Old folk embrace mobile phones

Davey Winder
Tuesday, 02 March 2010 20:31

Your IT - Mobility

Does your granny feel intimidated and hesitant when using new technology? Is Great Aunt Ethel a texting genius? The results of a new survey might just surprise you young folk.

A survey of seniors has revealed that an ever increasing number are now using mobile phones. However the sector does remain somewhat reserved when it comes to embracing other new technologies.

The survey, conducted during January and February this year, and published by Doro looked at the attitudes and habits of senior usage of mobile phones and new consumer technologies.

It suggests that some 77 percent of old folk in the UK have now got access to a mobile phone. 73 percent of these use them mainly to make telephone calls (obviously not iPhone users then) with texting coming a distant second in the usage stakes on just 37 percent.

Interestingly, 49 percent of those surveyed said that they still felt "intimidated and hesitant" when it comes to using new technology in general. Being a grandfather myself I thought this a little odd, as most of my peers are quite happy handling gadgets thanks very much.

Then I looked at the age groups being surveyed, and realised that while I might be a grandpa I'm not considered old enough to be a senior, which is a relief. However, the survey did reveal some interesting differences between younger and olkder seniors when it came to mobile phone usage.