It became increasingly apparent that more than finding information, the engagement with their social networks and sense of renewed relevance was the most significant gain for older users. ”It’s this kind of bigger sense of mattering, in the social world, if you will,” Cotten explains. ”You’re not just something that’s been pushed off to the wayside anymore. You still have consequence.”
Over the course of the eight weeks, 10 to 15 percent of the group went on to engage in more advanced technology like social networking, joining Facebook and Eons, an online community for the Boomer set. Several of the students created Facebook profiles during an office hour session, joining initially to keep in touch with family members.
”She’s a junior in college and I get to see all the things she’s doing — all the sorority things and such. It makes me feel about 80 years younger,” she says. ”And when I see what she says about her boyfriend and what’s she’s going to do, I can get on the telephone and say, ’Don’t you do that!'”
Carol Boulding, a 79-year-old from Auburn, California, also finds herself using the site as a way to check up and be involved in her grandchildren’s lives. Not a participant in the UAB study, Boulding joined the network on her own five years ago, and says it’s been a real source of enjoyment. ”I heard that family members were joining and I wanted to see what I was missing or not missing,” she says. ”It’s a healthy thing, emotionally. I feel connected, and so many old people feel isolated — I think it’s wonderful and just keeping it all working is good for my brain.”
Indeed, ”keeping it all working” and exercising the brain via digital technology is an increasingly popular area of research, with studies examining the use of brain games and consoles like the Nintendo Wii or even playing solitaire on the computer. Fortsätt läsa ”Within no time they were soon finding and reconnecting with old high school friends and co-workers”