Your top ten comments on computing for older people

A few months ago the media regulator Ofcom said that, according to its research, people who said they were not interested in using the internet tended to be older and retired – 61 per cent of them had never used a computer.

In November an English company, Simplicity Computers, announed that it will sell a special computer that’s designed for users aged over 50 who are unfamiliar with computers as they are. The new PCs don’t run Windows – instead they use a custom-made operating system with a simplified display.

Computeractive readers have been vocal in their views on whether some groups of society need extra help when it comes to computers – read some of their letters below.

Don't patronise me for being an older woman
I could write a book about my experiences. I am an eighty-year-old woman who has owned and used computers for various projects for years. I relied on books to teach myself without lessons.

Whenever I go into computer shops it is obvious that assistants wonder what a little old lady is doing in there. It is only when they get into converation with me that they realise that I know what I am talking about, their tone changes and I am treated accordingly.

On one occasion last year I was so annoyed with the assistant I told him off. He apologised, smiled and said that he would be sure to never make that mistake again when dealing with elderly people. I have come up against the same treatment in photographic shops although I have used digital cameras since they were first introduced.

In view of the fact that there are now many silver surfers perhaps it is time that shop managers should train their staff to be more considerate and not to make incorrect assumptions about old people, especially females.

Dorothy Shuker

Age Concern classes made it easy
I am in computer-speak a ‘silver surfer’ - over 15 years ago I attended a series of courses at Age Concern in Walthamstow run by volunteers and I can thoroughly recommend them.

Not only did the instructors understand us 'oldies' but they made the lessons a pleasure to learn. If we were a little dim about the technical side they were happy to go over it several times. It was a very pleasant way of spending an afternoon with minded people. And as I am pensioner the cost was very affordable.

Bill Holbrook

Don't call us 'silver surfers'
I hate being called a silver surfer. I’m 65 and have been using computers since the first DOS machines. What’s next - bald surfers? That would at least be more applicable to me. All of my friends and neighbours use computers, all are over 50, and none of them find that surfing the Web or using email is a problem.

Egon Flaschberger

You already use a computer
No elderly person can say they are fearful of using the computer because 'it seems so complicated'. The only barrier comes from the frailty of adventuring into unfamiliar territory. Why?

Because every individual has been using a computer since those first moments of human awareness: the brain. Multi-media, memory storage, exploratory investigation, co-ordination, robotic control of the limbs, and many more biological computer functions are carried out a thousand or more times a day.

The only difference being that with computer hardware you can sit in a comfortable chair. Drop the barrier! You are not being asked to fly to the moon. Your age is your advantage because life's multitude of experiences have honed and prepared you to be the ideal 'Computerager'.

Terry Buchanan