Panda Picks-Seniors Work on the Net!

Hi fellow entrepenurs.  While you are sitting there waiting for this site to move on so you can get your credits.  I thought I would use  this opportunity to share some wisdom. So scroll while you wait for the clicker.

Old Farmers Advise  or Proverbs according to the Panda Lady

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull strong

Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance (scam and spammers too)

Life is simpler when you plow around a stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered…. NOT YELLED.

Forgive your enemies.  It messes up their heaeds.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

Ok, now get back to work.  You have earned your allotted credits.

FREE Search Engine Submission

“A new Harris Poll finds  Babyboomers online are beginning to look more like the population of the country. Although senior citizens age 65 and older still lag, they are catching up and the difference is not so dramatic”, says  Senior Journal.com.  They go on to explain that we seniors are 16% of the population  but only 10% of the on line users.   Considering that at the top of age scale 80-100 most will never start to use the computer because of impairment and thus the elderly  participation  on the net is at a maximum level.  But we are catching up and probably have maxed out as 18 million of us seniors were using the net in 1997 but now a whopping 184 million adults are computers users.

The time to learn most things is 10 years ago
-Mignon McLaughlin

I came on line in 2004 so you see I was a little slow getting here.  I also was a little slow grasping all there wass to learn  often excusing myself as “computer illiterate” or that I did not speak “computer–eeze”.  Because many of us are still quite new to the cyber age, I thought some resources might be good for those new to the net and those who have been learning  and struggling for some time. 

LOCAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

If you are a hands on person, you will be learning as you go.  When we get stuck we just ask our grandchildren. Sometimes we find classes at the Senior Citizens Center, community colleges/universities, work on the job training, neighbors/friends, church or  other organizations offering classes. Ford Motor company in our community offered many kinds of classes for enriched lifestyle so computers classes were included as an option.  You might be familiar with Elderhostel who provide learning adventures for those over 55. You might find computers on the list of adventures at your local colleges or investigate their site at: http://www.elderhostel.org/about/default.asp.  SeniorNet also has learning centers thru out the country.  On the menu check out the over 200 choices for your area learning centers.

ON LINE LEARNING

You can worK with AARP.org and their 7  basic web lessons. 

Another self help site is: http://ricshe8.freehostia.com/seniors/computing2.html which was developed by college professor, Rick Sheridan. Check out his  many resources.

While looking around in Wired Seniors aka Senior Search, I found a lady who has on line classes which she sends each month.  She also sells how to books, she has created. I have yet to receive my first lesson so I will update this information when I get into the lessons. 

Here is a Series of books for seniors using the internet located at: http://www.visualsteps.com/. These are great for the visual learner as they provide a screen shot and illustration for step by step instructions..

Internet for Beginners by About.com has 39 areas of learning offered right on line. Click on any of the subjects to learn more.

Panda Lady suggests books for Finding your way on the Internet

Seniors Learning about the Internet

Learning Made Easy

Panda picked learning the computer as today’s subject because we never stop learning.  There is always another new skill, a new method, computer terms, a shortcut etc. Whether you seek advice on skype or yahoo from friends, read books or attend classes we seniors can be successful in our quest for learning about the computer. With these skills we have access to all the computer can  add to our lifestyle.

Mary Hofstetter AKA The Panda Lady

As  seniors we often become victims as we are home, available, believing and trusting.  On line  internet as well as telephone scams are on the rise and we tend to be the victims.  I want to share several scam practices that are going on right now based on police reports as well as my personal experience.

Nov. 11, State Police in Pennsylvania  now report a scam  involving our willingness to co-operate.  The automated phone message asks us to change the pin number to our bank accounts.  When the old pin # is received along with other information, the thiefs have access to banking accounts.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:  recoup the phone number using *69.  Notify local authorities. Call your bank.  Keep track of your account daily  via the internet, watching for any discrepancies.

ON GOING SCAM- This one preys on our wanting to be good citizens.  The caller is warning that we missed  jury duty.  However, they can make it right so that we don’t get in further trouble.  They then want to verify information so that they can eliminate the need for our being punished for our neglect.  They will repeat things like your name, address, phone number asking you to verify.  Now they have you on a role answering questions and agreeing.  “Now what is your social security” they might say “We need to verify that you indeed are Mrs. XXX”.   Your mind is still back on , when was I notified to be on jury duty, what will they do to me for my neglect, etc. You know the rest of the story, you have just been scammed.

A common scam for  on line internet users is to receive a notice that you have just won the lottery. You will receive a notice that you have so many days to claim and here is the contact information.  I received such notices for several months saying I had won the British Lottery.  The notice included lottery numbers they were trying to match to people and of course the number assigned to me was on the list.  I notified the FBI, calling the local number in our community phone book.

I have experienced two on line scams where the e-mail looked very official, with proper stationery headings.  One was for pay pal and the other was for my bank.  Both notices told me to go to a certain url and fill in the information to verify my account as they suspected  a problem with my account.  I contacted pay pal and they told me “WE NEVER ASK FOR YOUR INFORMATION”.  On the bank request they told me they would NEVER send a notice but would contact me in person and ask  me to come in if there were a problem with my account.

When in doubt, always contact the instituion and verify that indeed they were the sender of the information. This is another tactic I find affective.  Thank them and tell them you can’t talk right now but you will get back with them.  Ask for their phone number. 

Panda Picked the subject of phone and on line scams because we seniors are the greatest victims of such cimes.   On line scams and phone scams prey on our  fear, lack of understanding, our willingness to please and  our desire to be honest.

National Do Not Call List-1-888-382-1222

Think You Are A Victim-Action To Take

Common Phone Scams