DECATUR, Ill. (AP) - Waymond Ledbetter is more connected than your average 86-year-old.
Ledbetter, a resident at Primose Retirement Community, admitted he doesn’t get online as much as he used to since losing his eyesight. But for years, Ledbetter used the internet to read NASCAR news and check out the Herald & Review. And he still uses a magnifying tool connected to his television that helps him read fine print.
According to the Pew Research Center, the number of American adults on the internet has risen from 52 percent of the population in 2000 to 87 percent in 2015. While the number of seniors (65 and older) online has also risen dramatically - from 14 percent in 2000 to 59 percent in 2015 - it’s still the largest demographic not online. Of those 80 and older, 37 percent got online in 2013 and just 21 percent had broadband internet in their homes.
Primrose offers computers in public areas that its residents can use. But many residents have personal computers, smartphones and other technologies they utilize for entertainment and to stay connected with families.
Primrose Sales Director Kate Stankovic said personal computers are encouraged, but many choose to use the public one instead.
“We make sure they have the opportunity to use a computer if they want it,” Stankovic said. “A lot of times they find it easier if they don’t have to maintain it. Those are a lot of the issues we have, dealing with spam and things like that.”
Ledbetter purchased a home computer more than a decade ago he still owns. His wife Marjorie, who died in September of 2015, was never interested in the computer - “she never even learned how to turn it on.” But Ledbetter - an 86-year-old former Staley supervisor - eventually got hooked.
“I’ve always messed around with computers and stuff like that, and I had the kids to help me with stuff when I’d get in trouble,” Ledbetter said. “I don’t turn it on as much because I can’t see, but I still have the high speed internet. I used to check a lot of stuff, mainly NASCAR, and get email from the kids, played a lot of hearts … but it’s hard now, because I can’t see the writing.”
Ledbetter, though, still watches plenty of Netflix. He also has a VHS-to-DVD burner he has used to transfer his collection of movies.
“I like the good John Wayne movies and old westerns,” Ledbetter said. “If there’s any writing on there I can’t see what it is, but I still watch shows and movies.”
Ledbetter also likes to keep the internet for when any of his three children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren visit.
“You know how kids are these days,” Ledbetter said. “They all have their phones tied into the Wi-Fi here.”
Another Primrose resident, 89-year-old Betty Kinsler, was never too interested in the internet. She tried email for a while, but found she preferred talking on the phone.
“I could tell what was going on with them better by their voices,” Kinsler said.
But Kinsler has always loved to read. As macular degeneration began to cause her eyesight to worsen, she found an option that helped - tablets.
Kinsler tried a few different e-readers before settling on the tablet she has now. She uses an app called OverDrive that’s connected to the library and has a feature that makes the words large enough for her to see. She also uses the Amazon app to buy books.
“We’ve had times she’s ran into some roadblocks with her bringing up the book she wants in the app, but we usually work together to get it,” Stankovic said.
Kinsler said she enjoys reading books about history and romances.
“I never used to like history, but as I got older I found it was something I enjoyed, especially the settling of the West,” Kinsler said.
Kinsler also uses an enlarger and subscribes to the Illinois Radio Reader Service, which sends, for free, tapes that feature a variety of information, including newspapers articles.
Primrose resident Kathryn Brink doesn’t get online, but stays connected with the goings-on of her family through a machine called a “Presto” that her daughter bought her. A Presto can receive emails, photos and other documents from a Presto-provided email address.
Brink has photo printouts covering her refrigerator and, last week, had just received photos of her grandson and his wife from their camping trip at Mount Kilimanjaro. She likes to bring the photos down to breakfast to show her friends.
“I like it because I only get things that are from people who are registered with my account, like my family - I don’t get that junk stuff,” Brink said. “And I don’t have to do anything. I just get the pictures.”
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Source: (Decatur) Herald & Review, https://bit.ly/2ksPIKM
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Information from: Herald & Review, https://www.herald-review.com
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