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What are the Silver Surfer Awards?

The aim of the Silver Surfer Awards is to raise awareness among older people of the benefits of being online and to encourage those who have not gone online to give it a try.

Almost 1 in 5 adults have never used the internet - that’s more than 550,000 people. The majority of these are older people with 53% (280,000) of those aged 60 to 74 never having been online. As of the National Digital Strategy report published in July 2013 (pdf), only 3% of those aged 75 and over had used the internet.

There is a real need to encourage more people to go online and use internet based services, especially those over 60.

Age Action Ireland promotes the awards through its website, social media and its Ageing Matters magazine. The awards are also promoted in secondary schools, libraries, nursing homes and in parish newsletters across the country.

Through our Getting Started Computer Training programme, Age Action trains over 4,000 older people each year in basic IT skills with the assistance of over 600 volunteer tutors and the awards will be promoted at all classes.