Seniors and Technology

While attending an event called Bethlehem on Broad, hosted by Broad St. United Methodist Church, I was reminded of some conflicting findings our team has recently come across as we began researching and identifying effective outreach strategies: Are seniors using technology? According to one gentleman, who was one of over 1,300 participants registered to receive a food-box full of what would become Christmas dinner, seniors are in fact using technology.

Having had some trouble with the printer we were using, I asked the gentleman if he had an email address I could use to send him another, more legible, copy of his application.  This one question lead to an entire conversation about how he used technology in his life; his email habits, the new printer he had just purchased, and how he found information about available services.

According to Anita Herbert and Leon Ginsberg, authors of Human Services for Older Adults: Concepts and Skills, mass media is an ineffective way of soliciting older adults (pg. 83).  Mass media could include anything from newspapers to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Instead, the article suggests face-to-face outreach methods, such as door-to-door canvassing.

Being a self-diagnosed technology geek myself, I tend to disagree.  I see older folks using various forms of technology on a regular basis: smart phones, computers, social networking sites, blogs, and so on.  I believe these new methods of accessing information will only continue to grow in popularity with our aging community.

As our team dives further and further into our research we will begin to draw conclusions on this topic, but I am very curious to hear some of your thoughts on seniors and technology.  Are they using it? Does your organization or company use technology-based outreach strategies to target seniors? Have you had a specific experience that might provide some insight to our team? Please let me know – dhansen@ohiofoodbanks.org.