 ironweaselWeezyPremium
join:2000-09-13
Belen, NM
kudos:1 | What about old folks? Now what are the chances that the majority of that 30% are elderly?
I'd say at least half of them are and that would be the reason for the "disinterest". |
|
| My 86 year old grandfather is not interested in the internet I am sure he is part of the 30% who does not have it. |
|
|
|
 roamer1sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA | reply to ironweasel
said by ironweasel:Now what are the chances that the majority of that 30% are elderly? Very high. ~75% of the US population is 18 or over, and ~21% of the US population is 55 or over, meaning that about 28% of the total adult US population is 55 or over. Other surveys, such as some of the Pew surveys, shows that interest in and usage of the Internet drops off quite sharply somewhere around age 55 (although Internet usage among the older set is increasing.)
-SC
--
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune |
|
 SSidlovOther Things On My MindPremium
join:2000-03-03
Pompton Lakes, NJ
 ·Optimum Online
1 edit | reply to ironweasel
said by ironweasel:Now what are the chances that the majority of that 30% are elderly? I'd say at least half of them are and that would be the reason for the "disinterest". First, looking at the details, of that 30%: 2% don't have access to the internet (according to them). 14% can't afford a computer, 8% can't afford the access. So a quarter of the 30% can't AFFORD IT. 14% use it at the office instead of at home. Only 44% of the 30% said they didn't have a need, and 17% said they didn't know how.
I work with a lot of 'old folks.' Those that can afford it have at least dial up. This is the way that their kids and grand-kids who don't live next door anymore, communicate. Often they use older machines that their kids (or grand-kids) grew out of. They get photos more often thanks to the internet and it helps them stay in touch. They WANT to be able to be in touch and take advantage of what they want to know/read/see.
The real problem for the elderly is the ergonomics of the computers they use. Poor eyesight, arthritic hands, the inability or lack of the ability to touch type. Embarrassment of their language skills (especially among immigrants). People with macro degeneration or cataracts have problems with anything but the largest screens, set to the lowest resolutions. There are few really good screen readers, and the zoom-in type of things make reading very very slow.
For those that get by the ergonomics, there is a lack of training/understanding in how to do the things that 'we' the supposed younger generation does. Finding a blog or forum that has topics that THEY are interested in. Fear of being cheated and the lack of understanding of basic security and how that is accomplished inhibit their usage.
I also know a lot of middle aged people, who don't have internet access because they think that $120-600 year for access is a waste of money. They don't think that it has anything for them or they had a bad experience that soured them on the whole thing. Even people who are technically knowledgeable have issues with Windows or low powered machines or compromised machines that make the use of the internet problematic. The most common fix for correcting this is naturally getting a better computer thanks to the bloat that is Windows and updated windows software, but again, I know a few people who simply don't think that they should. (They may have paid thousands for that computer back in the late 90's. They don't realize that they could buy a better, faster one for a few hundred today -that's not cutting edge- but would do everything that they need to do.) All they want is the computer to work again they way they remember it working before. While MS has discontinued the support of the pre Win2000 OSes, there are a lot of people who still want to use 98, 98Se and ME. All they want to do is email and web browsing, and they can't get support or the training to move to Linux which might be able to run on the older hardware. The elderly are not as tied to MS word docs as are the younger/middle aged are with their office work and could move to OpenOffice and other non-MS applications.
BTW: I'm going to 55 this year and I've been using computers since I was in HS. And my mother is going to 80, and she uses a computer, lightly, but uses one. And I know a lot of people OLDER than me, who also use computers as much as anyone of the so-called Y generation.
--
»www.Warpstock.org |
|
| reply to roamer1
said by roamer1:said by ironweasel:Now what are the chances that the majority of that 30% are elderly? Very high. Other surveys, such as some of the Pew surveys, shows that interest in and usage of the Internet drops off quite sharply somewhere around age 55 (although Internet usage among the older set is increasing.) -SC the drop off doesn't occur until about age 70.
»www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P5649
Based on stats gathered Jan, 2006.
--
--
My BLOG
My Web Page |
|
