Old people don’t use the internet?

sarahcyn

A local estate agent told my client the other day: “you house isn’t selling because older people who might be interested don’t go online.”
Hello? My husband and I have a serious Rightmove addiction!

It goes without saying though that all of us here on GN do use the internet, and most of us have been doing so for years. Some of us are obviously experts, and others practically invented it.

But I can think of a few friends and relatives of around my age who don’t, and have no interest in doing so (and no, I don’t understand it either, but it’s their loss call).

If the estate agent had just included the word “some” in his statement he’d have been correct. And an estate agent having trouble selling a house would surely be well-advised to use a variety of platforms, not just advertising online.

Obviously I’m not old

I might be wrong, but I perceive most of the older generation, I'm thinking now of parents of our demographic who might not have used computers, are now mostly dead.

I also think the estate agent was wrong, he needs to get out more maybe his views seem entrenched in the past. For example the "seniors golfing contingent" at my husband's previous golf club and current one, everything has been done online for yonks. I just don't know anyone anymore who isn't au fait with the rudimentary aspects of the internet, unless of course dementia is a factor. Life is pretty impossible without access these days, ordering repeat prescriptions for example, that's done on line now.

I started using computers in 1965 after a visiting studentship at Culham Laboratory and I'm now 77. I've used them for all sorts of tasks throughout my diverse work life and at home. By contrast my partner only learnt to use a PC to word-process aged 50 or so, can now use email and Google fairly well but struggles with anything beyond that, and mobile phones and tablets. I find computer use quite intuitive now but partner needs an explanation every time a problem occurs. Generalized, I would think there is quite a variation in computer familiarity amongst older people.

As Argymargy says, the survey above only deals in numbers of over 75 year olds using the internet. It doesn't look at why they do not use it and this is relevant in the context of the comment by the Estate Agency

Up to a million people have dementia. Most of them will be over 75. All but a small minority will not be capable of using a computer There may well be another million, if not more, who cannot use a computer for other mental and physical reasons.

If someone has dementia or other illness that makes using a computer impossible, it is highly unlikely that they are going out and about leading an active life and meeting people like this estate agent. People in this non-computer use group may be selling houses, usually because they are going into care, but they are likely to be reliant on younger people to handle the arrangements.

So, I think the estate agent's perceptions, as based on the over 75 year olds he is likely to meet, is wrong.

If the estate agent had said that older people don’t use the Internet to buy homes, he may well have been right. Fewer older people than younger people are likely to be buying homes. But he wasn’t only selling the home to older people.

Siope

Post-COVID research for England only:

A large majority of 50-64 year olds (88%) and 65-74 year olds (75%) in England use the internet every day or almost every day, compared to under half (46%) of those aged 75+.

Others use it less often, but among those aged 75+ more than two out of five (42%) do not use the internet

Two-fifths (39%) of people aged 52 plus in England say they are using the internet more since the start of the coronavirus. However, usage has increased most among groups already using the internet regularly, and so far, there is little evidence that significant numbers of those previously digitally excluded have been prompted to get online during the first few months of the pandemic.

Among those aged 75+, only around a quarter (24%) are using the internet more while nearly one in ten (9%) are using it less.

Although the over 75s make up the highest proportion of non-users, only 15% of these say they would like to use the internet more.

Study is ELSA (which is very large, and is a longitudinal study of people aged 50+ living in their own homes (owned or rented) in England only.

It does not necessarily therefore exclude people with dementia or illness which may prevent them accessing the internet. But the reasons are, in the context of the OP, irrelevant. The estate agent, on the evidence of two significant data sets, is not enormously inaccurate.

Thank you for providing some balance and evidence!

I am involved with several Probus groups representing about 400 people and I can say there are only 2 or 3 people out of all those groups that don’t use the internet. They all receive newsletters and information online constantly. The age range is 65-95, mostly people in their mid 70s. They are pretty savvy with phones,too. Maybe we are more advanced here but I would be surprised.

Im 78 and in 1996 I did a Ph.D in Human Computer Interaction.

This is the problem of classing all people in a group as being the same. Young/old, white/black, male/female.

I wonder what Tim Berners-Lee would have to say about this. I do feel for people who don’t understand what it’s all about though as it must appear scary to some. I was lucky to get into computers over 40 years ago and am the go to person in the house for advice but I wouldn’t hesitate to refer to tech savvy son in his thirties. I don’t know everything. I am so happy most older people can navigate their way through it.

