Going Online

How many times has the following happened to you? You telephone your healthinsurance provider, bank, credit-card company, an airline - almost any business - and after pushing “one” or English or “dos” for Spanish, you're told: “Did you know that you can get information about your account 24- hours a day online at….”

You gnash your teeth and say, “If I could go online or wanted to, I wouldn't be on the telephone now, would I?!” You might as well be talking to a machine - oh, wait, you are. It's no use complaining about the growing presumption that everyone can and wants to use the Internet. The fact is, most people are using it. According to Nielsen Online, about 75 percent of the population of the United States does.

And companies are thrilled about it. By making account information available to customers online, they don't have to hire and train as many people to answer phones or staff offices. Also, e-mailing bills is much cheaper than printing and mailing out paper ones. How many times have you been asked lately if you want to sign up for paperless (e-mail) billing? What, you don't want to save trees? And yet you may be thinking, “I've lived this long without the Internet, why should I start now? I'll have to buy a computer, learn how to use it, pay for monthly service….”

Those are all valid reasons. Here are some more: Computers and Websites can be confusing to read and difficult to navigate, especially if your vision or manual dexterity aren't what they used to be. You'll also be deluged with unfamiliar terms like “podcast” and “RSS feed.” But if you aren't using the Internet, or if you use it only for e-mail, you literally don't know what you're missing. Here are just a few practical examples:

Find information: With a little practice you'll be able to find the answer, in seconds, to almost anything, from “What is the atomic weight of rhodium?” to “What was the name of Ben's horse on Bonanza?” It all starts with a search engine. Google is the most popular site of that sort, but Yahoo, Bing, MSN - they're all fine and all free, and all work the same way. You simply type in a few words that describe what you're looking for, hit enter, and the engine searches the billions and billions of pages on the Web for the closest match. Incredibly, this takes a fraction of a second. Often the results include pages from Wikipedia, which is an online encyclopedia written almost entirely by volunteers. Because new topics are constantly being added, and because there's no printing involved, Wikipedia covers far more subjects than a conventional encyclopedia. You can even create entries of your own and help improve Wikipedia by correcting any mistakes you find.

Pay bills without postage: If you have a checking account, your bank will likely let you pay your bills online for free. You simply enter the name, address and your account number with the store, utility or other business, enter the amount of the bill, and then select the day on which you want the money to arrive at the company. In future months when you get a bill from the same company, you simply go to your online banking site, enter the amount and the day you want the money disbursed. No more stamps, no more marking the calendar to remind you when to mail a check.

 

Find the best deals on air travel: Websites like Expedia and Orbitz let you shop for airfares the way travel agents used to - scanning all possible rates and itineraries to come up with the ideal combination. My favorite such site is Travelocity, which lets you pick your destination and search for the best fare available over a range of weeks or months. One caveat: You won't find Southwest Airlines fares on such sites. You have to use Southwest's own Website, which is equally search-flexible. Southwest even offers a free program you can install on your computer called Ding. It alerts you (with a ding) the instant Southwest has put a city that interests you on sale.

Get driving directions: One of the oldest and most popular free tools on the Web is mapping. At sites like Mapquest, Google Maps and Yahoo Maps you can type in an address and get an instant street map of the area, which you can then print out and take with you. Or, type in your starting address and destination address and get a map plus turn-by-turn driving directions.

Get the best deal, on anything: Several sites allow you to search for and compare prices on products from across the Web. The sites include TheFind.com, BizRate.com and Epinions.com. But don't forget e-Bay, where you can buy and sell almost everything, new or used. Many of the sales are auctionstyle, others have a set price. Feedback scores from past transactions give you an idea of whether an e-Bay vendor is trustworthy. The overwhelming majority of them are - they want to continue to do business. One of the very best places to buy and sell used items locally - including cars - is Craigslist, which is akin to the classified section of your local newspaper. There are several differences. Unlike the typical newspaper classified, you can make your ad almost as long as you want, and you can include photos. And did I mention, the ads are free?

Watch TV: It's getting hard to distinguish between television and the Internet. Many networks now make entire episodes available for viewing online. Check out Hulu.com, where you can find hundreds of shows and clips from shows, new and old. There are fewer commercial interruptions, too. You can even watch entire movies, all for free. Some sports leagues like the NBA and major league baseball now offer paid subscriptions that will give you access to live broadcasts of virtually every game. You watch on your computer.

Broadcast your news or opinions: Heard of blogging? It means having your own Web page on which you post short articles (along with pictures and video, if you want). You can write about anything. People anywhere in the world can read it and post comments, to which you can reply. You can set up your own blog quickly and for free at sites such as Blogger.com and WordPress.org.

How to get started: You'll need two things to get onto the Internet: a computer (or Internet-capable cell phone) and Internet service. Used computers with Internet capability can be found for less than $100. You can find new ones for less than $500. Internet service is available from many sources, including local cable and telephone companies. Prices vary, but you can usually obtain high-speed Internet service as an add-on to your conventional home phone line for about $20 a month. (You'll still be able to make and receive calls while online.) Or just go to a public library and use their computers and Internet service. We don't have the space here to give a full primer on using the Internet. But step-by-step instructions are available at many sites, including SeniorNet.org and LearnTheNet.com.

LuAnne Steininger, B.S. Health Education, is the Wellness Coordinator at the Sanford Center for Aging, Division of Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno. She has worked with people ages 50+ for more than 20 years and is on the leading edge of the baby boomer generation.