The over-60s are getting to grips with the Internet - often they have little choice

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By Tiina Rajamäki
     
      Juhani Borenius is 74 and he is now testing out the Google search engine for the first time in his life. Like so many before him, he types in his own name. Then he hits the Enter key, and waits a second for his answer.
      "Look at that, it found me!" Borenius chuckles.
      One more click and there on the screen is a page for the Acoustical Society of Finland, of which retired audio engineer Borenius is an honorary member.
     
A few moments before this, a group of five people were seated around a table at the Riistavuori Day Centre, pondering the electronic revolution and its impact on the life of pensioners: the Net, SMS messaging, and how to use a mobile phone.
      Esko Aurola, Eila Järvinen, Reino Järvinen, Seija Eerola, and Juhani Borenius are all Helsinki residents aged between 61 and 74 years of age and all have a PC at home - and nearly all have their own broadband connection to the Net.
      They regard the Internet and the mobile phone as things that make life easier, but not, however, as absolutes without which they could not manage.
      "For us a computer is not very different from a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner, a domestic appliance like any other", is Reino Järvinen's take on the subject.
     
In the last couple of years the interest shown by the elderly (in this instance those over the age of sixty) towards the Internet in particular has grown by leaps and bounds.
      The phenomenon has been duly noted in banks and on the IT courses arranged by adult education centres. Older people are particularly interested in online banking, e-mail, and digital photography matters.
      "Around 70% of Finns pay their bills online these days. Also our older customers have started to use the online services, and this has to a great extent been a result of their being able to log in for instance from public terminals maintained by the local community", says Anne-Mari Tyrkkö from the Nordea banking group.
     
Nevertheless, for the majority of older people, wrestling with the internet or a mobile phone is anything but straightforward and easy.
      The WWW addresses that seem to fill the newspapers and advertisements, and the IT slang used by their grandchildren, cause some elderly people a measure of angst.
      "Some fear they are being marginalised, left out of the information society, when they do not know what people are talking about when they refer to a mouse and clicking on it", explains Pekka Roni, who is heading up a project on the elderly and the information society at the Kalliola Settlement House.
      Others are worried at the trend for services to move away from shops, post offices, banks, or local authority offices into the virtual world of the Net. Increasingly, counter service costs serious money these days, as banks reduce their desk staff.
     
"Around 40 percent of older people feel that they have slipped outside of the information society", explains Marja-Liisa Viherä. Viherä chairs the citizens' section of the government's Information Society Programme, geared towards ensuring that all population- and age- groupings possess a sufficient amount of skills needed in a rapidly developing information society. She is herself retired and a futurologist by training, and was formerly employed as a senior researcher with telecoms operator Sonera.
      Viherä does not regard the 40 percent figure above as such as a problem. Where the problem begins is if the elderly person wants to get involved in the development of technology, but does not have the chance of doing so.
      "There really should be a place where someone could simply learn the basics of using a mobile phone", she says.
     
The quintet around the table at Riistavuori all enthuse about the joys of SMS and e-mail. The Järvinens wonder aloud if there really is any point in their hanging on to their old fixed-line phone at all. Skype calls (VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol calls using peer-to-peer Internet telephony) also sound interesting.
      "It is e-mail that I use most. For instance a lot of the clubs and associations I belong to have switched over to e-mail for all their internal information. It is a waste of time sitting around at home and waiting for a paper newsletter or circulars."
      Seija Eerola, however, has not yet learnt how to make the notebook PC she has at home do the things she wants.
      "Yes, maybe I would need a course or two, but I haven't found the time yet. There have been more important things to do: the grandchildren and going out in the fresh air. I still write letters the traditional way", she says.
     
At that moment there is a beeping noise from the end of the table. Reino Järvinen is receiving an SMS message. His grandchildren are checking in on his mobile.
      "I just wish I could get the hang of the language and the acronyms of SMS: all that 4 U 2 stuff and the smilies, and what they all mean precisely", laughs Esko Aurola.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 2.4.2006

More on this subject:
 One old-timer is the best teacher for another
 BACKGROUND: Fears about the advent of digital broadcasting

TIINA RAJAMÄKI / Helsingin Sanomat
tiina.rajamaki@hs.fi