Senior citizens are increasingly using technology, with 59 percent of Americans age 65 years old and older now using the internet and 47 percent using a broadband connection.
However, that leaves 41 percent of seniors still not using the internet in any capacity.
Age, education level and household income are factors that impact whether or not seniors use the internet, according to the Pew Research Center.
Seniors over 75 years old were less likely to use the internet. Only 37 percent of Americans 80 years old or older go online.
College graduates are more likely to use the internet, with 87 percent of seniors with a degree using the internet compared to 40 percent of seniors who never went to college.
Seniors with higher household incomes are also more likely to have internet access at home. Ninety percent of seniors with an annual household income of $75,000 or over go online at home, compared to 39 percent of seniors making under $30,000 a year.
For seniors that don’t go online, the reasons for avoiding technology vary.
About two out of five seniors do not go online because of physical difficulties or health reasons.
Some of them don’t see the benefit of using the internet. Thirty-five percent of senior respondents disagreed and 18 percent strongly disagreed with the assertion “people lacking internet access are at a real disadvantage because of all the information they might be missing.”
Figuring out how to use technology is another issue for seniors, with 77 percent needing help with adopting new technologies.
Once seniors start going online, it often becomes part of their daily routines. Of the seniors who currently go online, 71 percent use the internet almost every day.
Though owning a smartphone is common for most American adults, just 18 percent of seniors own one. Seniors are as likely to own a tablet or e-reader, with 18 percent owning one of those devices.
