Older ‘Net Users Giving Youngsters a Run for Their Money

Generation Y enjoys the widespread stereotype as being the official Internet Generation, but it turns out those stinking kids don’t own everything online. Generation Xers, Baby Boomers, and even “G.I.” folks dominate their own niches when it comes to the online world, according to a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Gen Y (also known as Millennials) make up the largest single group in the Internet-using population–30 percent–and more than half of the adult Internet population is between the ages of 18 and 44. However, Pew notes that surveys taken in 2006 and 2008 indicate that other groups are growing rapidly, with the largest increase in Internet use coming from the 70 to 75-year-old age group.

This G.I. generation plus the one just below it, ages 64 to 72, are helping drive the continued popularity of email. Pew says that 74 percent of Internet users over 64 send and receive email primarily, while email is rapidly losing its teenage audience to newer communication methods like social networking and blogging.

In fact, “older” folks (those over age 32) do a lot of things online more than the young ‘uns do.

Read the rest of this post