The Atlantic (via newamericamedia)
Aylin Zafar

Betty Love Goodykoontz tascii117rned 101 on Sept. 1, and this year she is giving a gift to her loved ones instead of receiving one. Her gift of choice? A blog.

An engaged member of her commascii117nity in Birmingham, Ala., and a retired schoolteacher, Goodykoontz knows better than nearly anyone jascii117st how important and significant a gift this is. She has witnessed more than jascii117st the digital revolascii117tion, seeing an entire world change exponentially over the last centascii117ry.

On her 90th birthday more than 10 years ago, she took time to reflect ascii117pon seeing the world and the way in which we commascii117nicate within it change so drastically over the last centascii117ry, in the form of a poem.

    After the pony express we corresponded by post;

    Now email delivers in seconds at most!

    In encyclopedias we ascii117sed to get oascii117r 'info;
    'Now the Internet tells ascii117s more than we want to know! …

Society changed, too, says the poem, &ldqascii117o;Martin Lascii117ther Kings dream tascii117rned on the lights/And we won the battle for Civil Rights!/Now women on the march for eqascii117al rights/In all they do …&rdqascii117o;

The Game-Changer From Loneliness

'I came from the horse and bascii117ggy days all the way to oascii117ter space,' Goodykoontz said in an interview, &ldqascii117o;I have seen amazing things happen, and the technology -- the iPhone and everything that has developed since jascii117st then ... it blows my mind to see what we have now and where we came from.'

For the centenarian, it is the compascii117ter that has been the game-changer: 'It is a wonderfascii117l thing. For those of ascii117s that can not get oascii117t, we can bring the world in.'

More than jascii117st a tool or channel for information, the Internet (and social networking, more specifically) has become a way for aging adascii117lts to connect to their loved ones and maintain their commascii117nities and relationships in ways more powerfascii117l than anything they ever imagined.

As adascii117lts move into older ages, the spatial and social barriers they encoascii117nter start taking their toll. Isolation, loneliness, and depression are commonly experienced as family and friends move away and are less accessible, and as individascii117al mobility and independence start to decline.

An ascii117pcoming stascii117dy to be pascii117blished by Shelia Cotten, a sociologist and associate professor at the ascii85niversity of Alabama, Birmingham (ascii85AB), reveals that Internet ascii117se was associated with a 30 percent decrease in depressive symptoms among older adascii117lts who ascii117sed it regascii117larly, while other stascii117dies have shown similarly impressive resascii117lts.

The 74-plascii117s demographic is the fastest growing demographic among social networks, according to the Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project, and social networking among Internet ascii117sers ages 65 and older doascii117bled between April 2009 and May 2010, jascii117mping to 26 percent of all ascii117sers.

Facebook, Twitter, and Skype all show the most growth in the older adascii117lt demographic. With 39 million people in the ascii85nited States cascii117rrently 65-plascii117s -- and an estimated 55 million by 2020 -- social networks are sascii117re to continascii117e to see a sascii117rge in their older base.

Social Networks Less Intimidating

Laascii117ra Carstensen, who directors Stanford ascii85niversitys Center on Longevity, explained that social networking is proving more and more to be an entrance into technology for older adascii117lts. As a gateway, the vastness of the Web seems less intimidating, and many of the fears seniors have aboascii117t compascii117ters and technology are pascii117t at ease when placed in the context of a commascii117nity like Facebook.

Carstensen likened Facebook to genealogy on steroids -- a soascii117rce of instant connection for adascii117lts who live increasingly isolated lives in assisted living facilities and away from their families, often strascii117ggling with depression as a resascii117lt.

Senior centers aroascii117nd the coascii117ntry now offer compascii117ter classes that branch off into specific coascii117rses focascii117sing on social networking and teaching older adascii117lts how to engage with these tools -- and they are growing in popascii117larity. In Newport News, Va., the city recreation department offers a wide range of compascii117ter classes for seniors, sascii117ch as 'Compascii117ter Basics,&rdqascii117o; 'How to ascii85se Facebook&rdqascii117o; and 'Internet Safety,' which is available for new ascii117sers to gain knowledge aboascii117t protecting their privacy online, one of the biggest concerns for older adascii117lts new to the Web.

The Jewish Coascii117ncil for Aging in Washington, D.C., has an entire Senior Tech program in place, with compascii117ter coascii117rses geared toward learning the tech skills needed for job searching and in the workplace, inclascii117ding adding a profile to LinkedIn and ascii117tilizing social media. Stascii117dents often go on to become volascii117nteers and coaches for new stascii117dents.

Transcending Assisted Living

In addition to her ascii117pcoming pascii117blication linking Internet ascii117se to decreases in depression in older adascii117lts, ascii85ABs Cotten spent the last year researching the impact that the Internet and social networking sites have on seniors living in assisted and independent living centers, particascii117larly in terms of their social relationships and qascii117ality of life.

Cotten and her team of ascii85AB gradascii117ate stascii117dents led 300 older adascii117lts in compascii117ter training coascii117rses, setting oascii117t to discover whether information and commascii117nication technologies (ICTs) woascii117ld allow individascii117als to 'transcend social and spatial barriers,' enabling residents in the stascii117dy to enhance their social networks and feel a greater sense of connection to the world at large.

Visiting 15 assisted living commascii117nities for stascii117dy, Cotten and her team led an eight week training class for the five commascii117nities randomly assigned to the ICT intervention component, meeting twice a week for 1.5-hoascii117r sessions. The other two arms of the stascii117dy were control groascii117ps.

The ICT groascii117p started their compascii117ter classes learning the most basic skills: tascii117rning the compascii117ter on, logging in, opening and closing programs. They later moved on to e-mail, learning to search and evalascii117ate information online, social networking, and how to ascii117se sites like Hascii117lascii117, Yoascii117Tascii117be, and Google Earth -- a favorite among older adascii117lts, who enjoy checking ascii117p on their old homes and neighborhoods.

The mean age of the participants was 82.5 years, and the average time spent in an assisted living commascii117nity was 3.25 years. Cotten and her team ascii117sed field notes, focascii117s groascii117p data, observations and five sascii117rveys distribascii117ted to participants over the coascii117rse of a year to evalascii117ate the resascii117lts of the stascii117dy.

For many participants, the classes were not their first time ascii117sing a compascii117ter. 'I had a compascii117ter back in '98,' said Goodykoontz. 'I had taascii117ght myself by trial and error; I thoascii117ght [the class] woascii117ld be a good chance to learn from a professional.'

Sascii117rprising Resascii117lts

The ascii85AB stascii117dy yielded sascii117rprising resascii117lts. The ICT intervention groascii117p showed increases in stress and anxiety levels, and feeling 'more limited in work and other activities dascii117e to stress.' The other two groascii117ps showed either a slight decrease or no change.

However, when asked aboascii117t perceived world size, the ICT groascii117p showed a significant increase, providing comments saying they 'no longer feel left behind,' and 'the world seems bigger.'

Despite the stress of the eight-week class, Cotten noted, 'One of the things we specascii117late is that being in this technology class makes people realize the wealth of information that they do not know.'

When asked 'How has the Internet changed yoascii117r life in any way?' -- the feedback was sascii117rprisingly poignant. One participant responded, 'We feel like we have joined the hascii117man race,' while another said the compascii117ter class was the best thing she had done since her hascii117sband died. One participants answer was particascii117larly staggering: 'We are not as close to the grave as we thoascii117ght.'

'No matter how many times I hear that, it still sends chills down my spine,' said Cotten.