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UK: Over 60s reach for the mouse
Simon
Jeffery UK - A
growing number of the over 60s are online and using the internet on a
regular basis, new research reveals today. The
so-called silver surfers now represent 12% of internet users in the UK
with 37% of 60 to 64-year-olds now online at home. The
survey, by the Claritas UK consumer research group, found that the numbers
decrease with age - 29% of 65 to 69-year-olds falling to 21% of 70 to
74-year-olds are online at home - but, overall, a quarter of those aged 60
or older use the net. Favourite
activities for those in the age group are sending emails and collecting
information, which 9.2% and 6.9% of all surveyed 60-year-olds and above
(including those not online) said they used they internet for. Next
most popular are booking holidays (2.4%), buying books and CDs (2%) and
making bookings for cinemas and hotels (1.8%). Bottom of the list come
buying groceries (0.4%), buying clothes (0.6%) and playing interactive
games (0.8%). The
survey also revealed a higher level of computer ownership (50%) among the
60-64 age group than among the 18 to 30 year olds (46%). Peter
Groves, one of three over 60s today guest-editing Guardian Unlimited, who
as a volunteer offers one-on-one computer taster sessions for Age Concern
in Solihul, said there was a strong demand among older people for internet
training, especially those in their 70s who may not have used computers at
work. He
said the hour-long sessions - five daily five days a week - were booked up
six to eight weeks in advance and around half of those who attended the
course of six sessions went on to buy a computer, while the others used
internet access points in public libraries. But
the numbers of over-60s who have home internet access, a mobile phone or
PC is not evenly spread across the country, according to the survey. The
highest take up is in the south-east, Guildford (46.2%), Surrey, and
Watford (43.9%) and Hemel Hempstead (43.8%), both Hertfordshire, in the
top three places while the bottom five belong to Newcastle (29.8%),
Glasgow (29.5%), Dundee (29.4%), Motherwell (28.7%) and east London
(26.1%). Increasing
use of the internet among the over 60s tallies with national trends.
Nearly half of all British homes now have internet access, according to
government figures published yesterday. A total of 11.7m households, or 47%, had access to the internet in the first quarter of this year, up from 27% percent in the same period of 2000, the Office for National Statistics said. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
