Thursday, May 18, 2017

Technology use by older people

Another new report by the Pew Internet research centre investigates the use of technology by seniors in the USA. It identifies that use is increasing, including use of social media and of broadband at home, but there are variations by demographic, in particular better educated seniors with higher incomes have increased their use more, and younger seniors use technology more than older seniors.
Snippets from the news page about the report (which is available in complete text): "Four-in-ten seniors now own smartphones, more than double the share that did so in 2013" "Younger seniors use the internet and subscribe to home broadband at rates that are comparable to the overall population. Fully 82% of 65- to 69-year-olds are internet users, and two-thirds say they have broadband internet connections at home. (Internet use and broadband adoption rates for the overall population are 90% and 73%, respectively). On the other hand, fewer than half of seniors ages 80 and up (44%) report using the internet and just 28% say they have home broadband service. Adoption rates for seniors in their 70s fall in between these two groups. Internet and broadband adoption rates also differ considerably by household income and educational attainment. Around nine-in-ten seniors whose annual household income is $75,000 or more say they go online (94%) or have high-speed internet at home (87%). Those shares drop to 46% and 27%, respectively, among older adults living in households earning less than $30,000 a year. College graduates are far more likely than those with high school educations or less to say they use the internet (92% vs. 49%) or have home broadband service (82% vs. 30%)."
Go to http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/05/17/technology-use-among-seniors/
Photo by sheila Webber: my strawberry flowers, May 2017

No comments: