The Pioneer Press has a nice article today on seniors online. The interesting statistic was that just 35 percent of Americans over the age of 65 use Internet. I was kind of surprised by that. Only 30 percent were online in November 2006. But I’m not sure that I think of that has a huge leap. I think that means that people who turned 65 in that time are online but I don’t know that it indicates that a lot of people over 70 are online.

A couple of the Blandin Get Broadband communities provided training to seniors, often through the library, a nursing home or community education center. I used to volunteer at the library to train folks on the Internet – and many who came were seniors. The article talked about getting private tutors. For folks who can afford it, I think the idea of having a private tutor come to the house is the way to go. That way the tutor can set up the computer and the learner knows the skills are going to transfer.

There is an organization called SeniorNet, created by and for seniors. It’s a national group but they have local branches, including a number of places to go in Minnesota for training. I think getting more seniors using the Internet will help boost the need for broadband. To start with I think most folks use email or Google. But the resources are there to jump quickly into using higher bandwidth applications – downloading video of grandkids or taking college courses online. I think the potential is there for serious bandwidth applications, such as those related to telemedicine are around the corner. It seems like once more seniors are online, the demand for telemedicine might have an impact on the supply of applications and access to broadband.