19 March 2000
IN THE eyes of the young, the elderly fall into three categories - oldies, wrinklies and crumblies. Which shows that the young have not yet twigged that on the Internet the third age (maturity and retirement) is one of the fastest-growing, most involved groups.
For one thing, they have an advantage over their children, most of whom are battling with demanding jobs and growing children; they have time to spend surfing the Net.
Visit any community centre, suburban library or computer club gathering and you will find plenty of grey hair on the heads poised over the Internet terminals, sending and receiving e-mails, seeking advice, joining chat groups, staying in touch.
According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the 55 years-and-over group, while far from the largest segment of the population getting into the e-world, showed the most dramatic growth in the past year. The number grew from 200,000 in 1998 to more than 600,000 in 1999.
Spurs to this growth are many, not least of them the realisation that the Internet allows daily, even hourly, communication with family and friends wherever they are on the planet but, more than that, membership of a multitude of electronic communities.
There are websites with information and advice on how to deal with ageing, on illnesses, on maintaining healthy diets, on dealing with children or on pursuing almost any kind of interest, from archaeology to underwater exploration.
Ms Patricia Reeve, executive director of the Council for the Ageing, says ease of communication is the drawcard for many older people coming to the Internet. ``It gives them contact with family members overseas or interstate cheaper than the telephone and faster than airmail," she says. ``Many also like to check on travel options."
According to Ms Reeve, the free Internet training program run in Melbourne by the council had nearly 50 volunteers who had so far given more than 1000 hours of one-on-one training to older people with a desire to join the Internet society.
``The biggest problem for those on small or fixed incomes is getting access to a computer," she says. Libraries and community centres were doing a good job, but there was a need for more public machines or a program to refurbish older machines and sell them very cheaply or offer them on long-term loans.
Loneliness, one of the great penalties of age in modern societies, can be beaten back by the Net. This is Grey Power ascendant. Jon Katz, a commentator on the American HotWired website, noted recently that mature-age surfers were surging on to the World Wide Web in increasing numbers.
``Invisible to the mainstream media and often written off by the rest of society," he wrote, ``the elderly are pouring online to create one of the most powerful groups yet seen in this ostensibly youth-oriented medium."
Some have money. Some do not. But they have time and that is the greatest currency on the Internet. Nor is this just an American phenomenon.
Australia is well up in the ratings and Victoria is one of the leading states in fostering the movement. Training in the use of personal computers and the Internet is now available through the State Government-backed Skills.Net and community based organisations, many of them sponsored by suburban and shire councils and based in libraries. The Council for the Ageing also has an Internet and computer-training program seeking to overcome the reluctance of the elderly to tackle technology that did not exist for most of their lives.
For some, among them budding author, 83-year-old Malcolm Goldfinch, the Internet has opened whole new vistas. Malcolm, who has used a personal computer since the 1980s, almost entirely for word processing, now runs his own website (www.malpolia.com.au) and has launched into writing a series of semi-autobiographical novels.
Bruce Dunn, a retired company managing director and, like Malcolm Goldfinch, a member of Probus, the global club of retired professionals, now likes to travel and does his bookings on the Internet. He keeps up with new friends by using e-mail.
The growing seniors network is fostered in part by organisations like VicNet, an enterprise based at the State Library of Victoria, which operates the state's largest website.
The network is growing at least as quickly as any other and now ranges from the somewhat macabrely named Dead Persons' Society to sporting, gardening, genealogy, health, news, the University of the Third Age and a lot more.
Get up to $600 in 1 hour with a Payday Loan!
To be eligible, you need to be employed for at least 3 months and earn at least $400 a week. If you think you qualify, then apply now or find out more.
* Please note, CashDoctors are currently unable to service Queensland residents.
