According to US Census Bureau projections, there are 46 million seniors those age 65 and older live in the US today accounting for 15% of the overall US population. By 2050, 22% of Americans will be 65 and older.

Figure out the main points mentioned in terms of old adults’ adoption of new technology and internet usage among older adults:

Technology Use Among Seniors (Adults age 65 and older)

• 42% of Americans seniors own smartphones, while 80% own cell phones of any kind.
• The highest rates are among those ages 65-69 years old (59% for smartphones & 95% of cell phones).
• 81% of Americans seniors whose annual household income is $75,000 or more reported that they own smartphones, compared with 27% of those living in households earning less than $30,000 a year.
• 32% own tablets and 19% own e-readers.
• 67% of Americans seniors said they go online.
• Around half of the seniors (51%) said they have high-speed internet at home.
• 34% reported they ever use social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Barriers to Adoption and Attitudes Towards Technology

• Seniors are less confident when using electronic devices, as only 26% of senior internet users said they feel very confident when using computers, smartphones or other electronic devices to do the things online.
• Approximately three-quarters of senior internet users go online at least daily, including 17% said they go online about once a day, 51% indicated they do so several times a day and 8% cited they use the internet almost constantly.
• 58% of seniors feel that technology had a mostly positive effect on society, while just 4% feel that impact has been mostly negative.

A Graph Shows the Percentages of US Adults – ages 65+ – Who Say They Own a Cellphone or a Smartphone in 2017

Methodology:

Data were driven from 3,015 of US adults aged over 65 years old. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.