Search is on for over 55 year old internet champions

Internet-savvy older people remain very much in the minority. That’s because millions of older people still lack both access to, and the skills to use, information technology. While 76 per cent of the UK’s population regularly use the internet, 64 per cent in the over 65 age group have never used it.

Age Concern and Help the Aged has been working alongside BT since 2005 helping older people to get online, learn about new technologies and use ICT to improve their quality of life. Now a UK-wide search has been launched to find an ‘Internet Champion’ to represent the charity and provide an inspirational person aged over 55 to champion the benefits of getting online.

As Nancy Johnston, technology and digital inclusion development manager at Age Concern and Help the Aged, explains: “It’s about finding somebody who older people can identify with and who can show them that with a little basic training, going online is a possibility for everyone. The research we carried out with BT found that when people saw other people just like themselves using and benefitting from technology, they became much less resistant to trying it for themselves. There was a real element of ‘if they can do it then so can I’ attitude evident.”

To find out more about becoming Age Concern and Help the Aged’s Internet Champion, visit http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/internet-champion.asp

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