Do Baby Boomers Go Online?
by Christina Gregoire,
About half of the Baby Boomers in my immediate family are online all the time. Here's the breakdown of my familial Boomer micro-cohort:
- Tina (me), born in 1952: Extremely computer literate. Started using hotmail before Microsoft gobbled it up. Goes back to college every few years out of boredom, so has to keep up.
- David, born in 1953: Worked at U-Dub, back when the rudimenary "email" system was called PINE. Helped Tina set up her first home computer. As computer literate as Tina, but their literacy goes in different directions.
- Mike, born in 1956: Doesn't own a computer. Wouldn't know an IE icon from a Foxfire icon. Probably doesn't know what an icon is.
- Cherie, born in 1957: Can start a computer. Might be able to send emails. Knows how to bid on eBay. Definitely knows how to use Match.com. Might be able to use a search engine for simple searches.
How does your family compare? Watch quick video that explains how many older Americans are plugged in:
So, I guess there's hope for my brother Mikey. What does it take to get a guy in his 50s to go online? There are times when I want to email family or friends... and it's just weird when someone doesn't have a hotmail or a gmail address.
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Does any of this surprise you? Leave a comment at the bottom of the page.
Brenda Reeves
I always get annoyed when I hear that boomers aren't tech savy. I was in my mid-30's when the first Apple computers came out. I was teaching in a public school, and we had to learn to use a computer. I wrote my MA thesis on Windows 95. I'm on the computer probably 16 hours a day. (Yes, I'm an addict.) Everyone BB I know uses a computer.
Christina Gregoire
I agree. I don't know as much about iPhones and iPads because I haven't had much chance to play with them, but I can learn how to do almost anything from a Google search. And, it wouldn't take long for me to learn a tablet or a phone.
I've had three computer programming classes...they were requirements for diff majors at diff schools. didn't get my degree until I was in my early 50's. Life always got in the way. However, I always learned something new every time I went back to school. I don't know if you remember the days of "computer labs"? They weren't for computer classes...there were no desktops.
Christina Gregoire
Anyone who's been around a school environment always learned tech as computers changed and matured. Wonder what's next?