Who's Online and What Are They Doing There?
Generation Y, aka the "Net Generation," does not dominate every aspect of online life. That revealing statistic and many others like it come from Pew Internet and American Life's recent "Generations Online" report which takes a look at how the different generations of users - from Millennials to the G.I. Generation - use the internet.
The web is still largely populated by younger generations as over half of those online are between the ages of 18 and 44 years old. But these days, larger percentages of older generations are going online and they are doing more activities while there.
According to Pew's research, Generation X is most likely to shop, bank, and look for health information online, but boomers are just as likely as Gen Y to make travel reservations online. Even the older Silent Generation is competitive when it comes to email, although that could point to the fact that email is an activity that is trending older.
Who Uses Email?
It's true: email is for old people - at least it is now. Today, 74% of internet users age 64 and older send and receive email, making it the most popular activity in this group. Meanwhile, email usage among teens is dropping. In 2004, 89% of teens said they used email. Now that number is 73%.
Social Networking Dominated by the Young
Teens and Generation Y (18-32*) are the most likely to use the internet for entertainment and for communicating with friends and family through social networks. They're also more likely than others to play online games, watch videos, send instant messages, hang out in virtual worlds, and download music. In other words, they're the most likely to use the net for fun.
The favorite online activity for teens, however, is not social networking - it's game playing. 78% of 12-17 year-olds play games online, but only 50% of Gen Y does.
Older Generations Research, Shop, and Bank
It's not really surprising to discover that the older generations use the internet less for socializing and entertainment and more for research, email, and shopping. Generation X (ages 33-44) remains the leader when it comes to online shopping with 80% using the internet to buy products online, compared with 71% of internet users ages 18-32.
What is surprising is that users age 73 and up use the internet just as frequently for doing health searches as does Gen Y. In fact, researching health information is only the third most popular online activity for seniors, after email and general online search.
However, when it comes to online banking, it's Gen X that dominates. 67% of this age group does their banking online. Gen Y will most likely do more banking online as they grow older. You can see the activity trending up in their group from 38% in 2005 to 57% in 2008. As Gen Y ages, this number will continue to increase, as does the percentage using the net for booking travel. In 2005, 50% of Gen Y booked travel online and today 65% do.
More Info:
Pew Internet also released several charts and diagrams that accompany this report. You can find them online at Slideshare.
* In this study, the Generations are defined as follows:
- Gen Y (millennials) - Born 1977-1990, Ages 18-32
- Gen X - Born 1965-1976, Ages 33-44
- Younger Boomers - Born 1955-1964, Ages 44-54
- Older Boomers - Born 1946-1954, Ages 55-63
- Silent Generation - Born 1937-1945, Ages 64-72
- G.I. Generation - Born -1936, Age 73+
Image Credit: juanpol
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
Stupid statement..'email is for old people'... when you say right after that 74% 64+ and 73% of teens use email. Sounds to me like everyone uses email. Get over your stereotypes.
Would have been a better article if you had also touched on on how the different generations approach each other based on their usage patterns. This is so relevant in the workplace of today where you have several of these generations intermingling.
Doug K: Seniors have started using email more than ever. That was the point. It was a tongue and cheek reference to the stereotype, actually. I'm over stereotypes myself, thank you very much. I'll reword the sentence so that's more clear.
I have worked on such pyramid six month ago to buil my plan to launch (about to happen) my pearltrees my own start-up. I really agree with the study.
I just wanted to notice two facts :
GenY are students and pupils so have much more time than other generation and they do explore much more new services. The impression of their web domination comes from that they are very social due to how old they are and that the whole web2.0 was all about social services.
Second I think it is very impressive to see how quick older gen learn how to use the web whereas they are very busy.
Third point, there is a kind of downturn after fifty.
We also talked about this on our blog.
One of the more surprising stats was that, less than 50 percent of every generation read blogs.
I wouldn't have guessed it was so low.
I've been a late bloomer with the internet in general and particularly with online shopping but the recent holiday shopping season changed that pretty quick. I'm still feeling my way around Facebook, et. al. but I'm definitely hooked on the online shopping thing. I'd say I did about three quarters of my Xmas shopping online using sites like Sortprice.com (www.sortprice.com ) and I was really happy with the results. Hopefully 2009 will be the year I get even more tech saavy!
The reason for the drop in usage over fifty mirrors a similar decline in newspaper usage among older readers. The problems are probably linked. After that age it gets progressively harder for seniors to read the print.
I do research on blog usage as part of my masters program. The perception that blog readership is not as pervasive as I wanted to think, was one of the hardest preconceptions for me to shed. The gap is closing, but the percentage of internet users who read blogs (other than personal blogs) is still small.
The most frustrating part is that it means that there is still a huge percentage of readership in this country that gets its news from the mainstream media. Which I think it unhelpful to society. I'm not talking about a left or right bias, but rather a pro-media-establishment bias that values patronage and ad-supported pro-business coverage. New Media blogs often offer divergent perspectives that help shake people out of their notions that there is a consensus attitude out there and they are either inside it or deviant from it.
I have to say that I think there is a missing link between Gen X & Y.
Most people I know that were born between 1965 & 1970 are their own category. They are stuck. They don't relate w/their Baby Boomer Parents, nor do they with their younger Gen Y siblings or even their own kids when it comes to how to communicate.
Thoughts?
Thanks
-jen
@jenharris09
"But these days, larger percentages of older generations are going online and they are doing more activities while there."
Like the technology, the demographic evolves. It sounds as if yesterday's younger demo is now becoming the older one.
Great data.
I'm working on an article about Korean generational issue like web usage. It will be interesting to compare metrics.
I'll post the article here...
http://bridgingculturekorea.blogspot.com/
Deaf people are the one who use email the most you dumb fuck!
I'd say I have to agree with the part that says most of the time teens play online games but with the part that says e-mail is for old people... gimme a break.
I was born in '68 and therefore according to this survey am in the Gen X bracket, but my personal online usage is definitely up there with the Gen Y folks (particularly music downloads, online banking) and nudging up against the teens! :) Guess I'm still young at heart!
Will have to track down some equivalent stats for the UK and Europe... any pointers?