WASHINGTON — It turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Just look at how America’s seniors have adopted cellphones, computers and laptops. Middle-age children of today’s seniors may soon start complaining that their moms and dads are spending too much time online and on their iPhones, says Rebecca Weber, CEO of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
She notes that the 50-plus set has been adopting technology at a steady rate for years now,. A Pew Research study, she points out, shows that 73% of the 50 to 64 set and 45% of Americans 65 and older are familiar with and use social media sites.
Meanwhile, the Infocomm Media Development Authority [IMDA] tells us that a 2016 survey of seniors 75 years of age and older showed that just 11% of them were using smartphones, while the same survey conducted in 2020 showed that senior smartphone usage had skyrocketed to 60%.
The same survey showed that only 8% of 75-plus seniors were familiar with and used the internet in 2016, but by 2020 no fewer than 46% of super seniors were regularly online.
Tiffany Esshaki, who writes for C&G Newspapers, reports that older folk have been slowly but surely embracing the fruits of technology and the pandemic helped speed things up. Tiffany cites Molly McElroy, a 70-year-old resident of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
According to McElroy, “If you, like me, are a senior, which makes you a high risk for COVID-19, (social media) is how you carry on. You’re already limited at some level by age, driving less at night, and now you’re isolated. Or are you? Thanks to my hobbies — indolence and the internet — I hardly feel impacted at all.”
