Aging and the Internet: Not a World Just for the Youth “Younger people are just smarter.” This was said by Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook at the age of 22. He is completely for being "young and technical." He claims that older people are slower. Zuckerberg is a firm believer of Jerry Rubin's "never trust anyone over 30” which is very similar to Cory Doctorow's line from Little Brother that states "don't trust anyone over 25." It seems to many people that younger is better, and the age for what is considered young just keeps getting younger. In Little Brother, older people are bad; they are the enemy that can not be trusted or counted on. It is the youth that cause all of the chaos with their technological knowledge. They were able to outsmart the adults. But this stereotype that older adults can not be trusted with or use technology is not accurate, nor fair. It is apparent, especially in more recent times, that older adults are learning to use technology specifically the internet. They are becoming technologically savy- surfing the web, emailing, video blogging. Older adults are even opening Facebook or Myspace accounts no matter how much Zuckerberg disapproves. For the vast majority of people that participate in the world of technology especially the internet, it has become part of their everyday life. Internet is easily accessible from a phone, an ipod, or even the middle of the street with a wireless connection. The reasons to surf the web are limitless. Any information you could possibly want or need is at your fingertips with the click of a few buttons. To most, it is almost impossible to not become a part of this modern world of the internet. Depending on your age, you probably use the internet for a variety of different reasons. E-mail is widely used by any age whether you are 12 or 60. Teenagers and younger adults are more likely to be involved with Facebook or Myspace. Middle aged adults could be interested in reading the news and getting weather reports online. But, what about the older generation? It is often heard from older adults that they are immigrants in a foreign land when it comes to the internet. They have legitimate reasons for feeling this way. One would think that they are not as avid of participants. But that does not appear to be the case with some older adults. Some of these immigrants have made their way to becoming active particpants in this land that was once overwhelming. It was a continuous struggle for most, but the benefits exceed the hardships. It is important to realize that the internet is not user friendly to older adults. Zuckerberg would probably even say they do not belong there. Older adults face many barriers and disadvantages when it comes to using the internet. All of these barriers have been well researched, but I am going to quickly recap them. Knowing and being aware of the barriers that older adults face makes the uniqueness of those that actively participate that much more interesting. To these individuals that shy away, the world of the internet is intimidating and scary. It is not something from their generation that they grew up with. The internet is still considered a modern development. My parents did not have the internet growing up. So for older adults, it is even more foreign! The internet is frustrating. There are so many ways to do the same task. For example, you can set bookmarks for sites that you revisit frequently or you can just type the site in each time. Anytime you hit a wrong key or make a mistake, pop up screens appear on the screen, and older adults have no idea what to do next. There is constantly new software and programs. Being updated with them takes a lot of time and money. Finances can be a major problem for older adults. There is an issue of mistrust, and security can be questionable. Older adults are prime targets for fraud. There is a constant need to protect against viruses. Internet usage can also be time consuming and possibly become addictive or habit forming. Not only are there technological barriers, there are physical barriers. The minds and memory of older adults are not as good as they once were. Fingers and necks get stiff which causes pain. Regression in vision makes seeing the computer screen difficult. Their selective attention decreases which makes it difficult for them to ignore irrelevant information and harder to find things in a visual search for something on a tool bar for instance. Even though all the above are definite hardships older adults have to face, I think the biggest one is lack of familiarity and knowledge. Older adults are not anymore unintelligent that younger people are. The internet is just so unfamiliar to them which makes learning very difficult. Even though there are so many viable reasons for older adults to shy away from using the internet, there are some brave souls who have become enwrapped in it. Unfortunately the majority of them had certain advantages. They usually have received a higher educated, have more money, and own their own computer. In the greater scheme of things, this does not apply to a lot of older adults which could be a reasonable factor for the majority of their cohort not using the internet on top of other discussed barriers. For the fortunate ones that have money, education, and a computer going their way, the world of the internet is vast. Travel reservations, games, email, medical information, social networking, YouTube, news, weather and job hunting (just to name a few) are all easily accessible. For the purpose of this assignment, I wanted to sprecifically focus on YouTube and online social networks. Realizing that older adults do partake in both of these online applications surprised me especially since my grandparents are lost when it comes to computers and the internet. But what about a 79 year old man that uses YouTube? Dominated by the younger generation, the median age of YouTube users is about 20 years old. But when a man that is almost 80 years old begins to video blog, his contributions stand out. Peter is a 79 years old and goes by the name Geriatric1927 when participating in online blogging through YouTube. Dave Harley did a case study on him for four months. During this four months, Geriatric1927 posted 66 videos that were viewed 1,621,791times. That means he posted a video about every other day. I personally think this is quite a few online blogs especially for an older person. Granted they do have more free time then most, 66 videos in 4 months is still quite an accomplishment. And it is not that he just posted videos, because anyone can post a video. Geriatric1927 obviously