IT IS hard to picture retired physical-education teacher Dick Yip, 61, as a technophobe today.
He told my paper: "I was called a technology dinosaur by my former colleagues.
"When I was teaching, we had to use e-mail and I could not do much beyond sending simple messages. I didn't even know how to attach a file to an e-mail message."
Nowadays, he has a different attitude to the Internet. He said: "Without IT now, I will die!"
Mr Yip is also an avid blogger. For his passion and knowledge of the Internet and IT, he received the Active Agers Info- Comm Champion Award last Saturday, conferred by the Council for Third Age, an independent council that promotes active ageing.
Given out in conjunction with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, it recognises senior citizens who embrace the Internet.
It was the first time the Active Agers Awards, inaugurated last year, included a category to commend IT-savvy seniors.
There is no cash prize and Mr Yip was the only winner in the category. Today, Mr Yip, who retired in 2005, derives much of his enjoyment from the Internet - blogging, listening to music and running errands like booking air tickets.
The grandfather of four boys shed his phobia of the Internet in late 2005, when he injured himself playing badminton and was immobile at home.
He said: "I started to dabble online, and learnt how to Google, attach an e-mail file and even search Technorati."
In November last year, Mr Yip started a blog so that his extended family, including some members in Perth, could keep in touch more easily.
Now, he has two blogs - the other, named The Wise Old Owl, is his way of "archiving memories of his travels".
Active in grassroots activities since the 1980s, Mr Yip intends to "conduct sessions to educate other seniors about the Internet".
He said: "It's not easy for retirees like us to come to grips with IT."
