Do the information and communication technologies constitute a new exclusion factor?
Some of the articles published on the elearningeuropa.info will help us explore to what extent the new technologies may represent an exclusion factor. The article, Obstacles to Older People using Computers, by Melanie Lewin, offers an interesting perspective on the problems affecting the elderly. Senior citizens make up a perfect example of the exclusion phenomena as they concentrate a large number of exclusion factors: their advanced age is added to their poverty (the elderly generally exist on a low income); they suffer disabilities (the severity of physical problems increases with age); their educational level (usually lower than average); elements related to gender (there are many more elderly women than men), and so on. To date, the new technologies have acted as a factor of exclusion rather than one of inclusion in this context. Senior citizens have little or no access to the information society and this intensifies their remaining at the margin of the social system. In Catalonia
