Think of the iPad for your Elderly Parents, Boomers – TechAndBoomers – 10 Nov 2010

I know that many Baby Boomers are still in the sandwich generation, caring for loved ones who now are elderly. It's been interesting to me to find out that some of us are using technology to enhance the quality of life of older people whose minds might be shining as brightly as ever, but who have some physical limitation that keeps them tethered to home or even in a nursing home.

In the past, it was difficult to envision packing mom or dad's expensive and fairly heavy laptop with them to go to assisted living, and impossible to figure out how to get Internet access for the laptop. However, with the advent of the iPad older people are bringing their connections to the outside world inside with them.

I recently watched a YouTube video and a news report showing a 99 year old woman with glaucoma rediscovering her love of reading and writing poetry using an iPad which lets her see the letters because of the contrasting screen. I also had been following some posts on the Boomer social networking site eons (www.eons.com) by a devoted daughter, screen named Techie44, who wanted to keep in touch with her 94 year-old mom even though the daughter would be spending the winter many miles away. I contacted Techie44 and asked if I could share her story and she graciously agreed.

In the beginning, Techie44 wasn't sure if the iPad would work for her mom, but she thought that her mother, who has rheumatoid arthritis and is in a nursing home, might be able to master it. I read through Techie44's posts as she weighed the pros and cons of getting what was then a brand new device for her mom. One thing was telling, however. Her mom was already familiar with email and wanted to have her email with her in the nursing home.

After showing her mother the family's iPad and how it worked, Techie44 ordered one for her with Wi-fi and 3G and set up her mother's email accounts to sync with the iPad. She also sent her mom some email so she could practice replying. Thinking about what would make her mom happy, she also loaded the iPad with the Christmas and classical music that her mother loves and put in pictures of the family, as well as some photos of the family camping vacations, since that's what her mom used to love to do.

Significantly, Techie44 signed up for Apple's MobileMe, an application that keeps mobile devices in sync. This was suggested to her by one of the othereons posters and it turned out to be very important. The iPad is the kind of device that can be picked up easily and just "walk out the door" of a nursing home. MobileMe has a feature called "Find my iPhone/iPad" and if someone walked away with the device, it could let Techie44 know where it is.

In an email, Techie44 told me she put a sticker on the outside of the iPad notifying everyone that it could be tracked and that she demonstrated how she could track the device to the people at the nurses station. She also told them that she would prosecute if the device were stolen.  Although she didn't tell me this, I expect she was hoping word of mouth would spread, and anyone thinking of walking away with the device would be forewarned. She also took the added precaution of selecting a pass code her mom could remember, so no one else could borrow the device.

Now I've always contended that MobileMe should be free, and not the $99/year product it is, but I'm willing to say that in this case it's worth the money. An added benefit of  MobileMe is that Techie44 can link her mom up to a "cloud" photo gallery, and the family can update and add pictures to it  from wherever they are, without having to load them directly onto the device. This was also pointed out by another eons poster.

So how is it going? Techie44's mom has arthritis, so hitting all the right icons and keys on the iPad is somewhat of a challenge, but she is managing, and enjoying the device. She does most of her typing herself but an aide helps her type long letters.  She's listened to her music on the device, but had a bit of a problem figuring out how to shut it off. Thinking ahead, Techie44 showed someone at the nursing home the ins and outs of the iPad so they could help her.

In addition, Techie44 signed her mom up for the Facebook app, so now "Granny" can follow her grand nieces and nephews on the social networking site. She also downloaded an app called iFish Pond that will help her mom pretend she is sitting by a pond when the weather gets cold.

Techie44 says that she made the right choice in getting her mom an iPad. A computer would  have had to sit on a table and her mother would have had to deliberately go to it. The iPad is easy for her mom to carry with her, and the 3G wireless solves the problem of getting Internet access in a nursing home, something that could prove to be nearly impossible. 

One last thing: Techie44 says that the iPad has made a tremendous difference in the quality of her mother's life. She is connected to relatives she hadn't heard from for years and looks forward to receiving her email and photos from her family.  You can't find a more ringing endorsement than that.

I know the post above makes it look like I endorse the iPad or that I'm employed by Apple, but I assure you I am not. I simply believe that this genre of tablet has opened up a new era of computing and is beneficial for society. Many, many tablets are coming into the market soon, but right now Apple essentially stands alone. If the upcoming Linux Android tablets are as easy to use as the iPad, as this author predicts, they too will gain traction with the elderly and will add to the societal goal of helping them stay connected.

