Blog On!

It isn't that bad getting old. It is all in the attitude.

"'It's too easy to sit in your own cave and let the world go by, eh?' said Vancouver's Ray Sutton, the 73-year-old Oldest Living Blogger. 'It keeps the old head working a little bit so you're not just sitting there gawking at TV.'

Web logs, or blogs, are online journals where people post entries on topics that interest them. They may offer links to other websites, photos and opportunities for readers to comment.

Bloggers say their hobby keeps them thinking about current events, makes them friends to strangers around the globe and gives them a voice in a society that often neglects the wisdom of the elderly.

'It brings out the best in me,' said Boston-area blogger Millie Garfield, 80, who writes My Mom's Blog. 'My life would be dull without it.'

Three percent of online seniors have created a blog and 17% have read someone else's blog, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Compare that to online 18- to 29-year-olds. Thirteen percent of them have created blogs and 32% have read someone else's blog, according to the Pew data.

Joe Jenett, a Detroit-area Web designer who has been tracking the age of bloggers for a personal project called the Ageless Project, said he has noticed more older bloggers in the past two years.

'Isn't that phenomenal? And their writing is vibrant,' Jenett said. 'The Web is diverse and it breaks across generational lines.'

Jenett and others noted that sites such as Blogger.com give step-by-step instructions and free hosting, making it simpler to self-publish on the Web."

The easier something gets, the more likely people are to use it.