UK Digital Champion call to promote internet benefits to the over-65s supported by post-retirement research from specialist Tutors 4 Computers.

PRESS DISPENSARY - Monday, Jul 12, 2010 - The UK government's Digital Champion, Martha Lane Fox, calls this morning for internet organisations across the country to promote the benefits of being online to the over 65s, 6.4m of whom have never used the internet, with 63% seeing no reason to do so*. Tutors 4 Computers (http://www.tutors4computers.co.uk ), a Dorset-based computer training company, specialises in this area, training retired people in the benefits of the internet and how to get online, and has just released the results of a survey which gives silver surfers compelling reasons to be connected.

Tutors 4 Computers owner, Ian Mabb, explains: "We questioned a random sample of 100 of our clients over retirement age, with results which reveal that a full 80% believed that using a computer had made them feel younger. To them, this is largely because they're doing something they perceive to be a 'youngsters' activity' - it clearly gives them 'a spring in their step' and, in some cases, a new lease of life. But it's also likely that the decision-making required to use and surf the internet is actually stimulating their brains and countering the aging process."

Four out of five respondents agreed with the statement that 'doing something they previously thought only younger people could do had made them feel younger'. More than two-thirds (68%) of the respondents agreed strongly.

Mabb adds: "The survey was inspired by Californian research which indicated that internet use stimulates the complex reasoning and decision-making areas of the older brain much more effectively than, say, reading a book, and may even help to ward off common ailments such as Alzheimer's and dementia." The research, conducted by the University of California in 2008 and reported in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, concluded that internet use - and the decision-making required to navigate the web - stimulated silver surfers' brains in the regions that govern decision-making and complex reasoning and could well counteract the age-related physiological changes that cause the brain to slow down, acting in much the same way as crossword puzzles and much more profoundly than reading a book. The results led researchers to speculate whether computer usage can aid retention of a healthy brain in old age and help to offset such afflictions as Alzheimer's and dementia.**

Mabb continues: "The rejuvenation effect is the post compelling reason to be online, once people get hold of the idea, but it's by no means the only one. Some of our older students regularly download music, quite a few exchange news and photos with their children and grandchildren using sites such as Facebook, and we even had a 97-year-old who monitors share prices using the computer in his nursing home."

Tutors 4 Computers client Beryl Todd, 76, says: "It's wonderful to find unexpected fun in life - even for the silver-haired! You feel young again and can become involved in the life of your family. The younger generations are usually quite proud to have an email from Grandma or Grandpa!"

Notes for editors

Tutors 4 Computers was set up by Ian Mabb in 2005 and is based near Bournemouth in Dorset. The company provides one-to-one computer training at customers' homes and small businesses in Bournemouth, Southampton, Salisbury and the New Forest. Despite the recession, business is thriving and the company expects to expand its geographic coverage soon. Prices start from a competitive ?20 per hour.

Beryl Todd and other silver surfers may be available for interview. Please contact Ian Mabb on 08000 757560 or email for details.

* Widely reported this morning, including an interview on Radio 4's Today and an article by Martha Lane Fox in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/12/digital-divide-martha-lane-fox

** See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7667610.stm .

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