International Bulletin - August 1999
It's never too late to surf
In September 1998, Dr. Jason Grinnell was the winner of a contest organized by the SeniorsSearch company to find the world's oldest Internet surfer. At 96 years of age, Jason moves about the Net like a fish in water. "I have seen the birth of the automobile, airplane, telephone, radio and television. Now the computer and the Internet have opened a whole new world for my wife Theresa and myself that, God willing, we will continue to explore for many years to come", says Dr. Grinnell, whose interest in computers began when he was 89.
A retired Texas doctor, Jason Grinnell is by no means the only elderly person to use the computer for sending or receiving e-mail, shopping online or merely looking through pages on which there is no shortage of cookery recipes or advertisements for dream cruises. SeniorsSearch's aims are clear from its slogan: "the only search directory exclusively for the over-50 age group". Anybody over 50 can become a member free of charge and explore the sections on offer, which include antiques and collections, art galleries and museums, books or social clubs.
SeniorNet, a non profit-making organization set up in California twelve years ago with the aim of teaching older people to use modern technologies, has another of the best-known homepages most widely consulted by this category of the public. With its 27,000 members, SeniorNet receives 500,000 visits a month, most of them from surfer veterans in the United States and Canada with an average age of 68.
Last Modified: June 05, 2010