Retired and well-wired

ron says: I want this for us... a good read.

Retired and well-wired: "Retired and well-wired
Terwilliger Plaza's computer-using senior citizens are the opposite of technophobic
Friday, June 23, 2006
JOHN FOYSTON

They call it the T-Factor at Terwilliger Plaza, a buzzword that suggests this Southwest Portland retirement facility is well-wired and computer-friendly.

'You've been busy this month,' computer wrangler Rick Fox told a couple dozen residents at a recent monthly meeting of the Terwilliger Users Group. 'With 80 active members, you're downloading about 30 gigabytes of information a day, and we've logged about 200 to 300 e-mails daily -- about 9,000 a month.'

Fox manages computer, phone and security systems at Terwilliger Plaza, and has worked hard to encourage residents to become computer proficient.

Around here, the image of the technophobic senior citizen who pines for the days of vacuum tubes and rotary-dial phones doesn't fly, thanks in part to the T-Factor. Instead, Plaza residents are video-conferencing with their kids, surfing the Web for their next travel destination, ordering their weekly groceries, paying their taxes or buying Christmas gifts on Amazon.

They're staying in touch with the world through e-mail and the T-Net home page, where they can call up TriMet schedules, read menus for the ground-floor restaurant, contact staff members or browse the resident roster."