Aged Communications

The Cypress Senior Citizens Center is seeking "phone friends." The center is recruiting volunteers to make daily calls to older residents who live alone or who are shut-ins because of illnesses. Volunteers "will call daily from their homes to check on the well-being of up to five [people] who have requested the service," said Phyllis Campbell, a spokeswoman for the center.

That stereotypical image of the American teenager glued to the phone needs an update. A new study from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 37% of Internet users ages 12 to 17 participate in video chats using such applications as Skype, Google Talk and iChat - and girls are more likely to engage in them than boys. "As more and more devices in our lives have video capabilities - as laptops and computers come with built-in video cameras, and many smartphones have cameras that allow for video chatting, for taking videos - teens are taking advantage of that," said Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist with Pew Research Center.

Sol Ballotin, 85, has made a new friend over the Internet. He doesn't know where she lives, what she looks like or even what her real name is. But as often as twice a week, Ballotin, who lives in a retirement community in Torrance, carefully taps out messages on a computer to the high school student he knows as "Bear."

Seeking to prevent what critics say could be a public relations fiasco, Nevada Bell has begun phone service for an ailing 85-year-old grandmother, one of several rural California residents who have sued the utility for refusing to provide them service. But the company's position has not changed in regard to 35 other residents without phone service who live on the California side of Sandy Valley, an isolated community split by a state border.

Seeking to prevent what critics say could be a public relations fiasco, Nevada Bell has begun phone service for an ailing 85-year-old grandmother, one of several rural California residents who have sued the utility for refusing to provide them service. But the company's position has not changed in regard to 35 other residents without phone service who live on the California side of Sandy Valley, an isolated community split by a state border.

Sol Ballotin, 85, has made a new friend over the Internet. He doesn't know where she lives, what she looks like or even what her real name is. But as often as twice a week, Ballotin, who lives in a retirement community in Torrance, carefully taps out messages on a computer to the high school student he knows as "Bear."

Increasingly, as home computer use explodes, the person logging on is a retiree. "We see the senior computer-users as cutting edge," says Mary Furlong, president of SeniorNet, a San Francisco-based organization that teaches computer skills to senior citizens and operates a network available to people 55 and older through America Online. "There's a tremendous reserve of talent in the older population and a computer is just the tool to utilize it," she says.

That stereotypical image of the American teenager glued to the phone needs an update. A new study from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 37% of Internet users ages 12 to 17 participate in video chats using such applications as Skype, Google Talk and iChat - and girls are more likely to engage in them than boys. "As more and more devices in our lives have video capabilities - as laptops and computers come with built-in video cameras, and many smartphones have cameras that allow for video chatting, for taking videos - teens are taking advantage of that," said Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist with Pew Research Center.

Sol Ballotin, 85, has made a new friend over the Internet. He doesn't know where she lives, what she looks like or even what her real name is. But as often as twice a week, Ballotin, who lives in a retirement community in Torrance, carefully taps out messages on a computer to the high school student he knows as "Bear."

Sol Ballotin, 85, has made a new friend over the Internet. He doesn't know where she lives, what she looks like or even what her real name is. But as often as twice a week, Ballotin, who lives in a retirement community in Torrance, carefully taps out messages on a computer to the high school student he knows as "Bear."

The Cypress Senior Citizens Center is seeking "phone friends." The center is recruiting volunteers to make daily calls to older residents who live alone or who are shut-ins because of illnesses. Volunteers "will call daily from their homes to check on the well-being of up to five [people] who have requested the service," said Phyllis Campbell, a spokeswoman for the center.

Increasingly, as home computer use explodes, the person logging on is a retiree. "We see the senior computer-users as cutting edge," says Mary Furlong, president of SeniorNet, a San Francisco-based organization that teaches computer skills to senior citizens and operates a network available to people 55 and older through America Online. "There's a tremendous reserve of talent in the older population and a computer is just the tool to utilize it," she says.