A recent government report What are the likely changes in society and technology which will impact upon the ability of older adults to maintain social (extra-familial) networks of support now, in 2025 and in 2040? part of the Government Office for Science’s Foresight project on the Future of an Ageing has found that many older people are ambivalent towards ICT and technology. It is currently estimated that an estimate of 4.8 million people aged over 64 who have never used the Internet. The report considers the implications of this for society and individuals. Areas considered include the impact of the internet on older peoples wellbeing , finance and health care and barriers to usage.
Useful to compare this with a recent Pew Internet report 15% of Americans don’t use the Internet – who are they? This also found that 39% were aged 65 or over. There were also correlations with education, income and race.
Other useful surveys and data on Internet non-usage include research from the public surveys conducted by the Oxford Internet study
For a broader picture the ITU provides some free aces to data on levels of Internet usage for individual nations worldwide which enable comparisons to be made.
Subscribe to Andrew Dunn's posts
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.