Grannies clicking with the Net -social issue

Grannies clicking with the Net
Fri, Aug 17, 2007The Straits Times

TOKYO - 'My husband isn't home tonight. Would you like to...' reads the suggestive e-mail on the computer screen. Obviously, the sender has no idea that the recipient is 78-year-old grandmother Kikue Kamata.
'What does she want me to do?' she says, amused. 'I know I shouldn't open spam but sometimes I do because it's fun.'
A high-tech granny used to be considered an oxymoron. But in Japan, with its love of technology and a declining birth rate, a growing number of the elderly are learning to surf the Internet, finding it to be a crucial lifeline.
'I turn on my computer first thing in the morning. It's a pleasure to see the e-mail that came overnight,' says Kamata's friend, Roko Shinohara.
The two women are members of the Computer Grannies Society, launched in 1997 to nurture a new breed of Net-savvy elderly.
The group, which accepts men as well, now has 200 members, mostly in their 70s, across the nation. The oldest member is a 97-year-old woman who lives alone in the western city of Kyoto.
The members exchange messages and photos, and show each other their creative work - paintings, novels, poems and music. They organise off-line gatherings such as tours of big electronics stores. They also shop online.
'Bookstores are becoming bigger these days and it's hard to find a book I want. It's quite easy online,' Kamata says.
The group set up a temporary Internet cafe to offer computer lessons to fellow senior citizens last month in Sugamo, a part of Tokyo known for its large elderly population.
The event, held in cooperation with chipmaker Intel, drew more than 400 visitors over four days.
Hisao Megumi, 84, was one of a handful of men who came to learn. 'I'm a novice. It's a little bit late to start but I want to get accustomed to personal computers,' the former editor says as he patiently waits in a queue for a lesson.
The place was equipped with touch-panel computers newly developed by Intel and other companies for the elderly, enabling beginners to operate the machine with one finger.
The absence of keyboards is a great relief for Japanese seniors who grew up in a culture that values handwriting rather than typing.
The packed one-room cafe reminds Kayako Okawa, 77, who founded the group, of how things have changed over the past decade.
'Computers for old women? No way!' was the initial reaction she encountered when she was trying to launch the group.
'No company wanted to lend me computers,' she recalls. But she proudly declares: 'The elderly are not the socially weak.'
Armed with expertise and technology, they are, in fact, finding new frontiers in their lives.
'Washing machines and dishwashers give us convenience. There is no match for computers. We are now connected to the world,' Okawa says.
Electronics companies are well aware that seniors are important customers, and have launched a range of senior-friendly products, such as the RaKuRaKu Phone mobile series by NTT DoCoMo.
The basic model of the line - whose name is a colloquial phrase for 'easy' - tells the user the name of the person sending a call or e-mail.
It also features the 'Slow Voice' function which enables the user to press a button and slow the pace of the caller's speech for better understanding.
According to communications ministry data, Internet use among seniors is surging, with nearly half of Japanese in their late 60s now surfing online.
The number of people between the ages of 70 and 79 who use the Internet jumped from 15.4 per cent to 32.3 per cent over two years until the end of last year.
The ratio rose from 6.9 per cent to 16 per cent for those aged 80 or above.
The number of new young Internet users is nearly flat in Japan, which has a declining population and where more than 90 per cent of people under 40 surf online.
Reiko Chiba, who teaches seniors how to use computers, says she has come across unexpected reactions from her students.
'A man once tried to lift the computer screen when I told him to click up higher. Another time, I told a man that his trash bin was full, prompting him to ask: 'How are you able to see my home from here?'' she says.
But fewer and fewer people have been asking offbeat questions.
'It started decreasing a few years ago. I think it's because many elderly people already have experience with cellphones and digital cameras before they advance into computers,' she says.
Chances are high that elderly Japanese women are widows, given that they live an average 85.81 years - longer than anyone else in the world.
'Many of us are left alone. As more and more of us live alone, computers are our lifeline connecting each one of us to friends,' Okawa says.
The hardest thing for her is to drop members who have died from her mailing list.
'I know it's impossible to get anything from her once she has passed away. But I can't help thinking to myself, 'Just maybe ...',' she says.
She has enclosed 'sayonara' e-mail from society members in other members' coffins, and been contacted by the children of members who have died.
They had no idea that their mothers knew how to use a computer and were surprised to find e-mail and photos when sorting through personal belongings.
'Children may regret they didn't care about their mothers much, giving the excuse that they were busy with work and the chores of everyday life. But we mothers are living our own lives,' she says.
A comforted son once sent an e-mail to Okawa that read: 'I realized my mother had these joyful, bright days in her last years of life. I'm glad to know that.'

Review: It is good the older generation learns to use modern technology. To close up the gap between the younger generation and the older generation, the older generation has to adapt to the rapid advance in technology. Usually the older generation finds it hard to learn to use modern technology thus the gap continues to widen. To shape and bend a tree, it has to be done when the tree is young and supple. To attempt to bend the branch of an old tree will probably result in breaking it. So it is with man. A young child’s values, attitude and abilities can be shaped and bent under favorable conditions. To make an old man change his values and attitudes is an almost impossible task. His mind is too set and rigid with age and not receptive to new things. He would probably break if we try too hard to change him.
It is good that there is such a community called Computer Grannies Society in Japan. Equip with modern technology, sending message to love ones far away is convenient, elderly are no longer lonely, the elderly learn more by exposure to the modern age in the internet and many more benefits elderly can gain from the usage of modern technology. Singapore is also an ageing population, it is also essential to educate older citizen to use modern technology like hand phone. Whenever they have trouble they can call for help. With the dependence on modern technology, older citizens are of fewer burdens to the society.
An example would be my grandmother. She is in her 80s. My grandmother started to use the hand phone 2 years ago. I taught her how to use the phone like storing contacts, change the settings etc. I repeatedly taught her how to use but she just cannot remember. The only thing she knows is to use it to call. Learning to use the computer is far fetch. She would rather watch television than torture herself learning to use the computer. I think it would be good to learn to use the computer. She would be able to contact her sons out of Singapore. The older people can only stand back and stare in astonishment and incomprehension. The young are like empty cups taking in as much information as the outside world can give them. The old are like full cups that cannot take in anymore.
The young have a duty to teach the older generation to use modern technology. So that the older generation would not be lonely and feel ‘ostracized’ in this world. In this way the older generation will be able to know what is going on in this world.
In conclusion, I think that modern technology have really helped the older generations to survive longer and as well as providing them with convenience and entertainment.