If you are an active person who wants to do whatever you can to keep your mind sharp, strengthen your memory, and improve your quality of life,
or if you are becoming concerned about a possible decline in your mental abilities,
or if you are often bored because the kinds of people and activities that would stimulate you aren’t readily available nearby,
or if you feel lonely on evenings and weekends and holidays or when the weather is bad and you can’t get out much…
and if you are willing to learn new computer skills that strengthen the brain’s vitality and functioning because they require some thought…
we invite you to join us online in our beautiful virtual home called Inspiration Island, where brain-training can become life-changing.
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Research strongly suggests that by making informed choices in how you spend your time, you can actively promote your own brain health. Our brain-training approach focuses on helping you gain the understanding and have the experiences to do just that.
We use a virtual environment because it offers several major benefits. As you gain mastery over the technology, you are likely to have greater confidence in your other cognitive capacities. You may find it easier to experiment and explore and create – to expand your horizons — when you can do so as an anonymous avatar. You can make new friends from around the world and become very close, even if you never meet. Most of all, you can find a wide variety of activities to enjoy with other people or by yourself, in any weather at any time of day or night. That is why we say this is truly a new frontier for human well-being.
One objection to computer-based communities is that they do not offer face to face interactions. Surprisingly, however, in virtual worlds most people experience each other as physically present when they are talking together in voice or in text. This feeling comes from the immersive nature of a 3-dimensional world. You are not just looking at it; you are actively engaged with the places and people in it.
That is why we believe this is truly a new frontier for human well-being.
To join us on Inspiration Island, you will enter through a webpage reached by downloading viewer-software. On that webpage you will be able to watch your avatar (a 3-dimensional character you have chosen to represent yourself virtually) walk or even fly as you move it by using your computer’s mouse or arrow keys. Your avatar can walk through accurate replicas of places like ancient Rome and 1920’s Berlin, all created by the users of virtual worlds just like you. Your avatar can dance and listen to live music, attend church services, build and decorate the house of your dreams, and so on.
Choosing an avatar is simple: you select one of the 3-D characters you are offered when you sign up for a free account on the virtual world’s website. Or we can provide you with a temporary avatar, if you prefer.
How you can participate in New Frontiers in Brain-Training
Contact us at agelessmindproject@gmail.com or call us at 914-666-0912 (NY) to learn more. We offer trained Buddies – either students enrolled in an intergenerational computing course or volunteers who are old-timers in virtual worlds – because it’s best to have a guide when you are new to virtuality. There is no cost to you to access the viewer or to join our program.
The Ageless Mind Project is a nonprofit (501c3) organization co-founded by Lynne Berrett, MA/MSW and Joshua Berrett, PhD. This online arm of our program can be found at https://virtualinspirationisland.org.