Some older Waikato people are concerned about the "tiny" print size of the new phone books.

The phone books which have been delivered to households and businesses recently have dropped half a font size,  and for people like 77-year-old Beryl Blewett, the change is hard to take in.

''It's absolutely dreadful, the writing's so tiny. It smudges on the page. Everyone's complaining bitterly because they can't read it. They haven't considered that they've got an older population they've got to think about,'' she said.

And the move to the internet isn't helping matters either.

''We don't all have computers or the internet, and that will be the case for a lot of people. We've got an older generation to think about. I thought about getting email but I'd just as soon as talk to them on the phone. It's a bit hard teaching an old dog new tricks,'' she said.

Gail Gilbert, manager at Age Concern Hamilton, said organisations often just don't think about the effect of such changes on older people.

''More than 12% of the Waikato population is 65 or older. The phone is one of the main ways older people communicate, they don't all have computers or email, so it's perhaps a bit of a backwards step on [Yellow's] part. It's one of those barriers that organisations might not even think about and it just makes life that wee bit more difficult,'' she said.

Yellow's communications manager, Katherine Cornish said they were taking all feedback on board for next year, but was confident the magnifying card would solve the problem.

''Yellow has offered this product as a matter of course for many years. People who have those cards have found them very helpful, so hopefully that the case for everyone,'' she said.

''I think older people are a lot more tech-savvy than people might think. People are getting smarter now and...one third of people in the Waikato use a combination of print and online to find what they're looking for.

''But [the book] has always been a part of the home. It's always been next to the phone and has been the go to thing for us. So I'm sure it will be around for many years to come.''

- © Fairfax NZ News

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