Technology Factoids

From Wired Seniors, a Pew Internet Project report

• American over 65 years old, especially older women, are coming online at faster rates than other age groups.
• Wealthy and educated seniors are most likely to go online.
• Wired seniors are devoted Internet users; 69% go online on a typical day, compared to 56% of all Internet users.
• Another study found there is] strong demand from senior citizens for computer and Internet training.
• A prime reason [for seniors] to go online is to connect with their children and grandchildren.

Click http://www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=40 to access the entire Pew report.

Senior Connectivity

Seniors continue to be the fastest growing group of people crossing the digital divide, using the Internet to reach out to their friends and family, explore new interests, take courses, plan travel, and using cyber space to keep mentally and socially active.

Seniors want to be connected; they expect to be able to connect. To attract them to your property, you have to provide connectivity.

Many senior living sites try to meet this connectivity expectation by setting up a couple of computer work stations in a "computer room" or corner of a common room. Residents come to the computer room, log on, and connect; reminding us of the very early days of the telephone, when hotels would have dedicated "telephone rooms" for their guests. But can you imagine asking your residents to come to a "telephone room" whenever they wanted to make a telephone call? The same is true when it comes to using the Internet.

Owners who have dedicated computer rooms in their buildings report that computer rooms do not expand computer/Internet usage beyond the current "active" group of users and do not promote increased social interaction, in fact, residents seek privacy for their Internet "conversations" and are actually less likely to use the room when other users are present.

Like the telephone, an Internet connection belongs in every room. And for the same reasons, privacy, security, comfort, and convenience.For the cost of outfitting a typical computer room, you can give 160 residents the skills and equipment needed to access the Internet from the safety and privacy of their own unit.