by Dave Moore, 7-28-19
As I was preparing to push the button on the self-help machine at the local post office, I heard a voice over my shoulder. “Do you need some help with that?” came an impatient, young female voice. I turned to see the face associated with the voice, as the at-the-most twenty-year-old inquirer spoke again. “Do you know how to do that?”
At first, I wanted to reply, “Well, since I’ve been working on computers since before you were born, and this stamp machine is nothing more than a dumbed-down computer, I’m pretty sure that I can figure it out.” Instead, I just smiled, and said, “No, it’s OK, I’ve done this before.” It seems the young whippersnapper behind me had simply assumed the old geezer in front of her couldn’t possibly know how to use such a modern, high-tech piece of complicated machinery.
In May of 2006, I wrote a column for The Norman Transcript titled, “Elders of the Internet, Arise!” and looked at how “senior” citizens used the Internet. What defines a senior citizen is still subject to debate, though.
Quoting www.seniorliving.org, “According to Medicare, a senior is 65 years old or older. However, Social Security benefits are eligible for seniors starting at 62, even though the Social Security Office reports that 67 is the age of retirement. Yet, if you are 55 and you visit an Arby’s or McDonald’s, you can get a senior discount.”
Now that I’ve cleared that issue up, let’s look at how things have changed since I wrote that column 13 years ago. Back then, I used studies listed at www.seniorjournal.com. Today, I present statistics from the Pew Research Center and the Creating Results marketing agency.
In 2006, almost half of North American seniors (with “seniority” beginning at age 58) were using the Internet, with 46% of those 50 and older having used the Internet for over five years. In 2006, seniors age 65 and older were the fastest growing age group online.
Today, 73% of Americans ages 65 and older use the Internet, but that figure is still lower than the 90% of those 65 and younger who use the Internet. Even so, from 2009 to 2019, “screen time” for those 60 years and older has increased, with that group now spending over four hours a day in front of some sort of screen, be it phone, tablet, laptop, etc.
In 2006, 13% of online seniors used the Internet to access chat rooms, and 35% were playing online games. Now, 43% of today’s online “baby boomers” and seniors are playing games, 69% use a social networking site like Facebook every day, 54% watch videos and 82% are using search engines like Google.
Of the information accessed by Baby Boomers, 44% look for things relating to food, 66% look at news and weather, and 57% do online shopping. With a growing number of stores like Walmart offering online shopping, combined with free pickup and delivery, I expect the shopping numbers among seniors to increase substantially.
I thought one of the more interesting statistics to be that 38% of online seniors 85 years old and up use email as a sharing tool, treating it as a primary form of social networking.
In spite of significant savvy Internet activity by the elder generation, there are still many seniors with 12:00 flashing on their DVD players (having finally replaced their VCRs), who can’t figure out their smart phones and think Bill Gates still runs Microsoft.
Then again, when you consider that most of the younger generation can’t make change, balance a checkbook, tell you who was President during World War II or find Belgium on a world map, I figure that sort of balances things out.
Dave Moore has been fixing computers in Oklahoma since 1984. Founder of the non-profit Internet Safety Group Ltd, he also teaches Internet safety community training workshops. He can be reached at 405-919-9901 or www.internetsafetygroup.com