“There are absolutely more seniors on the Internet now,” he adds. “It’s happened since the Internet took off in 1995 and 1996 and seniors started hearing about backslashes and seeing buses with www.com on the side. One of the worst feelings for seniors is to feel like the parade is passing them by.”
SeniorNet has been teaching older adults to use new technology since 1986. It started with teaching seniors how to use a computer.
“In the past year, we’ve seen the numbers over 50 practically double,” says Gilbert.
In the summer of 1997, there were 7.6 million people age 50 or over on the Internet. This past summer, there were 13 million according to Nielsen Media.
Of all Internet users, 17 percent are over 50, the fastest growing age demographic on the Internet; women over 50 are the fastest growing group.
A recent “Graying of the Internet” survey by SeniorNet and Charles Schwab found that half of all seniors (48 percent) believe the Internet gives them better access to financial information.
The survey also found that 40 percent of Americans age 50 and over have a personal computer at home, up from 29 percent in November 1995.
In addition, almost 70 percent of seniors who have a home computer have access to the Internet, up from 20 percent of senior computer owners three years ago.
“We were surprised to find that a lot of early adopters were using the Web for financial information,” says David Hawk with Edelman Public Relations in San Francisco, who worked on the survey. “We found 7 percent of respondents used it. We didn’t expect to find that many. And they all love what it does for them. Satisfaction was really high.”
— Copley News Service