Older Canadians Closing Generation Gap Online

Older Internet users | BCBusiness
While more seniors are signing on, they’re more likely to consume culture in more traditional formats (i.e. CDs rather than downloaded music).

The digital gap between younger users and seniors is narrower than we might like to think.

Apparently the generation gap is narrowing when it comes to surfing the web.
 
No longer is the Internet a place for young folks and “early adopters” from the late ’90s and early 2000s. A new study from Statistics Canada shows that older Canadians are firing up their computers to browse the Internet more often now than ever. As of 2010, more than half (60 per cent) of Canadians aged 65 to 74 used the web in the previous month, and 29 per cent of seniors 75 and over browsed the web during the last month.
 
Those numbers show a sharp uptick in Internet use in the senior community compared to 13 years ago. In 2000, just 10 per cent of Canadians 65 and over had been online in the last month, compared to 50 per cent of 15 to 24 year olds. 

Although the older Canadians markedly increased their Internet usage in the 2000s, they’re still likely to consume culture through traditional mediums. While 87 per cent of 15 to 24 year olds listen to downloaded music at least once a week, only 10 per cent of seniors seek out tunes online.