CAST is a nonprofit association of businesses, foundations, academic and applied researchers, health and social service providers, and especially technology developers and entrepreneurs focusing their attention on the interface of technology and aging. The interaction among older adults, their families, caregivers, and healthcare providers is one of the greatest challenges, with the most exciting developments coming from the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST). Nonetheless, because notions of a generational digital divide persist, whether actual or perceived, there are services that can help bridge the divide in healthcare, information, and communication. On the other hand, through SeniorNet and similar educational organizations and Web sites and with PCs available in virtually all public libraries and senior centers, computers are increasingly accessible to adults of all generations.
Research shows that people who use computers at work are more likely to have home computers, something uncharacteristic of the majority of today’s elders. But it’s just as likely, or possibly more so, to be a generational effect, since personal computers, the Internet, blogs, and Facebook weren’t part of everyday life until relatively recently.
Adults using computers at work manual#
To the extent that there are age differences in computer use, such differences could be a consequence of aging itself (e.g., declines in vision, hearing, and manual dexterity). Older adults don’t use computers, e-mail, or the Internet as frequently as younger and middle-age folks do. But there is also substantial discussion about a generational digital divide. Often the divide is socioeconomic since many simply cannot afford computers.
the have-nots when it comes to accessing technology. Although computers and the Internet have literally become household furnishings, we still hear about the “Digital Divide”-the haves vs. At the risk of making a bad joke, I’ll call nanatechnology the computer stuff for grandmas and grandpas, many of whom are your clients and patients. Nanotechnology refers to technological devices smaller than a poppy seed. Nanatechnology: Bridging the Generational Digital Divide