wanted people to watch his blogs, and he got people to do so. He allowed for open comments and closed comments. Out of the 1,621,791 views, he had 39,222 of the visitors sign up as subscribers to his videos. He became very popular almost immediately showing up on international news all over the world. Geriatric1927 has become famous through YouTube. Obviously, Peter's participation with YouTube can not be used to generalize the population of older people. I would say that he is a special case. But even though he is rare amongst YouTube users, Geriatric1927 can be used to fine new ways to contribute to technology so that it is more useable for older adults. He can also be a source of inspiration to others in his cohort. Geriatric1927 does not just stop with usage of YouTube. He can also be found using Skype as well as MSN Messanger. Want the muscial perspective from older adults about music such as Flo Rida or Bruce Springsteen? Bill, Ann, and Joe, three older adults, put on a musical commentary in Phishtown, Philadelphia. Their show is called "Breakfast at Sulimay's." They post their shows on YouTube and have more than 20 episodes published. People consider them the "old" music experts. They provide people with entertained because their episodes are meant to be comical. They also have a rather large fan base. There are also the older adults who have supposedly invaded Facebook. When Facebook first started, it was a network strictly for college students. Facebook is now "growing up" as they say. It became open to anyone and everyone. I know a lot of my friend's moms have opened accounts, and they all deal with the dilemma of whether or not to accept their mom's friend request. Many adults did not get the idea of a Facebook, and therefore, they did not like it. This is how John Kirriemuir felt until he started an account and received a few friend requests. What he really learned to like about Facebook was that it is full of "his kind of people." Older adults are beginning to figure out that Facebook has something to offer to them too. It is way of staying connected especially with family and friends that live farther away. Robert Kraut states that "my son and daughter-in-law post pictures and videos of my grandon on Facebook so my wife and I are looking at Facebook more and more because there's actual value." I think is a really big attraction for older adults. It is much easier than emailing and you can put up a lot of pictures in a short amount of time. Recently people have become more aware of how older adults are quickly becoming the largest age group in the United States. Because of this, people gave realized how much the internet is not geared towards the older adult population. They have become to make changes to this. Networking sites have begun to be made to draw the attention of the older adults. Some of the topics they focus on more serious topics such sa retirement, disease of aging, grandparenting, as well as lighter topics such as pets, cooking, and exercising. A couple of these websites are boomercafe.com or thirdage.com. So what about those older adults who have not learned to use a computer or the internet? Does that mean it is to late for them to learn? For my Psychology of Aging class this quarter, I took part in a teaching project. The goal of the quarter was to learn how to properly conduct a lesson to older adults on how to perform basic operations on a computer as well as use the internet. My class sent out invitations to a many older adults inviting them to our lesson. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to take ten because we were doing one-on-one sessions, and with only ten students in my class, we could take no more. We were each assigned one older adult who wanted to participate. They were to come in for two sessions. The second session was extremely important because it allowed for us to see how much the older adult retained and reinforce the information again. There are many factors that go into making the sessions successful for the older adults. One of the most important things is making it a one-on-one session. By doing this, the older adults are not getting lost and are able to ask their individual questions whenever they arise. Also our participants were all at different levels. By each of them having their own instructor, we were able to cater to their specific needs. As instructors, we also had to be extremely patient. We might be computer whizzes, but to our students, computers are pretty foreign. They also have a harder time seeing the computer and the keyboard. It takes them more time to search for things especially since they are not familiar with where keys and icons are. As a teacher, I found that giving our students handouts about what we went over in the class to be extremely helpful for them. Certain aspects of their memories are not as good as ours. They need reminders. Also since the internet and computer is so foreign to them, it is not as easily remember. The handouts made it possible for them to read and follow steps on what to do next when us teachers are not right there with them. Through doing this project, I realized how much older adults really do use the internet. They are becoming the country's biggest age population, and they are starting to represent themselves. There are a variety of things they can do. They all might not be as technology inclined as Geriatrics1927 video blogging, but they find other things to use it for. They could be participating through a social network to stay connected with family and friends. This way they can see pictures and videos of the ones they are closest to. They might be using it just for leisure going to the many websites geared towards people of their cohort. Or they may be using the internet to preserve their legacy through home made videos posted online. The bottom line is that it is wrong to assume that the older adult population does not participate in the world of the internet. It is quite the opposite. Many older adults are avid participants and enjoy everything the internet has to offer. Some of the ones that do not use the internet or computers would love to learn. They just have not had the opportunity or an instructor to teach them. It is important to try and give elder adults an opportunity because they are very capable. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg should rethink his statement of being "young and technical." I feel that older adults are just as capable to be "old and technical." They are a large and powerful group that has the capacity to be very involved with the internet as well as the influence to be noticed.
