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Just how *are* older people getting on with the Internet?

Posted in In the news

gill

gill

Gill, blog editor here: there’s been a lot of research into the numbers of people online, and their activities, published in the last few days and we at DU were musing about what it all meant.

Digital Inclusion for older people has been our business since 1996 after all, so we have one big question:

‘Is all our activity (that’s all of us, team-GB) making enough of a difference to the number of older people who can use modern information technology?’

Plainly the answer has to be ‘no’, but there’s more verbiage to follow to inspire you…to do things like commit to a Silver Surfers’ Day event next May 21 !

Right now, if you’ve a spare moment, we’d love to know what your take is on the following statistical outpourings – how they affect your work, or your feelings about being an older person online (perhaps you regret ever going online – perhaps you think we should leave people in peace!). Whatever your perspective, the more we discuss and think and feel, the more creative we can all become. (Answers please in the comments box at the end of this blog post.)

Our summary of, and links to, three different current sources of figures are detailed below here.

1. Today we have the launch of some research commissioned by Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox which reports that there are 10million adults who have never been online (so we’re not sure how old they are – can anyone find out for us?).  Anyway,  here’s a link to a report in The Telegraph for starters.

2. We also have recently on the table the Ofcom consumer research which is interested in the marketplace so looks at the fact that more older people are using ’social networking’ (ie, making and maintaining friendships online) and that the over 50s are consuming Digital TV (not that they have much choice), Internet and Mobile phones more rapidly. That’s here.

3. Then there’s the Oxford Institute report which is very sober (and has our vote, not least because it relates straight to our cause and is easy to absorb). It maintains that STILL there are 10million over-50s who somehow don’t make it ‘out there’ on to the Internet with the rest of us: link is here.

Well, if you’ve read thus far, you’re probably a ‘fact-geek‘ or you authored one of the reports. At the risk of boring everyone, the only thing we feel we plainly know is that none of us in team-GB are doing quite enough, or in enough volume – because however you cut the figures too many people aren’t yet onine and most are in the older age-groups, and we’re talking millions.

What we, quite simply, want to encourage now is continued action: the very simplest thing you can do – whether you’re a researcher for the government, an individual resident in a sheltered home,  a teacher in a huge comprehensive school, an individual in a ‘wired’ village hall, a librarian, doctor, baker, candlestick maker - is hold a Silver Surfers’ Day event on or around Silver Surfers’ Day on May 21st 2010. Here’s a link (again) to our first resource for the Day, a flyer.


October 13th, 2009 gilladams | 1 Comment »



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    One Response to “Just how *are* older people getting on with the Internet?”

    1. gilladams Says:
      October 19th, 2009 at 8:54 am

      More interesting stats:

      (Note upsurge of people ‘privatising’ their social networking sites; and gender differences as well as usual age differences.)

      Ofcom’s UK Adults’ Media Literacy interim report published today revealed that almost twice as many internet users now say they have a social networking site profile than in 2007 (38 per cent up from 22 per cent). Some 41 per cent of users now say they use a social networking site daily, compared with 30 per cent two years ago. And three quarters of those with a social networking profile (76 per cent) now say that it can only be seen by family and friends, up from 48 per cent in 2007.

      The research involved 812 in-home interviews with adults aged 16 and over from April to May 2009 and is designed to give an accessible overview of media literacy among UK adults aged 16 and over.

      Other key findings

      · Since 2007 there has been considerable growth in household take-up of the internet among older adults aged 65 and over (41 per cent vs. 26 per cent) and those in low income households (51 per cent vs. 35 per cent). However, these figures are still at a much lower level compared to all UK adults (73 per cent).

      · There are some gender differences in what the internet is regularly used for – males are more likely than females to say they use the internet at least weekly for news (27 per cent vs. 16 per cent), while females are more likely than males to use the internet at least weekly for social networking (39 per cent vs. 28 per cent).
      · One in three UK adults who use the internet (29 per cent) are watching online or downloading TV programmes or films, with adults aged 25-34 more likely to do this (43 per cent) compared to other age groups. Almost all of these are doing so through UK TV broadcasters’ websites.
      · Internet users appear to be less willing to provide personal information online than was the case in 2007. Overall one in five (21 per cent) say they would never enter their credit card details online, and nearly one quarter (23 per cent) say they would never enter their mobile phone number, up from 17 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. Those who are more confident using the internet are more likely to say that they would be happy to provide personal information online. Older people are less likely to be happy to give their details.
      · Compared to 2007, people are more likely to think that content is regulated, whether it be on television, radio, the internet, gaming or mobile phones. For example, 38 per cent of people think that internet content is regulated, compared to 26 per cent in 2007.

      The full research can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/medlitpub/medlitpubrss/uk_adults_ml/

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