Don Kent
President & Chairman of Net Literacy

At Net Literacy (www.netliteracy.org), we have four core digital inclusion programs, and the intergenerational Senior Connects program was this nonprofit’s first community service outreach initiative. Senior Connects (www.seniorconnects.org) is an intergenerational program that benefits both the student volunteers and senior citizens. In about eight 45 minute lessons, they learn basic computer, Internet, and Internet safety skills. Senior citizens also receive email accounts so they can correspond with their friends, family members, and especially their grandchildren. While senior citizens learn how to use the Internet so they can access local news and weather, keep up with their hobbies, and play bridge and crossword puzzles, it’s reconnecting them with their adult children and grandchildren that motivates most of them to take the Senior Connects classes.

Access to the Internet via broadband makes senior citizens’ world “grow a little larger.” Teaching computer, Internet, and Internet safety literacy to mature Americans has many benefits. To some seniors that are mobility-impaired or lack reliable transportation, they tell us that their world is “growing a little smaller.” Empowering seniors to be Internet literate shows them how they can stay connected with friends and family, gives them access to online health information, and provides them access to new forms of entertainment. That is why it is so important to maintain policies that encourage continued private-sector investment in the broadband network.

The success of the Senior Connects program proves that “friendly student volunteers” can teach computer and Internet skills to seniors who were born long before the dawn of the Internet Age. The students believe that broadband and the Internet can enrich the lives of seniors and “make their world grow a little larger.” Through our Senior Connects program at Net Literacy, we are proving that nothing can reduce the generational gap quite like broadband!

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