Wired for Life
Wired for Life
by Clea Simon
Forget the stereotypes of new technology being only for younger
people. Seniors in growing numbers are exercising their mental
muscles by surfing the Web, e-mailing friends and family, and
trying out new software to research health issues, travel possibilities,
and many other topics of interest. And area retirement communities,
looking for new ways to appeal to tomorrow's residents, are responding
to the high-tech challenge. Many already offer such options as
computer clubs and classes; others are investigating computer
centers and high-speed Internet connections as enticements that
may soon prove even more appealing than shopping shuttles and
concert outings as older Americans get on-line.
"New learning is key to keeping our brains active,"
says Susan Burgess, director of community programs for Cadbury
Commons, a Cambridge retirement community that has had a computer
program in place since soon after its 1996 opening. "We all
need something that will challenge the mind." Nancy Burakoff,
marketing director for the continuing-care and retirement community
Orchard Cove, in Canton, reports, "When people inquire about
our community, the computer facility is one of the things we tell
them about. They want to know if they can hook up their computers
in their apartments."
Increasingly the answer is yes, as senior housing developments
and retirement communities respond to the growth in computer literacy
among all ages. Although residents remain largely free to chose
their own Internet service provider (the Internet hook-up--such
as the popular America Online or CompuServe--that functions much
like a long-distance phone company to provide different services
and amenities with a variety of price packages), more and more
communities are making sure that computers with Internet capability
are also available to all through computer resource centers, or
"labs," that offer a variety of machines and software.
Accessibility, however, is only the most basic amenity. Retirement
communities generally are also responding to the rise in on-line
literacy with a two-pronged effort: support and education. Support
is achieved by making facilities "computer friendly"
to those who retire with some computer know-how, whether or not
they arrive with any equipment of their own. Most commonly this
happens through computer clubs that allow residents to brainstorm
while troubleshooting new programs, or simply to trade Web shopping
finds. At Kendal at Hanover, in New Hampshire, admissions and
marketing director Hélène Rothermund says the computer
lab has encouraged residents to share knowledge about building
Web pages. At Carleton-Willard, in Bedford, Massachusetts, residents
have created an e-mail directory, and share their discoveries
and issues. "A lot of computer owners join because we like
to discuss our problems," says club chairwoman Elise Wilde,
82, who works on an Apple computer. She is now researching the
different systems used by her neighbors, including IBM-type PCs
and the new Macintosh iMacs. The focus, she stresses, is on participation:
"I'm learning along with everyone else."
Many residents of retirement communities also avail themselves
of external resources, such as peer-learning groups sponsored
by Harvard's Institute for Learning in Retirement or the Greater
Boston Seniors Computer Group, which meets monthly from September
through June at the Newton Senior Center. "We try to be a
warm and friendly group," says GBSCG member and former chairman
Robert Bowers. The 200-member club regularly invites guest speakers
and lecturers, such as Boston Globe computer columnist Hiawatha
Bray and representatives from the MIT Media Lab.
Bowers, a resident at Brookhaven in Lexington, is part of a
group researching fiber-optic hook-ups, the cutting-edge in Internet
technology, for their retirement community. The 77-year-old retired
engineer also participates in the second opportunity offered by
many retirement communities: on-site education. For the past two
years, he has taught computer classes aimed at demystifying e-mail
and the Internet for novices--which basically means, he says,
convincing them not to be afraid.
MIT alumnus Stanley Golembe, who teaches his peers at Orchard
Cove, agrees that mostly the senior novices have nothing to fear
but fear itself. "They're afraid that if they hit the wrong
key, they'll wipe out the hard drive and damage the computer,"
says Golembe, who has been involved with computer technology "since
the punch-card days."
Bowers attributes his students' nerves to simple lack of computer
experience. "My generation didn't grow up with computers,
so they have a fear of computers," he says. To break through
that panic, he says, "I'll pull the plug and they see the
screen go blank." That way they learn "the worst that
happens is that they get admonished [by the computer] for not
turning it off properly. Once they get over the fear, they become
quite proficient."
Of course, students of a certain age may face other complications,
but the teachers usually find ways around those. For students
with vision problems, Bowers sets the computer screen to display
type at an easier-to-read 18-point size. For those with physical
ailments such as arthritis or a shaky grip, explains Golembe,
"we manage by having them do everything on the keyboard and
avoiding the mouse."
Once seniors are on-line, the world opens up. Some residents
create spreadsheets and research financial information, says Gwen
Meserve, director of resident services at RiverWoods at Exeter,
which is considering setting up a computer center after bringing
in a volunteer last year to give individual instruction. Other
Web surfers pursue individual interests in the arts, keep track
of sports teams in other cities, or trace family ties: both Stan
Golembe and Bob Bowers research their family trees using Web resources.
Bowers says that many of his students link to the Massachusetts
General Hospital Web page to read the latest in medical research,
and peruse many of the newspapers and journals that can be found
on-line.
E-mail, however, is the main impetus for computer proficiency,
seniors overwhelmingly report. For people who may have limited
physical mobility and whose friends and family may live around
the globe, the accessibility and moderate cost of these electronic
messages are entrancing. Best of all, this new form of communication
offers an immediate connection--electronic and emotional--to the
younger generation. "If you send a grandchild $20 in an envelope
with a letter, you may not get an answer," says Bowers. "If
you e-mail a message, that guarantees an answer." "The
grandchildren think it's wonderful that grandma and grandpa are
smart enough to use the computer," agrees Golembe, with tongue
only partly in cheek.
Sometimes, e-mail is not only the best way for seniors to keep
in touch, it's the only way. When Elise Wilde's godson was injured
in Australia, she used e-mail to keep in contact with him. "I'd
have to get up at 5 in the morning to talk to him by phone,"
she recalls. "With e-mail I could send a message and he could
read it when it was convenient and send a reply back."
That crisis is past, but she remains on-line and in touch with
people around the world. "I have friends in Australia and
Canada," she notes, "and a young friend who was in France
for three months. We corresponded weekly. I check my e-mail every
morning," says this high-tech octogenarian, one of many in
the growing population of happily wired seniors. "I love
it."
Clea Simon '83 thoroughly enjoyed talking
to so many adventurous people.