My 96 year old FIL has both a laptop and an iPad. He banks, shops online for groceries and anything to do with his collecting hobby. He uses Zoom to talk to his 97 year old sister in the US and recently upgraded his iPad as it wouldn't support the latest software! Older people don't use the internet........?!

Post-COVID research for England only:

A large majority of 50-64 year olds (88%) and 65-74 year olds (75%) in England use the internet every day or almost every day, compared to under half (46%) of those aged 75+.

Others use it less often, but among those aged 75+ more than two out of five (42%) do not use the internet

Two-fifths (39%) of people aged 52 plus in England say they are using the internet more since the start of the coronavirus. However, usage has increased most among groups already using the internet regularly, and so far, there is little evidence that significant numbers of those previously digitally excluded have been prompted to get online during the first few months of the pandemic.

Among those aged 75+, only around a quarter (24%) are using the internet more while nearly one in ten (9%) are using it less.

Although the over 75s make up the highest proportion of non-users, only 15% of these say they would like to use the internet more.

Study is ELSA (which is very large, and is a longitudinal study of people aged 50+ living in their own homes (owned or rented) in England only.

It does not necessarily therefore exclude people with dementia or illness which may prevent them accessing the internet. But the reasons are, in the context of the OP, irrelevant. The estate agent, on the evidence of two significant data sets, is not enormously inaccurate.

Grantanow

He's an idiot. I started using a computer in 1965 and have been using one ever since and I'm now 76. Get a better agent.

I don’t think the OP is watching. It was posted in June 2021

I think those over 70s not using the internet for anything will include all those with dementia and debilating illnesses. There are more of these among over 70s than under 50s.

DS MiL, in her late 80s and completely on the ball, decided at some time about a decade ago that she could manage without using computers and dropped the class she was doing. Fortuately she lives in a big town and anything she wants is within a short bus ride, or car journey and her daughters live close by and can do everything else she needs, but personally, I think she misses a lot, and is conscious of it, but will not admit it.

Best point was made early on on this thread-
What’s he doing to sell the house to all those people who are missing the house?

Lots of older people do use it, including my relative who is now well over 100, but maybe not for buying houses.

varian

I am very surprised that it as low as 54% of over 75s.

That’s a little higher than the data that I am aware of that is used by, eg, some national grant funding bodies and at least one government department, but if memory serves, they work on 65+, so it’s probable the difference is a higher proportion of 65-74 year olds who use the internet (not, course, use a computer).

I can’t be bothered to work out how it correlates with Ofcom data from this year showing the number of households with no means of accessing the internet at all (6%).

My 92-year-old neighbour is computer savvy and uses a laptop and a mobile phone . They also have a family What's app group. Someone I know who is 101 regularly Facetimes their relations and uses a mobile phone.

sarahcyn

A local estate agent told my client the other day: “you house isn’t selling because older people who might be interested don’t go online.”
Hello? My husband and I have a serious Rightmove addiction!

Your client needs to ignore the agent.

I qualify as 'old people' yet here I am, on the internet.

I admit to not using a mobile, not age related, we have a LL and internet - I don't like to pay for excess.

Use it? I wrote it!

How ridiculous! It might have been right 20 years ago, when I was teaching pensioners how to email and search, shop, book holidays etc. online. The current generation(s) of oldies are, generally, pretty clued up and I'm sure that the vast majority of home buyers search online - with no difficulty.

It’s obvious from the posts on here alone that older people use the internet as much as younger people do, but perhaps differently.
The estate agent was obviously not being honest about why the house in question was not selling. I wish estate agents would be more truthful. It would have saved us many time wasting house viewings.

I am very surprised that it as low as 54% of over 75s.

ONS statistics March 2020, my bold.

92% of adults in the UK were recent internet users in 2020, up from 91% in 2019.
Almost all adults aged 16 to 44 years in the UK were recent internet users (99%), compared with 54% of adults aged 75 years and over.
While there has been little change in internet use for adults aged 16 to 44 years in recent years, the proportion of those aged 75 years and over who are recent internet users nearly doubled since 2013, from 29%, to 54% in 2020.

These figures may have changed because of COVID. There doesn’t yet seem to be a reliable dataset.

He's an idiot. I started using a computer in 1965 and have been using one ever since and I'm now 76. Get a better agent.