Do latest technologies empowered silver surfers really exist?

Title: Older adults' use of information and communications technology in everyday life NEIL SELWYN,STEPHEN GORARD, JOHN FURLONG,LOUISE MADDEN Ageing and Society (2003), 23 : pp 561-582 Albeit this paper is from 2003 (and I only just discovered it!) it's reassuring to read similar findings to the ones I have made with my research. I believe that not much has changed in the landscape of older adults' ICT use since 2003. Selwyn et al write: "Above all it is clear that to conceptualise all older adults with the popular notion of a polarisation between the ‘cannots’ and the highly empowered silver surfers is misleading. Indeed, the construction of the highly resourced, motivated silver surfer using ICTs for a range of ‘high-tech’ applications is erroneous." The paper concludes by considering how political and academic assumptions about older people and ICTs might be refocused, away from trying to ‘change’ older adults, and towards involving them in changing ICT. Can someone provide me with an example of a highly resourced and motivated silver surfer? reference to the paper

Why an ageing population is an encouraging sign

Hania Zlotnik, director of the UN Population Division, sees an ageing population as an encouraging sign since people have fewer children. In her opinion the greatest challenge for an ageing world population is economic adaptation. By 2050, more than one in five of the 9 billion people on Earth will be over the age of 60, according to a U.N. report. read article here read article about newest population numbers here