Source: http://techandboomers.blogspot.com/2010/11/think-of-ipad-for-your-elderly-parents.html

Blogging and Demographic Groups - onecoolsitebloggingtips - 2 Sept 2010

Posted on September 2, 2010 by timethief

Every generation make its mark by adopting different preferences and standards in language, clothes, music, etc. from the generations that have gone before. Generational determined lifestyles and values have as much influence on buying and purchasing as more common demographic factors such as income, education and gender do. Most of today’s consumers belong to one of three primary generations that typically fall into the following categories: Baby Boomers -born between 1943 and 1964, Generation X- born between 1965 and 1980, Generation Y- born between 1981 and 2000.

Bloggers: Demographic breakdown

June 2010 - With blogs becoming an increasingly popular way for Internet users to get information, it is interesting to see where this content is coming from and who’s writing it. We analyzed more than 100 million blog posts that provided information about their age, gender and location information. — Inside Blog Demographics

* Bloggers in the 21-to-35 year-old demographic group account for 53.3% of the total blogging population.
* People 20-years-old or under are 20.2%
* 36-to-50 year-olds are 19.4%
* 51-years-old and older account for 7.1%.

Online advertising: Generation gap

August 23, 2010 – Only 17 percent of Internet users find online advertising to be appealing and most people considered it to be “intrusive, repetitive, unappealing and cheap,” a study conducted by Connect Insight revealed, NewMediaAge reported. The agency explained that the differences in opinion among age groups are related to the early Internet experiences that older users had. Then advertising was used in an intrusive way, now the younger generation directly interacts with brands and companies through social media.

* 24 percent of the 16-to 34-year-olds do think this type of advertising is appealing
* 50 percent of those over 55 years old said they avoid websites where ads would pop up and “interrupt their online activities.” — Study: Internet users dislike online ads


Baby Boomers

Baby Boomers are the the result of an “explosion” of births occured after soldiers returned home from World War II. The sociologists define those born between (and including) 1946 and 1964 as “baby boomers.” When we think of the baby boomer generation, we often think of the 60s; the decade that seems to have defined the boomers. Since baby boomers make up such a sizable portion of the consuming public, their spending habits and lifestyles have a powerful influence on the economy.

Silver Surfers

Silver Surfers are older adults, generally 50 years of age or older, who frequently surfs the Web and spends time online (“silver” refers to the color of their hair). Unlike neophytes, silver surfers are considered netizens, experienced users of the Net. The phrase silver surfer is commonly heard in the U.K., but applies to midlife adults (generally those in their 40s, 50s and 60s), and seniors (age 70 and over) everywhere.

* Account for 70 percent of the U.S. net worth, controlling $9 trillion;
* Inherit over $12 trillion from their parents — the largest wealth transfer in histor;
* Control 80 percent of the personal financial assets
* Represent 50 percent of U.S. discretionary spending
* Own about 50 percent of all credit cards.

Emerging trends in social networking

August 27, 2010 – According to the studies and surveys conducted by The Pew Research Center and American Life Project social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled — from 22% to 42% over the past year;

(47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one-in-four (26%) users ages 65 and older now use social networking sites;

Between April 2009 and May 2010, internet users ages 50-64 who said they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn grew 88% and those ages 65 and older grew 100% in their adoption of the sites, compared with a growth rate of 13% for those ages 18-29.

The news that older adults from the baby boomer generation and seniors are entering the online environment in significant numbers is important factor to bloggers, who wish to expand their readership by attracting members of those demographic groups.

Attracting Baby Boomers and Silver Surfers

My blog is focused those who are learning to blog and who want to improve their blogging skills and you can see the current demographic data for it in Silver Surfers: The New Social Networking Wave. As there is a dramatic increase in baby boomers becoming silver surfers and taking up blogging, I’m hoping to increase my readership among older internet users. Do you?

* My blog is not in the Legal Adult Content Blogs niche.
* I do not rely on controversy to attract traffic and comments.
* I do maintain a safe environment for commenters, and the language I use is not a barrier to older people online, including baby boomers and silver surfers.
* I choose to use a clean and minimalist theme and the sidear is free of distracting clutter that increases page loading time.
* The only advertising seen on this blog is initated by WordPress.com and I receive no income from it.

Did the over-45s ruin life for the rest of us? - BBC News - 29 March 2010

By Neil Boorman

The richest, most powerful generation that ever lived is embarking on a comfortable retirement. But why does it feel like they've pulled up the ladder with them?

The demographic model of the UK population looks like the side profile of a middle-aged man stuffed into a pair of drainpipe jeans - scrawny at the top and the bottom, with a muffin top in the middle. The skinny chest is the "Silent Generation", born before 1946.

The weedy legs at the bottom are Generations X and Y, the people born after 1964. And the bloated tum and bum in the middle represents the baby boomers, the population explosion that began after World War II.

Baby boomers don't dominate the country in size alone; living through various employment and house price booms, they are the richest and most powerful generation that ever lived.

Source - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8593210.stm