While Seiter brings up many interesting points about how technology exacerbates the divides between social classes and groups amongst young people, I think she fails to examine another group that is impacted by this-baby boomers and those born during the Great Depression era.

My grandfather (my dad’s dad) is 85 years old, his wife passed away 9 years ago and he lives alone in a double-wide trailer. He spends his days doing manual labor on his very small farm and occasionally picks up odd jobs caring for other people’s horses. He survives off of this small income and social security. He does not have a computer, I don’t know if he’s ever even used one, and I’m not sure he would know how to navigate the internet if he tried. His social class, his status, and his income are all barriers that are further exacerbated by technology.

My grandmother is 65; she and my grandpa (my mom’s parents) live in a two story home set back in the woods. She retired early, and she and my grandpa live comfortably off of his retirement and off of the income he makes from restoring antique tractors. She entered the world of technology maybe 10 years ago, starting with a bulky desktop that she kept downstairs and used to play games like Canasta. Now, she has upgraded to a laptop, recently purchased a wireless mouse, and often sends me e-mails telling me how I should check out the new pictures she posted on Facebook, pictures taken with her digital camera and edited on Photoshop.

While she and my dad’s dad are from different generations, to me they fall into the same category-my grandparents. Both are over 60, and yet their income and class status have been further emphasized by technology. While my grandpa on my dad’s side fills his time with working to get by, my grandmother has the time to poke around on the internet and learn different tools; she has the money to upgrade her computer when she can and has the capital to invest in new technologies, like a digital camera.

While Seiter is right, there are many elements that play a role in technology access, one that she fails to consider is how age plays a part not only in the younger generations, but the older ones as well. How is their digital literacy impacted by class? How is their motivation to learn new technology impacted by their age? How does their interaction with others through technology relate to their advancement in digital knowledge?