'Silver Surfers'

The facts behind Grandma"s Guide to the Internet
a new book by Linda Ingham

Grandma's Guide cover

According to statistics, over 65s make up 20% of the population, but so far only one in fifty of them has gone online. For those who do, there is plenty of interest; older people with access to the Internet tend to spend more time online than younger people; ten hours a week compared with seven.

Nine out of ten older people have a family member or close friend who is an active computer user.

Sources

PC ownership and usage among those ages 50+ is approximately 30%, yet 60-69, drops to approximately 23%, 70-79 - 14%. Those over the age of 80, it is less then 4%.

86% of all seniors state that one or more family member or close friend is an 'active' computer user!

What is the #1 reason for not using a computer or the internet and not having a desire to learn? The belief of 'I do not have a need'.

Agelight www.agelight.org

'grandchildren . . . actually reply!'

In every age group from 15 to 54, there are more Internet users than would be expected, compared with the population as a whole, according to Nick Gibson of City firm, Durlacher Research. But that is not the case with the over 65s, who make up 20% of the population but only 4% of residential Internet users.

The Cabinet Office is backing a two-year programme in this area, Better Government for Older People which was launched last June. It has 28 pilot projects being run with local authorities and organisations such as Age Concern, Help the Aged, The Anchor Trust, the Carnegie Third Age Programme, Warwick University and computer company ICL. The idea is for older people to help develop the kind of IT services that they would find useful. Martin Shreeve, the programme's director, says: 'Better Government for Older People has shown that older people and IT do mix: they've caught on very quickly. The myth was that they were frightened of new technology or didn't have the skills: we'd argue that they didn't have the opportunity.'

Which is not to say there's a sudden passion for electronic government and online access to information about pensions. 'Older people are finding that they can email their grandchildren in Australia and elsewhere and they actually reply! They don't reply to letters,' says Shreeve.

The Guardian Online Section 10/06/99

45% of the population are now over 50.

By 2006, 49.1% of men and 72.6 % of women over 50, for whatever reason, will be retired.

7% of people aged 50-64 have tried the Internet compared to 3% in 1996 and the numbers are still growing, however still only 2% of those over 65 have.

Hairnet - The UK"s first dedicated Computer & Internet training scheme for the over 50s
hairnet.org

Recent research by Microsoft (autumn 1998) indicates that older people with access to computers actually spend more time online than younger people - ten hours a week compared to seven.

BBC Webwise www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/cetera/content.shtml

Recent reports from MMXI Europe, which studies the behaviour of computer users on line, prove that the over 50s spend more time on line than any other age group. Specifically, a total of 1,059,000 over 55s logged on in March 2000 and the numbers are continuing to increase.

www.lifebegins.net

'Silver Surfers'

Sources

'grandchildren . . . actually reply!'

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