Are boomers the real phone addicts?

Everyone says that young people spend too much time on their phones but what if they’re not the biggest offenders?

Half of those between the ages of 61 and 79 are spending more than three hours a day on their phone, according to a survey of 2,000 US baby boomers by AddictionResource.net. And 20% of those surveyed regularly clock up more than five hours a day online.

Not teenage but old age

There’s a “moral panic” in many countries over the impact of digital technology on teenagers, said The Economist. But there’s a “less-noticed explosion in screentime” happening among 60-somethings. As older people enter retirement, their time spent on smart devices is “shooting up”.

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This generational cohort have been online since early middle age and they’re now “among the most enthusiastic adopters” of digital gadgets. They are more likely than under-25s to own tablets, smart TVs, e-readers, and desktop and laptop computers, according to a seven-country survey by research firm GWI. For them, “retirement is starting to look a lot less about golf and more about ‘Grand Theft Auto’”.

Older people may be “more insulated” than teenagers from some of the “social shunting” dangers of social-media exposure but they are more vulnerable to digital scammers and misinformation. With none of the social guardrails teachers and parents impose on teenagers’ screen time, they’re more likely to disappear down internet rabbit holes and less likely to have someone to turn to for help.

Writing in The Guardian, journalist April O’Neill described an older man who had “time on his hands” and “little media literacy” for “figuring out” which information sources he should trust. He “went from talking about birdwatching to sharing interviews featuring Tommy Robinson to saying migrants are taking our jobs” and believing conspiracy theories.

His case may be extreme but age-related susceptibility to misinformation is not: a US study published in Public Opinion Quarterly last year found that, although older Americans can identify misleading online content as well as younger Americans, they are more likely to engage with it – and so, over time, become “more vulnerable to hyperpartisan news”.

Cognitive powers 

It’s not all bad news: over-50s who regularly use digital devices have lower rates of cognitive decline than those who don’t, according to a meta-analysis of studies tracking more than 400,000 older adults, published in Nature Human Behaviour.

While it’s not clear if it’s the technology that “staves off mental decline” or if people with better cognitive skills “simply use them more”, the findings do call into question the assumption that increased screen time drives “digital dementia”, said The Guardian’s science editor Ian Sample.

Older people “may have more to gain from smart devices” than the rest of us, said The Economist. From Zoom church services and book clubs to online GP appointments and e-commerce, the “connective power of the internet is especially valuable to those who struggle to get out”.