A few years ago I attempted to conduct a short introductory class about the internet with a group of about ten eighty year olds on my kibbutz. The class started with two strikes against it: We had at our disposal two computers, only one with an internet connection, and an inconsistent one at that. Still, interest was high, and I was hopeful that that would be enough to make things work. I'd done my research into seniors' web sites and I expected my students to take an interest in them. Until I thought things through, however, I was surprised when they didn't.

It turned out that although my students were definitely interested in getting acquainted with the World Wide Web (e-mail with their grandchildren overseas also interested them, but not having separate addresses made real communication almost impossible) senior's web sites hardly attracted them at all. Each person wanted to find information on a particular topic, or about a hobby, that he or she was involved with, but senior's web sites weren't on this list. I was surprised, and tried to convince them that the web offered them a chance to establish contact with people like them, dealing with similar problems. What I hadn't taken into consideration was the fact that my students, living on kibbutz, were in contact with numerous people like them every day. They weren't closed off to the world in their private apartments and thus in need of the internet in order to be with others like them. Almost the opposite: if they were interested in contact with other people at all, it was with people different from them.