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Survey Finds Centenarians Use Email, Google and Online Dating

100at100 SurveyThe third annual Evercare 100@100 Survey polled 100 centenarians. The poll shifts conventional stereotypes on aging by revealing that some of the oldest Americans are using the latest technologies to keep up and stay close - talking on cell phones, sending emails, "Googling" lost acquaintances, surfing Wikipedia and even online dating.

Here's some of the results from the survey that found some centenarians are web savvy.

  • Surveyed Centenarians are no technophobes: 19 percent say they use cell phones to keep in touch with friends and family. Other technology used to stay in touch includes: e-mail (7 percent), sending or receiving digital photos by email (4 percent), and text messaging (1 percent).
  • Love 2.0: As many Centenarians as Baby Boomers (3 percent) say they have dated someone they met on an online dating site. Twelve percent of Centenarians surveyed say they have used the Internet and some have "Googled" someone they have lost contact with (2 percent) or have visited someone's personal Web site (2 percent).
  • Use the online encyclopedia "Wikipedia" (3 percent)
  • Purchased a gift online (3 percent)
  • Used the Internet to research a health topic (2 percent)
  • Have visited a political Web site (2 percent)
  • Have made travel arrangements and plans online (1 percent)

    Posted on August 11, 2008
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    Silver Haired Surfers

    Telegraph.co.uk reports that a significant percent of retired Britons are active surfers or "silver surfers." A recent study found that using the Internet is a favorite pastime of 41 per cent of retired Britons.
    The current generation of "silver surfers" spends an average of six hours online each week, research by the insurance company AXA found.

    Emailing and online chatting to friends and family was the favourite internet activity of the retired people surveyed, followed by researching information, booking holidays and shopping.

    Alison Green, a spokesman at AXA, said: "It is encouraging to see British pensioners embracing technology. The report highlights how pensioners are using the internet to support a less stressful approach to life.

    "The potentially arduous task of struggling with the shopping is becoming less of an issue as retired people can simply log onto their computers and select groceries at their leisure."
    The study found that silver surfers use the Internet for email (84%), information (83%), buying travel tickets (45%), online banking (35%), news (28%) and keeping up with grandchilden (42%). Maybe that search engine named Cranky has a good idea in targeting seniors.

    Posted on February 22, 2007
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    Cranky Search Engine Aimed at Seniors

    CrankyCNN reports that a new search engine located at Cranky.com is targeting the 50-plus demographic.
    Eons, the media company behind Cranky.com, said that the new search engine will yield fewer search results and rank them based on their relevancy to older Web users.

    Eons was started by Jeff Taylor, the founder and former chairman of online job site Monster.com, which is owned by Monster Worldwide.

    Taylor said in a written statement that the company teamed up with online consumer research firm Compete to find the 5000 most popular Web sites among a group of 500,000 Web users aged 45 and older and rated each site in order to create Cranky.com.

    According to the Cranky.com Web site, the top requested searches for Web users over the age of 50 last year show some similarities to the most popular searches on sites like Google and Yahoo - searches about blogs and making new friends were among the top ten searches on Cranky.com-rated sites, for example.

    But there were also several key differences between what's interesting to younger Web users and the older ones that Cranky.com is targeting. While Paris Hilton and Britney Spears were top celebrity searches on Yahoo and Google, author Stephen King was the most searched celebrity according to Cranky.com. Other popular searches on Cranky.com were for information about brain builder mental exercises and jobs after retirement.
    You can see some of the most popular search terms used on the website here. Cranky is made by the same company that started the Eons social network for the 50+ crowd.

    Posted on January 17, 2007
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