Forget those stories about older Americans flocking to the Net. Granny probably

doesn't want your e-mail.

A majority of people over 50 do not go online, and most in that majority do not want to, ever, according to a national survey released recently.

The "gray gap" persists despite some estimates that older people constitute one of the fastest-growing populations on the Internet.

"The people who are not online are heavily skewed toward older Americans, and the people who say they have no plans, no interest (in getting online) are older Americans as well," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, based in Washington, which conducted the six-month survey among thousands of Internet users and non-users.

The reasons people give for avoiding the Internet include the belief that it is dangerous, that it is too expensive, and that it is confusing.

In addition, 51 percent of all non-Web-surfers believe they are not missing anything by eschewing virtuality, the survey said.

The Pew survey report, titled "Who's Not Online," also found that half of all adults in the United States do not use the Internet, and 57 percent of these non-users are not interested in getting online.

But, according to the study, "the strongest Internet holdouts are older Americans, who are fretful about the online world and often don't believe it can bring them any benefits."

It said 87 percent of people age 65 and over, and 59 percent of those between ages 50 and 64, do not have Internet access. In comparison, 65 percent of those under age 30 do have access.

Of those over 50 who are not online, nearly three quarters - 74 percent - said they do not plan to get Internet access, while 65 percent of people under age 50 said they do hope to get online.

The numbers mean older Americans are not likely to embrace the Internet "if we do not overcome the three major barriers: access, skill and intimidation," said Tobey Dichter, chief executive officer at Generations on Line, a Philadelphia-based program that promotes Internet use among seniors.

"The psychological barriers - the fear of breaking (a computer), the confusion, the embarrassment - are real elements," Dichter said.

Also, "obviously, economics underlies a lot of this," said Rainie. The study found that while 78 percent of households with incomes of $75,000 and above had Internet access, just 31 percent of households with incomes less than $30,000 were online.

The study identified 70 million Americans as "TechNos" - people who do not use computers at all. Of these, 46 percent are men, 54 percent women. Of those TechNos who divulged household income, 41 percent reported incomes less than $30,000, compared with 4 percent reporting incomes over $75,000.

By race, 50 percent of whites reported they have Internet access, along with 36 percent of African Americans and 44 percent of Hispanics.

The study also identified a segment of the population it called "Internet dropouts." It said more than a tenth of those without Internet access once were online, and 12 million Americans who used the Internet during the last 12 months have since dropped out.

The so-called dropouts gave a variety of reasons - the expense of Internet access, job changes that left them without a computer, privacy worries - for leaving the Internet behind.

Clearly, said Rainie, "There are those who think (the Internet is) the greatest thing that's ever happened to them, and those who think it's quite an oppressive thing."