Tech-Savvy Seniors

Using the Computer to Improve the Lives of Senior Citizens

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

I live in different state from my parents, who are retired. In order to share photos of my kids and other things, it would be great if they have email, but they have never even used a computer.

My husband and I are considering buying them a computer and setting up some lessons for them to learn how to use it, but I can't justify this expense and my parents' time just for emails. Are people my parents' age using computers for everyday tasks the way I do or is it a futile attempt to get them tech-savvy that will end up wasting time and money and driving everyone crazy?

Sincerely,

Hooked-In Daughter

Dear Hooked-In Daughter,

Seniors are living longer these days thanks to technology and medicine. They are also, often separated from their families by distance.

* Computers are great for keeping in touch with adult children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

* Computers are cheaper for seniors to keep in touch with family and friends than using telephone or visiting.

* Computers are easier to understand than ever before. Many computers come with large screens and magnifying capabilities so reading the screen is easier than it used to be.

* Dating among seniors has become a HUGE market, and there are lots of ways for seniors to get to know other seniors as friends or romantic partners online.

Indeed, senior dating is nothing new — except that the numbers of seniors dating is growing. While IM’ing is strictly for the Gen XYers. Those mature enough to know that Bobby Kennedy is not a member of Hoobastank, the internet holds the greatest pot of gold for you.

– You can pay your bills online.
– You can buy your groceries online.
– You can book your plane tickets online.
– You can meet a date, a long-term significant other, or a friend, online.

Online dating was once the wild west of socializing, but one computer years is like 10 human years. In the past half decade, online dating has become widely accepted as a method to meet nice, attractive, successful people, not just weirdoes who write profiles claiming they’re an eight, and show up at your door with only half a dozen teeth.

But the big news is the Silver Set. People over the age of 60 are now big daters. With the divorce rate for first marriages at 50% and the divorce rate for subsequent marriages even higher, being single has never been a less lonely proposition — although being lonely is still what it used to be. So log on!

Online dating may first have been adopted by people a third their age, but modern mating has virtually been taken over by Glam-parents … today’s retiring baby boomers!

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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