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Older Americans Online: Are They or Aren't They?

We've talked about it before, but it just keeps coming up in the news! The baby boomer generation has such a great presence online - and the nation is taking notice.
This article from CNBC takes a look at how baby boomers are utilizing social networking sites to voice their opionon - instead of the old days of sit-ins and protest signs. The article points out that a quick Facebook search brings up pages on issues like reverse mortgages, health care reform and workplace ageism - and guess who the members (and creators) of those groups are! Boomers! Boomers are like the middle children of generations - they influence their parents' and their children's generations - and they sure are making themselves heard by all online.
All this information is interesting considering the statistics that this article from the Wall Street Journal yesterday cites. According to the article, about 35% of American households do not subscribe to high-speed broadband internet access. Breaking up that population up into different categories, older Americans fall into the "Digitally Distant" group. The article says it's is made up of a high proportion of Americans over the age of 63 who "don't know how to use a PC" or "don't see the point of the internet." Hmmm...
Looks like according to all this news, there is a large disparity of comfort levels among older Americans online. Where do you fall?

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