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Silver Surfers

Editorial May 2005

Some older doctors are still hesitant to fully embrace the internet revolution, but those who take the plunge rarely turn back to cumbersome print communication.

The world has changed already in the 21st millennium so much that it has to be faced, as The Times reported on General Election Day about Silver Surfers' Day 27 May, that "the internet is communication".

For scpnet.com to develop as SCP members and visitors to the Society of Clinical Psychiatrists ' website would wish, feedback from readers, with contributions to our Points of View section, is essential. We would be grateful if each and every one of you takes a few moments to let us know, using the SCP feedback form, your experience of psychiatry on the internet and whether scpnet is serving your needs, with any suggestions for how we might do better?

Please provide contact information for us to get back to you.

P G Woolf

Silver surfers : riding the crest of the internet wave [The Times May 05, 2005]

Only 12 per cent of people over 60 are computer literate — but Silver Surfers' Day this month is a sign of their growing power - - There are even more computer illiterate senior citizens in Britain than there are functionally illiterate schoolleavers, and they are just as excluded from mainstream society - - internet use has revolutionised our lives to such an extent that it is now a serious disability to be unable to use the technology.

The predictions are for greater internet dominance, pushing people who can't or won't use computers farther into disadvantage. Beyond 60, however, only 12 per cent can use the internet, which means that the web revolution has started without 88 per cent of the people who may need it the most. Senior technophobes have many excuses - - Many older potential users can't see the point - - people who say they're “not interested” - - don't like feeling that the world has changed so much that the internet is communication.

SCPNET Editorials do not necessarily represent the views of the Society unless so stated.