Old folks learning new digital tricks

Senior citizens are getting with it when it comes to digital technology.

-- 60% of Internet users 65 or older get their news online, according to Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. They no longer wait for the morning newspaper or even the 6 o’clock TV news or top-of-the-hour radio reports.

-- 58% go online to research medical information. If you’re Medicare age, you have a lot of need for that info.

-- More than two-thirds research products online before buying. And more than half have bought products online.

Senior citizens no longer depend on pre-teen family members to use the computer for them. It seems the children and grandchildren have been easing we old geezers into the Internet age, including Facebook.

Rainie’s article appears in the November 2012 AARP Bulletin.