Irish examiner how old is too old

The Cork Examiner provides our members with access to a real view of the effects that The Great Irish Famine had on Cork and the surrounding areas. The Cork Examiner also carried international news and was the very first European newspaper to print news of the American civil war. The County of Cork had a large port where the reporters rowed out to transatlantic ships togather stories from across the water.

The County of Cork is also synonymous with the tragic Titanic and The Cork Examiner was the last newspaper to take photographs of the Titanic on its maiden voyage. The Cork Examiner had a conservative nationalist agenda which supported the Fine Geal political party.

The fortunate among us benefitted from skills acquired in pre-Covid times, reaping the reward of intergenerational families and the digital knowledge gleaned from younger family members. The pace of digital change and development can be astonishing — so much so that I sometimes wonder if young children are born predisposed to technical wizardry.

It is certainly a world away from the technological leaps that marked out my own generation, which grew up celebrating the arrival of the public phone box on the village street, or even electricity itself. Yet for all its benefits, it is also true that digital exclusion remains a reality for a significant portion of our older population.

While many do not have the means, the equipment, the connectivity, or the skills to get online, others prefer not to engage with the digital, and that is their respected right.

But if the Covid pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we must seek to remove any and all barriers we can to digital access for those who desire it. We have already made strides in that direction. We are fortunate in Ireland to have a number of dedicated groups that offer free tuition and help to anyone who would like to become part of the broader digital community. Internet accessibility continues to improve with broadband and WiFi becoming more widely available.

Access is now often freely available in libraries, town centres and to customers in business premises, and increasingly affordably through our phones. Innovation is also playing its part. Take for example one excellent Irish product — the Acorn Smart Tablet, which is designed specifically as an age-friendly device. Tested by older people, it simplifies internet access with its easy-to-use features and is highly portable.

Telephone companies are also developing smartphones that are increasingly user-friendly and intuitive. Still, there is more that can and should be done. Digital literacy and digital access is something that simply must be made available to all who desire it, whatever their age. It is to be hoped that government will explore new initiatives to that end — perhaps including the subsidisation of digital equipment for older people, as they once did with telephones.

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