Senior Citizens Quickly Latching On To Social Media

It appears that Sh-t my dad says is just the tip of the iceberg when considering just how involved senior citizens have become in social media. These generations of senior citizens aren’t your grandmother’s grandma. This generation, which is the generation of baby boomers, are becoming the fastest social media adopters in the United States; pretty cool, right?

According to Statista’s findings, in this year alone, over 43 percent of Americans over the age of 65 use at least one social networking site. Compare that to in 2010 when 26 percent, and in 2008 with a measly one percent, and we have ourselves a quickly adapting generation of social media adopters.

Of course they’re still largely behind the pack of other users who are regularly using social media, but they’re certainly making strides. For their generation, they’re the only group that has yet to reach 50 percent in social media adoption.

As of right now 18-29-year-olds are 89 percent integrated into social media, while 30-49-year-olds are 78 percent, and 60 percent goes to 50 to 64-year-olds, but hey your grandparents are catching up.

While there’s no specific reason leading up to this vast change in adapting to social media, we think it has a lot to do with the smart phone, and it’s growing presence of social media. In addition, we have senior citizens in the limelight to thank as well. The Golden Sisters were able to snatch a TV deal after there YouTube video of the three reacting to the Kim Kardashian sex tape went viral in a huge way.

Social media isn’t just for tweeting your latest thought of the day. It is believed that it also helps for more practical ways. Many services are offering to find long-lost relatives, and are used to connect people with those from their past, so that might be a large incentive for senior citizens as well.

Check out the chart below: