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WHERE SILVER-HAIRED SURFERS BROWSEIt's easier to find what you need as more sites tailor content for older usersThe senior set is racing onto the Information Highway. When ACNielsen surveyed North American Internet users in 1997, it was surprised to find that 15% of them were above 50--and that they constitute one of the fastest-growing groups on the Web. ''Computers are like the new hobby for seniors,'' says Rob McHugh, senior programmer for Yahoo! Seniors' Guide (table). ''They're just hungry for information.'' Indeed, Third Age Media (www.thirdage.com), an online news service for senior citizens, found that 83% of users 50 and up log on daily and spend more than eight hours a week surfing. And more and more older users are joining the throng as PC prices fall and adult children give ''hand-me-up'' computers to mom and dad, notes Ann Wrixon, executive director of SeniorNet, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group. So how do you join the online crowd? First, you might want to take some lessons in basic computing. SeniorNet (415 495-4990), has trained more than 100,000 older adults at 134 learning centers in 35 states--and on cruises offered by World Explorer. During the courses, seniors teach other seniors how to work with computers, using a curriculum ''designed to reduce the fear of technology,'' Wrixon says. Once online, older computer users become avid shoppers as well as surfers. Third Age found that 50-plus users were 30% more likely than their younger counterparts to have ordered goods and services over the Net. LINKS GALORE. Web programmers and advertisers are waking up to this market, providing a wealth of content tailored for older users. Yahoo! Seniors' Guide (seniors.yahoo.com), from the Internet directory company, features original material and links to other sites on such subjects as finance, health, and genealogy. The Yahoo! site, like others aimed at seniors, contains many links--on financial planning, best places to retire, and travel, for example--that will also interest younger users thinking of retiring. Other general-interest search engines, as they try to convert their sites from way stations into destinations, are also adding material targeted to seniors. Excite's Fifty Plus page (www.excite.com/lifestyle/fifty_plus) reviews many senior-related sites, while Lycos' Health page (www.lycos.com/health) links to community resources for help with illnesses often associated with older folks. But much of the best material remains at specialized sites. SeniorNet, SeniorCom (www.senior.com), and SeniorsSearch (www.seniorssearch.com) provide a mix of links on grandparenting, computer use, and such government programs as Medicare and Medicaid. Seniors-Site (www.seniors-site.com) features everything from an ''attraction adviser'' for Orlando theme parks to chaplains and hospice volunteers. Among organizations staking out territory on the Web, the American Association of Retired Persons (www.aarp.org) boasts 1,000-plus pages that draw more than 500,000 visits a month, says Mark Carpenter, AARP's online communications coordinator. Members use the site to change an address, order a membership card, or check out travel and service discounts. But much of the site's traffic comes from nonmembers interested in AARP's content on policy issues such as Social Security reform. Sites for other senior citizen groups tend to be less general and more advocacy-oriented: The National Council of Senior Citizens (www.ncscinc.org) and the National Council on the Aging (www.ncoa.org), for example, trumpet their efforts to protect seniors' entitlement programs. The wide range of content on seniors' sites reflects a basic fact: Like users of any age, retirees will mine the Internet for information on their own interests, sports, and hobbies. Still, judging from feedback and search requests at Yahoo!'s and AARP's sites, some topics draw special attention from older adults: -- HEALTH. Two excellent sites for researching medical conditions are InteliHealth (www.intelihealth.com), where the Johns Hopkins Health System posts lots of easy-to-follow health and medical advice, and Medscape (www.medscape.com), a search service. Both allow users to dig deep into medical literature by registering for free access to the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE database of journal articles. Healthfinder (www.healthfinder.org) pulls together health information from several federal agencies in an attractive, easy-to-use format. -- GOVERNMENT. Major programs for the elderly all offer information on benefits, procedures, and appeals. Among them are Social Security (www.ssa.gov), Medicare (www.medicare.gov), and Medicaid (www.hcfa.gov/medicaid/medicaid.htm). The Administration on Aging (www.aoa.dhhs.gov) offers resource guides and links to the National Institute on Aging's health and social research. -- FINANCE. The Net is overrun with information from online brokers, mutual-fund companies, and stock pickers. You can get your fill of investment talk in chat rooms offered by America Online, Yahoo!, and Microsoft Network--if you can stand daily E-mail bombardment from stock ''gurus'' and get-rich-quick schemers. More useful are sites that steer retirees--and those who want to save enough to join them--toward financial planners. The Institute of Certified Financial Planners (www.icfp.org) offers a referral service, as does the National Association of Financial & Estate Planning (www.nafep.com). The National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys (www.netplanning.com) will let you search for lawyers in your area. -- ELDER LAW. For such topics as age discrimination, Medicaid eligibility for nursing home benefits, and Social Security and Medicare appeals, you could turn to the nonprofit National Senior Citizens Law Center (www.nsclc.org) and the SeniorLaw Home Page (www.seniorlaw.com) sponsored by the New York firm of Goldfarb & Abrandt. The latter features a powerful specialized search engine for, say, doing financial planning for a Medicaid recipient in a nursing home. -- CAREGIVING. Eldercare Web (www.elderweb.com) posts articles on nursing homes, hospices, and legal and financial issues, plus a state-by-state collection of links to support services. Transitions Elder Care Consulting (www.asktransitions.com), a Minneapolis firm, offers a glossary--in large type--of the confusing jargon of official caregivers. Caregiving Online (www.caregiving.com) is the electronic version of a newsletter for those tending an aging parent or neighbor. For older adults, the Internet isn't just a means to exchange E-mail with the grandkids. If you're 50 and up, increasingly you'll be finding what you need on the World Wide Web.
By Mike McNamee in Washington RELATED ITEMS
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Updated July 9, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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