The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Using the Internet to enrich our lives

Senior News


With most of us spending most of our days at home, it’s time for us to take advantage of the internet. Here are some resources that can enrich our lives.

Inquire at the local senior center about any exercise classes online. Some classes will be live on Zoom and others will be videos that the instructors record and post on the center’s website. If they’re not hosting any classes, search online for “seniors exercise at home” and look for some that are produced by other senior centers.

Virtual art classes can open up new areas of interest and reveal talents you didn’t know you had. Better yet, if you’re a beginner or are exploring a new art medium, look for videos that you can review over and over. Look online for free art classes online for seniors.

Exercise and art aren’t the only free classes you’ll find online. Yoga and tai chi, sewing, baking and cake decorating, creative writing, a new language — if it can be done online, there’s a class for it somewhere.

And don’t forget Class Central (www.classcentral.com). Check the website for a list of MOOCS (massive open online courses). There 15,000 different free and low-cost classes in its searchable database from colleges and universities around the world. Imagine taking a philosophy course from the University of Edinburgh or Introduction to Classical Music via Yale University. (I put art history into its search box and got back 165 results.) Read the details for any class you’re considering. It will tell you if the class is self-paced, whether it’s free to audit, the class level and how much time per week you can expect to spend on the work, as well as reviews from other students.

If you’re unsure of your internet skills, search for “internet basics for seniors” on Google.

(c) 2020 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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