By Carrie Brown McWhorter
When Peggy Ricketts of Grove Hill needed to find a Medicare prescription- drug plan earlier this year, she went to www.medicare.gov, entered her medications and found the best plan for both her and her husband with relative ease.
The process, however, was not so easy for many of her friends. Several looked to Ricketts for help when they needed to compare plans.
“That was when I really realized that so many seniors don’t have computers or feel comfortable using them,” said Ricketts, 63, a member of Grove Hill Baptist Church in Clarke Baptist Association. “But I tell everyone that it’s never too late to learn.”
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Library of Medicine, people ages 60 and older are the fastest-growing group of computer users and information seekers on the Internet. Like Ricketts, they go online to send e-mails, to shop and to research everything from investments to their family’s history. Once they get started, many of them cannot imagine life without the resources available to them online.
Carolyn Harris, 67, a member of Macedonia Baptist Church, Ranburne, in Cleburne Baptist Association, loves shopping online. A careful consumer, she researches products and compares prices before making a purchase. “It saves me time and saves money when I find really good deals.”
Earlier this year, she even decided to try to find some of her best childhood friends using www.classmates.com, a popular reunion Web site.
She found a friend in California and another in Louisiana, and since reconnecting, they have corresponded through e-mail, catching up on the last 40-something years.
“We were best friends but just kind of lost touch,” she said. “I was curious about what had happened to them, and it was relatively easy to find them once I got started.”
Keith Hinson, an associate in the office of information and facility services of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) and web minister for the SBOM Web site, www.alsbom.org, works with many older adults around the state who are actively using online technology. Though young people typically are considered more technologically savvy, Hinson said it is wrong to assume older adults are not computer literate.
“Five years ago, senior adults were stereotyped as being slow to learn computers,” he said. “These days, I’m as likely to encounter senior adults who are ‘tech-savvy’ as I am those in their 30s and 40s. The gap in skill levels between these youngest adults and older adults isn’t nearly as wide as it once was.”
John Green, 73, a member of First Baptist Church, Green Hill, in Killen, first received training in computer use through the Southeastern Blind Rehabilitation Center at the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Legally blind as a result of macular degeneration, Green uses a program called ZoomText, which allows him to magnify text on his computer screen. Since it is easier for him to read the daily newspaper and study his Sunday School lessons on the computer, technology has become an important part of his daily life.
“My wife says I spend half my time on the computer, which I think is a little much,” he said, laughing. “But [the computer] is my window to the world.”
Belinda Blackburn, assistant director of continuing education at Jacksonville State University, works with many older adults interested in learning basic computer skills. She said that many of the students who enroll in the “computers made easy” course have never even turned on a computer, but they want to be more connected to their families.
“The course helps them understand what their children and grandchildren are talking about and helps them maintain a connection via the Internet with their children who live out of town,” she said. Though senior adults may be intimidated by technology, Blackburn said individuals who come to class with the mind-set that they will be able to learn generally do.
Hinson has seen the same curiosity in senior adults who attend CyberCamp, an annual training event sponsored by SBOM for computer users of all ages and experience levels held at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega. “Many senior adults I encounter are curious about how to expand their skills with computers. They are often hungry for tech knowledge and extremely willing to learn.”
Sometimes all people need is a little encouragement that they can learn something new, Ricketts said. Several older women in her church have recently been inspired by Elizabeth Granade, 88, the widow of Grove Hill Baptist’s former pastor. She received her first computer as a gift from her children last Christmas and is already using the Internet to communicate with her family and to find resources for teaching her Sunday School class.
“They are amazed by Mrs. Granade, and she has given them confidence to try it themselves,” Ricketts said.
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