Here is journal of my two days with my student, Lu Guidici. Day 1- Wednesday, May 27, 2009 I did not really know how this lesson was going to work out. All I knew was that I had talk to Lu on the phone, and she called me honey a lot. She seemed like a very nice older woman. She also told me that she has a Mac computer at her house and has an email address, but does not know how to use it. I asked her what she wanted to get out of our first lesson together, and she told me, " I want to learn to type. That is my number one. Then, I want to be more familiar with how to send and receive email." So that was what I prepared for. I made her a handout to give after the first session. I waited for her in the Multi Media Lab on the first floor of the library. When she got there and introduced herself to me, I was immediately looking forward to the session. She was so nice and funny. The first thing she said to me was, "Honey, I hope you have a world of patience." I knew we were going to get alone well. I found a free online typing website that has lessons and teaches you how to type. We went through that for the first part of the class. After a couple lessons on the website, we moved onto email. I told her that typing is something you need to practice alot on your own. She said she could do that at home. Then we moved onto email. Lu had alot of questions about email. She wanted to know how to forward emails and send our emails by using her address list in her email account. We went through all of this. I think she got to be somewhat familiar with what to do. I made a new handout for the following session recapping the things we did in the first session in more detail. Not only did I teach her though, I learned quite a few things about her. She is Sicilian which I was very interested in because I studied abroad in Italy in the passed fall. We talked about that for awhile. Her son is also the head football coach at Menlo College which is where one of my good friends from highschool plays football. Her other son works down in Hollywood editting films. To my surprise, I really enjoyed our time together and looked forward to seeing her the next time. When she was about to leave, I needed to assign her a little homework. I asked her to practice the typing on the website and to email me letting me know she did. I also asked her to forward me an email. Day 2- June 3, 2009 I emailed Lu during the week apart to see if she had done her homework assignment. She replied rather quickly saying that she had, but that she had a few questions. Wednesday morning she got there a little late. When she finally arrived, it was apparent that she was very upet. On Monday, one of her close friends who is only 35 passed away. They did not know the reason for it. My professor also knew the man very well. I was very proud of Lu for still coming. She showed me her to desire to learn even when she was going through a very difficult time. Lu wanted to take advantage of the fact that younger adults like us were willing to take our time to teach them about computers and the internet and to answer any questions they might have. When she got there, we reviewed topics that I taught her last week. She was having problems with certain aspects of sending emails. After we finished that, I set up a Facebook account for her. A few facebook groups have been started in memory the young man that had passed away. She wanted to be able to view the groups and read what people had wrote about him. This is a ver good use of Facebook for older adults. She did not have much interest in having friends or keeping in touch with people. Lu just wanted to be a part of the memorial group. We spent most of our time together working on that. I made her a handout so she would be able to look up how to get onto Facebook if she forgot. Facebook took up most of our time that day, I think she was able to get it down pretty well for the short amount of time we spent on such a new topic. Lu was so greatful at the end of the computer training session. She gave me a big hug and told my professor how much she wanted to take me home. After she left, I felt very good about what we had done as a class project. The older adults loved it, and we helped them opportunity to learn. It really never is to late to become involved in the world of the internet. Lu was in her 80's, and she caught on very quickly. On my teaching evaluation, Lu said "Courtney opened up the world of computers to me. She has inspired me to continue to type and use so many aspects out there." Lu is probably not the only that would feel that way if others received the training she did. Older adults just need someone to take the time and effort to teach them. They would willingly agree to learn and enjoy doing so.
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