They grew up in a time when technology meant a wall telephone, a TV set with three channels, and a radio. Today they are in the midst of a monumental transition. While some senior citizens are handling the rapid rise of the Internet age well — e-mailing, posting family photos on Facebook, paying bills online — for many it has prompted sheer terror.
People have always faced changes as they age — cable TV, voice mail, call waiting — but no generation has been thrown so much change, so fast, as today's seniors. Those who have adjusted feel confident. Those who have resisted feel vulnerable, oblivious to how critical the computer will be to help them stay in touch with friends, order food, or buy prescription drugs as they become more housebound.
If there is a silver lining, it is this: The next generation of seniors — the baby boomers — will not have to go through this wrenching change. They know how to reboot, IM, and tweet.
“The over-70 now will not look like the over-70 10 years from now,” said Lisa Berkman, a Harvard School of Public Health professor who is an expert on aging. “The baby boomers have grown up in this environment.”
But for now, there are a lot of people like Dorothy Larsen, an 86-year-old widow who lives in Framingham. “The future scares me,” she said. “I like the old days. I'm scared of computers.”
So is West Roxbury resident Jane Kennedy, somewhere past 70. “I'm not on the Internet,” Ms. Kennedy said. “I don't know that much about it. It seems to get more and more advanced. I don't even know what they're talking about: BlackBerries, blueberries.”
What's different for seniors today is the pace of change, said Ellen Langer, a Harvard psychology professor who studies aging.
“The reason for the difference is that the speed of communication has increased enormously, and the information is information that has personal relevance,” Ms. Langer said.
What is more, the speed with which seniors process information declines as they get older, noted Anne Fabiny, chief of geriatrics at the Cambridge Health Alliance.
“Even if you do have the resources, it takes a lot longer to learn it,” she said.
Children and grandchildren of seniors often play large roles in helping out. Harold Segal (91), has been on a computer since 1993, when his son Peter got him a refurbished Mac and a printer. Mr. Segal has been writing letters on it ever since. More important, he enjoys writing stories about his life.
“Older people are caught in a very big transition,” said Ms. Berkman. “There is an enormous disparity and comfort in the technical area. It's like the digital divide. Education and socioeconomic status play a role. Some haven't learned the new skills. They have 70 years of a different life experience.”
Personality matters here. One indicator of how seniors do is how they regard the future. If they are positive, they are more apt to make the transition. Those frightened of the future are more apt to be stuck in the La Brea Tar Pits of the past.
Education and money play a role. If you have them, the odds are you will do better making the change to this brave new world. Ann Kneisel, a pistol of an 84-year-old, has seized the day all her life. She is educated, financially secure, and active. She travels to New York and Europe for opera.
Ms. Kneisel is no online artiste, but she has had a computer for 14 years and has adapted to change comfortably. She has no interest in Facebook or Twitter, but she sprays e-mails to family and friends and orders movies through Netflix. She shops online, buying books, and opera DVDs on Amazon.com. (“There is no place you can rent a movie in this city,” she said.)
If the computer does not behave, she calls a son who lives nearby or a woman in Gloucester who is paid to fix trouble over the phone. All but one of the women in her book group are on computers.
But without a computer, you cannot use Netflix and you cannot communicate with friends, which is why Roberta Kwiatkowski (77) took her third computer class last week at the Callahan Senior Center in Framingham.
“The main reason is that my best buddy from high school who lives in California is ill,” she said. “She wished I had a computer. I'm not intimidated anymore. I'm glad to be moving forward. But there are a lot of people who just don't want to know.”
This illuminates why senior centres and public libraries are so important. There is staff in both places to teach computer skills. To close branch libraries in Boston — a proposal that is under consideration — robs seniors of a place to learn, specialists said.
Ms. Berkman said the answer to the senior technology problem is continuous learning. “You find lifelong education in aging societies all over the world,” she said. “We're heading down that road. The idea that you're done with your education at 24 is ridiculous.”
Even Dorothy Larsen is thinking about taking the plunge. “Everybody seems to be e-mailing,” she said. “Maybe I should, too.” — New York Times News Service
