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ICT can help the elderly to improve their quality of life, stay healthier, live independently for longer and remain active at work or in their community. A wide range of services could be offered to address daily needs such as: • Social communication: easy and continuous access to phone and video conversations, overcoming social isolation;• Daily shopping: easy ordering of goods online for home delivery;• Safety: security systems to lock/unlock entrance doors and windows or to check for water and/or gas leaks, etc or installation of user friendly interfaces for domestic and other appliances;• Health: telemedicine from home, wearable systems for monitoring and diagnosis of individuals with a chronic disease (such as heart disease and diabetes). In many EU countries where over half of people aged 65+ live alone, such technologies can significantly extend the time that elderly people live independently in their own house, while at the same time avoid costs for hospitalisation and provide a basis for additional applications in the future (robotics, embedded systems, biosensors, etc...).

What are seniors looking at? The same things as everyone else, in large part: search engines, adult sites and shopping & classified sites. However, they do spend more time than other demographics on sites about travel and news & media sites.

The ageing population and privatisation of social services (Rytkönen 1995) may also provide new Internet based business opportunities.

More than one third of households in Finland already have computers, and host to population ration is 88.11 per 100 000 habitants, the highest in the world (TELMO 1998)

The question remains, nonetheless, how capable or willing the elderly people, or their helpers, are to use ITC

Research shows that only one out of three elderly people (over the age of sixty-five) are using the Internet. As a result, usability is a major issue. Vision along with hearing problems are a major contributor to the uneasiness many older adults feel. In direct correlation, this is one result of the many interfaces of the internet. Therefore, the demands of the new media on older adults are examined along with the physical and psychological changes older adults may have while using the Internet. Lastly, the article provides ideas on how changing interfaces on the internet will put older adults at a great advantage in the new media.

Older people frequently report problems with these tasks because of mobility issues, inconvenience, and fear of crime. Shopping, banking and even taking control of their health-care online, could improve these problems and allow seniors to play a more active role in their own social lives.