Retirees Signing On to the Internet Age
Can’t teach an old dog new tricks, huh? Then try explaining Computers West, by far the largest of the nearly 200 chartered social clubs in this retirement community outside Phoenix.
Bernardine Ginsberg expects membership to hit the 3,000 mark soon, up from 1,600 three years ago when she became club president. When the club recently held an orientation class for new members, organizers expected a few dozen people; more than 300 showed up.
“For a community of 30,000 people to have 2,600-plus as members of the computer club--10% of the population--just think of it,” said Ginsberg, 65. “The interest has been phenomenal.”
In Sun City West and across the country, seniors who once thought the Web was something spun by a spider are booting up, logging on and surfing the Internet in increasing numbers. Experts say older people are gradually losing their fear of technology and embracing personal computers.
More often than not, seniors have a special reason for wanting to venture into cyberspace: their grandchildren.
“They’ve been coming in here by the droves saying, ‘I’ve got to learn how to use the computer,’ ” said Sam MacDonald, 64, who teaches computer courses at the Palm Ridge Recreation Center. “Their grandchildren are always on the computer or talking about computers and the grandparents don’t know what they’re talking about.
“They say, ‘I’ve got to catch up with my grandchildren.’ ”
Keeping in closer touch with her four children and 15 grandchildren scattered from coast to coast is what prompted Helene Carter to plunk down $2,000 recently for a Macintosh computer.
“None of them write letters anymore; they all talk by phone or computer,” said Carter, a 73-year-old widow who never used a computer in her former career as a bookkeeper. “It was intimidating at first, but I’m learning. I’m by no means an expert, but I send e-mail and explore the Internet.”
Former New York City elevator repairman Bill Turvin jokes that when he took early retirement because of heart problems and moved here three years ago, all he knew about computers was “how to crash a hard drive.”
But he caught the computer bug after joining Computers West. Now Turvin, 56, is chairman of the club’s 2,000-strong IBM users’ group.
“We have people 75 to 80 years old who come in on a regular basis and I tell them that the computer is like an exercise room for your mind,” he said. “Your mind is like any other muscle in your body--if you don’t exercise it, it goes to mush.”
A recent Times Mirror poll showed that about 10% of people 65 or older use a personal computer at home, an increase of 2% over an 18-month period. Computer companies are now targeting seniors through print and television ads.
“It’s a huge market of people with money and time just waiting to be tapped,” said Julie Kregness, executive director of the Senior Health Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides computer education classes to more than 1,000 seniors in the Omaha, Neb., area.
“We suspect that it’s a myth that these people are not willing to learn new technologies,” Kregness said. “They want to remain vital and to have something in common with their grandchildren, their families, the community.”
