Talk of the digital divide usually centers around connecting America’s minority communities. But many senior citizens are also affected, and as PC World reports, a new group is hoping to change that:
Broadband offers many benefits for older U.S. residents, including telemedicine, increased contact with family and friends, and shopping without leaving the house, but they subscribe to the service at a much lower rate than other people, some advocates for the elderly said Tuesday.
In an effort to change that trend, several technology vendors and groups that work with older people on Tuesday launched Project GOAL (Get Older Adults Online), an organization that plans to serve as a clearinghouse for programs and resources. Project GOAL will work with organizations working with the aging population to stress the benefits of broadband and to connect older adults with services such as computer training, said Debra Berlyn, executive director of Project GOAL.
A new study out of UCLA finds that daily Internet use can boost the brain activity of senior citizens. Reports Medical News Today:
The results showed that at the first scan, the brains of participants with little Internet experience showed activity in regions that control language, reading, memory and visual ability. These are in the frontal, temporal, parietal, visual and posterior cingulate regions of the brain.
At the second scan, after practising searching the Internet for 7 days over 2 weeks at home, the brains of the Internet novices showed activity in the same regions as before, but this time there was new activity in the middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, the parts of the brain that are important for working memory and decision-making.
In fact, after just seven days of using the Internet at home, the novice Internet users showed brain activitation patterns that were very similar to those seen in the group of experienced Internet users, said the researchers.
Though promising, the research reveals drawbacks — namely, that convincing seniors to adopt the Internet remains a challenge.
Telephony points to a new study that finds encouraging regular use of the Internet can reduce depression in senior citizens by 20% — and shave millions off of health care costs. But there’s a catch:
Unfortunately, enabling senior citizens to use the Internet isn’t as easy as making sure they have access to PCs and broadband access - and those things are challenging in and of themselves. The level of support seniors require, especially as they move into their 70s and 80s, as more people do today, is vastly different from what the rest of the population needs. Basic issues around computer usage can prevent successful Web surfing, much less use of email or more advanced programming. Things that even my generation takes for granted - the ability to type and to understand computer speak - are things that can stump an older crowd.
Jodi Lyons, Executive Director of SeniorNet, discusses the importance of teaching senior citizens how to use the Internet, and how broadband stimulus money will affect adoption among people over 65.
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