I won’t even dare say that seniors are computer illiterate and wouldn’t know the difference between a computer mouse and a house rat because that will definitely contradict the study that shows boomers to be the fastest growing group in terms of new Facebook users. Interesting right? Well, I am not surprised as I have 3 fellow bloggers well on their 60s and about 50% of my class in middle school are my Facebook friends, about half of that number is actively engaged in Twitter and some can even be found dabbling on other online activities. My ancient neighbor-friend even plays online games against his grandchildren! That alone will tell you that seniors are indeed catching up, if not one step ahead.
True, most of these seniors require help getting their way around online but you have to give it to them too; contrary to popular notion, they are not resistant to learning. For “still-hesitant seniors”, do take note that you are not doing it just because it’s the “in” thing to do but you have to learn it in order for you to stay connected—and staying connected is quite important. Quite frankly, this is how the world works now, you just have to go with the flow.
Here are some of the easiest ways to connect online:
•    Facebook. Why not? Everybody knows Facebook—even the dog next door has one and if you add them today you’ll probably be lucky enough to know when he’s pooping or where he’s heading to poop. If the dog can feed you information about their personal life through Facebook—even those you don’t really want to know—then why can’t you?
•    Twitter. The beauty of Twitter is its simplicity which suits older people to a T. Aside from that, it has a very wide audience which will help seniors find their friends easier than any other social networking sites. I would like to think of Twitter as a “mini press release” site since you can find the freshest news from your favorite celebrity down to your favorite news station.
•    Emails. I’m a big fan of letters. I can still remember back when I was a kid, I used to sit on the porch waiting for the mailman to arrive and deliver my grandma’s letter for me. I would know the days when to expect it and my grandma never failed, not even once. When emails came, I was a tad disappointed but overtime I have learned to like them—although I still prefer the handwritten-in-paper kind.
•    Skype. Skype became popular because of its ability to combine two major communication means into one place, along with 101 fun things to do with Skype at a lesser price, some none at all! You can now throw away your home phone, along with that video phone because Skype can do these things for you without the cost. Chat with your friends anytime you want, talk with your kids all you want, call an emergency conference with your business associates anywhere you want (since you can install Skype on your smartphones too) –possibilities are limitless.