Old people don’t use the internet?

Our generation invented the internet, - and mobile phones and personal computers.

So what are we all doing on here?
Giving the lie to that statement?

I just googled computers in 1965 and there was an article about Olivetti where roberto Olivetti, then CEO and his team developed the first desk top computer. I guess they would all be in care homes now with no idea about computers? (disclaimer, of course they know about computers, this was a weak attempt at humour!).

I am 66 and use a computer at work all the time and regularly use my beloved I pad and I phone. I had my first lap top 20 years ago. In addition our generation did not grow up with them like younger people, we had to learn as we went along.

If I were you OP I would ditch the estate agent!

Ignorant as well as incompent.

My 94 year old fil bought himself a new iPad recently as his old one wouldn’t accept the latest software updates. He banks, orders from the delicatessen(!), shops on Amazon, uses email. WhatsApp and is on Facebook. Older people don’t go online?!!!

Oh and he uses a desktop as well!

I wish I could convince my 89 yr old neighbour that she is on the internet She has every gizmo going, bought by her family.
She uses FB every day but still doesn’t understand how she gets FB etc etc. ?

Lots still don't. My best friend refuses to use it and has to drive into town to do all her business. Another only uses it to look things up and is afraid to buy online or use Facebook etc.

These idiots forget - who invented all this stuff? How old is Steve Wozniack now? And Tim Berners-Lee ...
Sheesh.
I had a long IT career, then went off MS when Win10 came along and revisited LInux, been running it for years now. As for online....I wrote my own website when I had my own business, never mind looking at house ads on the net.

If elderly couples or singletons did use the internet I guess nice bungalows would sell a lot faster than they do.

Caleo

If elderly couples or singletons did use the internet I guess nice bungalows would sell a lot faster than they do.

I take it that was tongue in cheek Caleo

Everyone on Gransnet is obviously computer savvy to a greater or lesser extent but I do know a number of people a lot younger than I am (80) who have never learnt to use computers. They aren’t stupid, just never thought it would be necessary and as it became necessary decided it was just too late to catch up.
One of them said to me, rightly, that I have the advantage of offspring who can help me if anything goes wrong whereupon my daughter in her mid 40s pointed out that it was I who taught my offspring in the first place and later set them up with email and showed them how to use that too. The internet also enabled me to catch my ex husband out having an affair. His work was in computers but for all that he never worked out how I knew.

Sodapop, Rightmove is a hobby of mine. Sometimes a nice bungalow does not sell for a long time taking account of the numbers of old people who have the money to spend and the need for the facilities it offers. It's interesting to hear the opinion of a professional estate agent on the matter.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Use it? I wrote it!

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.

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.

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%).

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.

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.

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