90% of 50 to 65s communicate on the Web

Recent research from Justretired indicates that increasing numbers of over 50s use email to communicate with friends and family. Sixty-five per cent of this group regularly shop on the Internet.

Age Concern manager for development of technology and digital inclusion Nancy Johnson said that the over 65s' demographic still need to be educated about the Internet. She said: "Access is important, but the key to getting older people online is making sure education and training is available to demystify online technology and also demonstrate the potential benefits of going digital."

Older people are likely more and more to gain the incentive to learn how to go online so they will be able to take advantage of cheaper shopping prices and the ease of emailing friends and family all over the world.

Even the numbers of older social networkers have grown recently, especially in the 50 to 65 group.

For older people who can't use a keyboard there are several ways of adapting a computer to suit their needs. For example you can have a visual representation of a keyboard on the screen and select letters from it using a mouse or joystick. Also available are "text-to-speak" features and magnifiers to help you see the screen more clearly.

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