Dear LPG,

There is a myth that everybody over 60 is technologically inept,  but we elders know that it is just a myth.

Of course, we did not have cell phones and computers when we were kids, but many of us have made an effort to learn what is needed to use word processors, check the news on digital newspapers, or even publish our own articles online, so it is not fair to say that being old means being unable to use new technologies.

However, some seniors feel a bit overwhelmed by the rapid pace of change in technology, so they prefer to stay “disconnected”. You might not have thought about the positive impacts that social media can have in your life, but there are good reasons why the elderly should consider grabbing the mouse and going online.

For example, Social media helps us stay in touch with other people. You can easily check how your family members are doing, no matter how far they live, and platforms such as Facebook allow us to chat with people that we thought we would never see again. You can participate in thousands of online debates on Twitter and you can follow your favourite movie stars on Instagram. Social media is also a great source of information and makes finding and sharing interesting articles very easy (we all should be careful with the quality of some pieces of information though).

If you are reading this, it means that, at some point, you learnt how to use an Internet browser. It probably looked very hard at the beginning, but you managed to accomplish it. So why don’t you take the next step?

OV, Chinbrook.