Seftel detailed her recovery in a video in which she expressed gratitude for being able to do everyday things again, like walking again, wearing makeup for the first time since surgery, and being able to use a motorized cart at the grocery store.
Seftel said the experience has taught her to “be grateful for everything.”
“Don't take anything for granted,” she said. “Stay positive no matter what.”
Seftel said she believes she learned to stay positive in the face of adversity at an early age after her father died when she was 11.
“We were in pretty tough financial situations for years,” she said, adding that the experience taught her to later help others. “I know what it's like to not have things.”
Seftel said that when she was growing up, she and her sisters were used to having people in the house that their mother took in, such as an alcoholic pastor or a babysitter who had no place to stay.
“We always had strangers living in our house, people who were kind of lost souls,” he said. “People were always drawn to her, to her strength, to her wisdom. It was a part of our lives, even when she was much younger.”
Seftel said that at the time, all she saw were people in need, people she could help.
“Maybe it's just my personality,” she said.
By now, Seftel and her mother have accumulated enough footage of their conversations over the years to fill a feature-length documentary. But for now, they have no plans to stop talking or change their routine — and Seftel doesn't plan on stopping to speak out anytime soon.
“I learned a long time ago that people don't necessarily want your opinion,” she says, “but somehow I end up giving it.”