No one left behind
The Super Age has ushered in an older set of online users. However, this demographic still lags behind younger cohorts in digital uptake and literacy, which may act as a barrier to maintaining a healthy, vibrant, and successful life. The generational digital divide is becoming more and more problematic, as older people remain at risk of being left behind in the next digital transformation.
Older people will need to be a priority of digital businesses, if only because of their sheer size and economic power. The good news is that older people are already embracing these technologies, examples being the large uptick of older people on social media platforms, and online in general when compared to even five years ago.
Neil Dsouza noted that, “Older adults are a massively underserved demographic.” Yet each year, a greater share of older people are getting online, and today four out of five baby boomers who use the internet have at least one social media account.
Where they are
No other social media outlets comes close to the widespread reach of Facebook and YouTube. However, YouTube has done a better job breaking down generational barriers, where Facebook has witnessed a mass exodus of younger people away from its platform, as well as their first user contraction this quarter.
Source: Pew Research
According to the Pew Research Center, the number of boomers on Facebook nearly doubled from 2012 to 2019, which made them the fastest growing group of users, and most log on at least weekly. Even more surprising is that more than a third of all people in the Silent Generation, those born prior the boomers, at now on Facebook.
Pew notes that 8 out of 10 U.S. adults were YouTube users. And, Statista’s data shows that nearly 7 out of 10 US individuals 56 years and older use YouTube. Most are engaging on the platform on a daily basis.
Source: Statista
There’s no denying that the pandemic played a significant role in forcing people online. Older people learned how to stay connected to friends and loved ones through Zoom, how to communicate at work effectively on Microsoft Teams and Slack, how to utilize online banking, and how to get same-day deliveries through Amazon and Instacart.
Avoid the mistakes of the past
The advent of Web 2.0, which paved the way for social media and internet of things had some intrinsic benefits, but it led to a grey digital divide, where older people were being left behind because not just because of access, but also know-how, which often resulted in frustration and lack of uptake of digital technologies. As the internet became more accessible and more integrated into everyday life, individuals who did not use it were more likely to become disadvantaged, disenfranchised, and isolated.
The abandonment of older people during this digital transformation was due, in part, to ageism. This negative bias was built-into every aspect of the user experience from the the interface to sales. This has kept older populations away from new technologies, even though they may have had the capability and desire to learn them.
The transformation to Web 3.0 is well underway and it is prudent to not make the same missteps. Companies should actively break down the barriers to entry, or they risk leaving older people behind, again. Business cannot afford to exclude older people in this new era, because they represent an every growing consumer group. And, as the rapid gains in older social media users illustrate, they want to be a part of our digital world.