Teenagers and often their parents (who should know better) do roll dice with their health, based on erroneous ideas about genetics and longevity and other health-related matters. As you’ve observed, we need to provide information, but information alone doesn’t always lead to behaviour change.

I feel strongly about this. We need to regard all myths or beliefs about again as b***sh**! All they do is perpetuate EVERYONE’s lack of empowerment, even people as young as teenagers. I’ve discussed with teenagers their health; they comment how their longevity is determined by their genes or how their grandfather smoked until he was dead at age 85. They completely take away any free will and roll the dice with their health.

The truth is that the elderly are the cornerstones of older societies (thinking of tribes and native cultures). They are nurtured for their wisdom and they are expected to contribute in daily tasks no matter what their age!

You are doing an amazing job addressing the myths! I think it is a very important part in society learning to embrace age.

Of those aged 50-64: 22% don’t use the internet; 78% do.
Of those aged 65 and over: 51% don’t use the internet; 49% do.
Of those who do use the internet, 42% have been going online for more than 10 years.

Although the sample size was small (1,013 people), the results confirm my conclusion that the number of people over 50 or so who use computers regularly should increase over time, and the number who don’t use them should, correspondingly, decrease.

@Justin I think that in order to address these age myths people need to be more aware of seniors and their contributions to society. I think in some cases people don’t even realize that a person is considered a senior. In their mind all seniors live in retirement homes.

At 88 years of age she just bought a brand new Mac and is now very excited about expanding her computer prowess to include word processing to write letters, and record family history.

Computers are a real boon to the elderly!

@Krishna, I completely agree that “different people have different perspectives on the role of technology in life and it’s not so much dependent on age, as on various other factors….” A lot gets attributed to age, rather than simply to personal preference. Thank you also for your kind comment about the new format of my blog.

@Arvind, Thank you for the comment. I don’t necessarily believe that we get smarter as we age, but I certainly don’t believe that aging is a very short, very rapid decline physically, mentally, and every other way.

I choose to believe that we actually smarter and brighter as we get older!

My father who passed away at the age of 80 almost exxactly 2 years ago was surfing the net and was quite accomplished with computers. He self-taught himself and also attended some classes intially.

Sometimes he used to get frustrated with the technology but that had nothing to do with his age, just his level of knowledge and expertise at that time.

And yes, to echo Justin, what can we do to start addressing these myths?

Also, love the new format of your blog, looks very nice…