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Asia
Buzz: Back in the Old Days
A
'net' was something fish were caught in
By
ERIC ELLIS
June
13, 2000
Web posted at 2:00 p.m. Hong Kong time, 2:00 a.m. EDT
I was in a cab in Singapore the other day and, as one does, chatted
to the driver about the Internet. He was an older man--in his late
50s, early 60s--and he had to use an amplifier to speak as he had
lost his voice box to cancer. Well, to cigarettes actually, then cancer.
He sounded a little like Stephen Hawking, the British academic whom
the media has turned into a futurist, espousing on everything from
genetically modified foods to democracy in the Internet Age. Which
is what got us talking about the Net.
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Was he using the Internet, I asked the taxi driver. He said he had
seen his nephew use it but dismissed it as "something for young people."
Which is, of course, absurd. Just because you are older, or a "senior"
as is the politically correct euphemism, it doesn't mean you are not
an enthusiast of some kind; a sports fan, a traveler or someone who
follows the stock market. Indeed, there is an argument that says oldies
are more likely to use the Net in its purest application: communication.
Particularly if you are Chinese and in Asia because there's a strong
likelihood you've got relatives living/studying/working abroad.
You are also probably retired, or have a pension to manage, and thus
you might not be averse to a little share trading in your dotage.
And quite likely you're at home, with more time to fool around on
a desktop. Or even fool around with someone's widowed wife or husband--love
found via a chat room.
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So
I looked around the Net, using local search engines like catcha.com,
for resources and sites that catered to Asia's aging community. I
tried in English and in Chinese and I came up with nothing (There's
a business opportunity, I tell you). I'm sure there are some out there,
they just aren't obvious. So I'm hoping readers might send me some
URL's (just click on the message board on this page) to correct me
of the impression that the Asian Net is not catering to the oldies.
There are a few sites out there, such as babyboomers.com
, seniorsearch.com
and thirdage.com,
which had a banner ad competition for a Porsche Boxster when I looked
at it. Indeed, thirdage.com's content features articles on MP3, as
well as how to manage your sagging prostrate. "Over the Hill? No Way!"
screams the site. It's good stuff, but these sites are American and
thus of less relevance locally.
The view that the Net is a young person's tool is easily understood,
given the media focus on pimply faced billionaires and the "New Economy"
being a replacement or revolution of the old. Pao Ning-yu from WebOffice
in Singapore apologized to me when I interviewed him recently for
being 42, because it was perceived he was double the age of the industry.
Nonsense! Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing is old, and now he's a Net
guy (sort of). Indeed, oldies are a natural community. And don't venture
capitalists love communities.
Eric Ellis is the Southeast Asia and technology editor of web-based
finance portal Asiawise.com
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