Plugging In
How online are you? How does being online—and engaging with aging-related media— impact your experience of getting older? An Open Thread, with prompts from the folks at the "Never Post" podcast...
Readers,
On Wednesday, in his Oldster Magazine Questionnaire, 72-year-old
wrote:For all its downsides, I love being alive in the age of the internet. I'm a lifelong learner. Having so much information at my fingertips is a dream come true.
It was the perfect setup for today’s post, a Friday Open Thread where we talk about our online habits and how they influence our experience of aging, with prompts from Audrey Evans, a researcher and producer for a podcast called Never Post, about life on the internet.
Online activity is a growing part of life for everyone. I know this is true for me, not only because the work of publishing newsletters digitally keeps me plugged into the internet most days, but also because the Covid 19 pandemic made it so that, for a few years, being online was one of the only ways of connecting with others. It led to even more online activity, as a regular feature of my life. And I would have described myself as “extremely online” before lockdown.
There are moments when I feel bad about it. Online activity is kind of addictive, and most of the people I know who are very online strive to be less so. But there are other moments when I think my habits are fairly normal—this is just what we do, and how we are, at this time in the world. I mean, the internet is kind of a miracle. It’s astonishing how much information is constantly at our fingertips, and how easily it allows us to connect over distances. Why wouldn’t we take maximal advantage of it?
In any case, if you, like me, are spending more time online, you’re not alone. Evans pointed me to a study by the Pew Research Center showing that there’s been a significant increase in online activity among those over 65.
Regarding today’s open thread, Audrey Evans from Never Post writes:
I’m interested in exploring aging online, in particular the collective, co-created, and intergenerational aspects of aging online that are made possible by projects like Oldster, as well as other online communities and forums.
My theory is that being online while aging is a somewhat novel thing, or, at least we are doing/shaping/making/redefining aging in novel ways online.
Are we aging differently, somehow, in part because we are online? What is the transformative or radical potential?
So let’s find out about your online habits, and the impact they are having on your experience of aging. In the comments please tell us…
How old are you? How online are you—as in, how much do you use the internet? How about other aging-related media—what other magazines, newsletters, podcasts, etc., about aging do you read and listen to? Do you feel as if being online and engaging with aging-related media like Oldster is affecting your experience of getting older, or your attitude toward it? How so? Does being made aware of other people’s experiences of aging impact your choices around, and attitudes toward it? Do you feel as if intergenerational learning is facilitated by aging-related media? Have you learned things from people younger and/or older than you this way?
(That’s a lot of questions! Feel free to answer as many or as few as you’d like to.)
In a few weeks, I will appear on Never Post, in an episode that incorporates your responses here. I’ll be sure to share a link with you when it’s live.
What we’re doing today is kind of like what we did back in March, when I asked you all whether you felt pressure to “age well” in any way, in preparation for my appearance on
’s Loss Encounters podcast.
Thanks, as always, for weighing in, for reading—and for being the most thoughtful, engaged commentariat on the internet (or at least that I’ve ever encountered!). And thank you for all your support. 🙏 Have a great weekend!
-Sari
P.S. Update! I forgot to include this funny story!: In 1993, when I was writing for music publications, I went on a date with a guy who was then the president of VH1. He asked me what I, a person younger than him by 10 or 15 years, thought of the internet, and I told him, “Oh, I think it’s just a fad.” 😂 (He left VH1 to found Prodigy.)
Prior to retirement, I was very much involved with technology and have worked at staying aware of changes/ trends. My iPad and iPhone are my constant companions. I am researching, reading newsletters, running images through Google lens, making purchases, paying bills, participating in social media, corresponding through text, all day every day. At 72, living alone away from family, online technology is a life line.
I am a quiet and very shy person. I have had only a few close friends...2 of my dearest left this earth earlier this year. I am 70 plus in years. Certain health problems limit my mobility a bit. I love being online. It helps me to stay in contact with other people and allows me access to many subjects. I do not spend as much time as I once did at the public library.