Newspapers Fueling Terror of Computers Among the Elderly

Enough!

Newspaper writers are bored but assigned to the age beat. How lucky. We have yet another entry in the annals of "why seniors hate computers news" library. This one from the Boston Globe searches for a way to write condescendingly about seniors and their fear and loathing when it comes to using a computer. We're so lucky—a Harvard professor has provided "insight" about the acceleration of the "pace of change" and the Cambridge Health Alliance, offering thoughts on how it takes longer to learn new things. Gee, was this a study? Oops, no, just a few anecdotes, vastly enhanced by the entertaining comments from seniors who have been using computers for years. Maybe that's how they read the Globe—which would be a revenue-free access method.

Not the first and not the last. And the New York Times did its part in October, offering up a headline to remember: "Helping Grandpa Get His Tech On"—which did its part to drive the bar lower on what we should hope for with seniors and the Internet. And blah, blah, blah, lots of racket about fear of computers and, wow, how seniors overcame it. You would think we were talking about the Loch Ness Monster. Let's call this what it is. Reporters FEAR new technology more than disease. And they fear aging more than they fear new technology. Put it together, and you have reporters who hate new technology and fear aging, whose papers are catering to what they are sure is the demographic of the reader—a computer-fearing baby boomer with a computer-phobic older family member. So readers will read articles that fuel that fire. But what about the facts?

Seniors know they need access to the world. Enjoy reading the comments from seniors in the Globe article (the best part). And that's why libraries, senior centers, the FloH Club, and SeniorNet have credibility as trainers and guides to using computers that seniors need; in fact, who isn't plagued by new tech? That's why Cisco just released TheValet to simplify wireless access in the home—and not just for seniors.

So let's get a few facts straight. Thirty-eight percent of those age 65+ are online, according to Pew Research. Twenty-six percent have access to broadband. Maybe they need it these days, maybe they don't. In the 70-75 age range, Pew says we're up to 45% online. In the 76+ age range, from 17% to 27% since 2005. Gee, might that be a trend? Of those who are online, according to Nielsen Wire, we're talking about email, maps, checking the weather, paying bills, etc. Just what you, the Times reader, the Boston Globe writer, and everyone else are doing, I bet.

Let's give it a rest on this fear-and-loathing-in-computerland business. Let's write more about how cyber-seniors get in touch with their pals.

And this just in: A new organization—Get Older Adults Online (GOAL)—sponsored by Verizon, Microsoft, AT&T, AARP, Comcast, Facebook (!!!), AT&T, T-Mobile, and the FCC, among others, launched on Tuesday.

By Laurie Orlov
Aging in Place Technology Watch Blog 

[First posted April 8, 2010, at Laurie's Aging in Place Technology Watch Web site.]