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Seniors. Retirees. Does this describe you? Have others in the past expressed profound surprise that you do not have a personal computer? Are your family members urging you to “get with it?” These past three Christmases have you beaten back those who suggest a computer “gift” under your tree with “Don’t you dare give me one of those @#$%^computers!” Have you scowled when asked again for your e-mail address by retail clerks? Have you more than once glanced at the pile of computer store booklet ads in your Sunday paper and grunted a dismissive, sarcastic comment to your spouse? Do you quickly throw them all into the waste basket — refusing to page through them–before moving to the crossword puzzle? Answer any one of these questions with “Yes” and I urge you to reconsider! “Computer-phobia” is a common retiree disease. I urge you to recognize that and exchange its distress for a pleasant adventure!

Oh, you tried a computer once and...? Did one of your children pass along their older “dinosaur” PC to you some time ago and it gathered dust on your den desk? It sits now in the garage? Or, perhaps, you bought a starter PC more than a few years back. Had a neighbor connect it for you? You bought a half-dozen of those “Easy Visual Steps” or “For Dummies...” paperbacks? You cursed at long sessions on the phone with outsourced computer technicians, lost patience with them and those colorful but confusing manuals? You were quickly bored by the card games? The e-mail routine was simply much more bothersome than the telephone? Suddenly one day, a virus hit and you decided, “The h___ with it!?” Today, there are modern, improved programs for protecting computers from viruses. Too, there are proven “cures” for the computer phobia that sadly and unnecessarily afflicts seniors!

We have all seen numerous articles suggesting that retiree mental activity is an important part of overall health, along with exercise and diet. The latter two get most of the attention, the mental component much less. Once one crosses the threshold from computer frustration to comfort, even at a relatively limited skill level, many net features may become pleasant activities in retiree routines. Too few challenges remain for retirees to tackle tasks that require some concentration, patience, skill and promise personal satisfaction in their achievement. Cure the computer phobia! Go at it.

Until my middle 60s I dismissed owning a PC with retorts like “Too much money and too little time to learn to bother with them.” Or, “All this stuff I hear about on —what do they call it? — the Web?’’ Or “What? New tricks for an old dog? E-mail? I’ve got the phone.” Or, “I have my newspapers every day. That’s plenty. And I hear lots of my neighbors complaining about stuff like ‘viruses,’ ‘worms,’ ‘spam,’ ‘locking up’ and so on. See those computer repair guys a lot around. Not for me.” Familiar?

My “cure” began four years ago when, tired of and frankly often embarrassed by those who chided me to “get with it and discover the adventure of a PC” — I bought my first desktop.

I was a beleaguered novice, initially impatient and often cursing any suggestion of five easy steps, the prompting on the screen that said “Next” before I had any clear idea where I was “before.” The frustrations that continued even as I read through “Computers for Dummies” manuals ad nauseam. On the phone, technicians patiently (and sometimes less so!) guided me through glitches. But I remained dedicating to beating the odds that I would quit. My comfort turning-point came when I attended a series of local area Senior Computer Seminars (which I heartily recommend to all computer-phobics!). Check out: Southwest Florida PC Users Group (non-profit) E-mail for info: fmbigal@comcast.net.

I am today comfortable with using my PC for e-mailing, surfing the Web (where incidentally I now read online both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal!) Recently, I received a digital camera and I am kicking my mental health up a notch, reading manuals to integrate it with my PC. Was the effort easy? Not always. Often frustrating? Sure. But I pledged to myself that I would learn and enter the Web world.

Am I today a computer whiz? Not! But I pat my desk mouse on its back that we are on a friendly basis. E-mailing has re-established contact with a number of friends who I might otherwise have lost. I thoroughly enjoy the ease with which digital pictures can be shared. I am not into that eBAY and other buy online stuff, except for some occasional, convenient holiday gift mailing.

I urge seniors who have been doggedly reluctant to use a PC, or once gave up in frustration using a PC, to return to the keyboard. Heed those mental health discoveries. Vow to cure that PC phobia. Sit down again — resolved to muster the patience to join the increasingly simpler and more pleasant Web world.

Perhaps, you owe it to your mental “muscle” — that arguably underused senior brain of yours.

Ted Beranis, of Bonita Springs, is a retired educator.