Pensioners surfing the Internet - why not? That's the view of the EU, which is funding a new project aimed at combating ageism and proving that elderly people can not only learn about modern technology but learn to enjoy its fruits.
The project is about inclusion. It seeks to do away with the notion that only bright young things can cope with computers and their capabilities.
If an American hero such as John Glenn can revisit space in his seventies, why should the senior citizens of Ballincollig in Co Cork not make a dramatic departure for themselves?
In Swedish, German, Italian and Austrian cities, and now in Cork, elderly people will be testing the Internet for the first time. The Ballincollig Senior Citizens' Club will have a whole new vista opened up to it.
There is the possibility of new on-line friendships, contacts, the development of mutual areas of interest and information exchange.
Senior Online, as the project is known, is being co-ordinated at both the Irish and European levels by Ms Natalie Vereker of the human factors research group at the department of psychology in UCC. Her speciality is lifespan development, dealing with gerontology and the promotion of independence and autonomy among older adults.
"Through relaxed and informal guidance, older adults will be able to open up a whole new dimension in their lives - another step towards the elusive `successful ageing', " she puts it.
The project, she predicts, will be seen as a stepping stone for the future - a merger between the phenomenal growth of the ageing population and the rapid advances in technology.
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