Seniors using social networking and cell phones

Shakita Jarrett

Seniors and CMC

One of the biggest misconceptions about seniors is they are out of touch with technology compared to the younger generation. However, seniors find using the internet and social media websites just as useful and benefit from it more than the younger generation. According to the article “How Do Women Over 60 Use the Internet? The Answers Might Surprise You...” the author discuss several ways how using the internet can improve the lives of seniors along with reducing mental health problems such as, depression. To begin, seniors using Facebook find this social network beneficial with making friends and creating that support system, because during this stage in their lives they are dealing with death of parents and spouses and possibly their own illnesses so that support system is vital during challenging times. Seniors find that social media help with the development of friendships because they are connecting with people from around the world that they would have never met if it wasn’t for the internet. Also, making friendships through Facebook and social networking websites created a support network. For example, after the death of her husband a woman stated the amount of support she received from her friends on Facebook was overwhelming and comforted her during that tough time. Another advantage of seniors using the internet is it keeps them intellectually stimulated with current information. The internet allows them to stay informed about news, seek information and enhance communication with relatives through social networking instead of telephone. For instance, a senior discussed how her iPad was her best friend and carried it everywhere she went because she was able to get information at any time along with access to looking at her favorite family photos. Because technology gives seniors more communication options, the rates of seniors owning cell phones has increased through the years. According to the Pew Research Center 77% of seniors are cell phone owners and 18% are smartphone owners. (Smith, 2014). Cell phone allow seniors to communicate with relatives and make business phone calls. In contrast, the rates of smartphone ownership by seniors is low because most seniors do not use all the features of the smart phone and prefer the basic cell phone.

This information relates to class material because we discussed that senior usage of internet has increased over time because they are using social networking to communicate with relatives, find and build friendships and online dating. As mentioned in class, most grandparents use Facebook to keep up with their grandchildren and see what’s going on in their lives. I can relate to this because my grandmother has Facebook and she uses it mostly to check up on her grandchildren and comment on their posts. So, she uses social networking as other means of communication since she cannot see her grandchildren all the time but their updates on Facebook let her know that they are fine. Also, with cell phone ownership both of my grandmothers own cell phones, one has the basic cell phone and the other has a smartphone. As mentioned above, my grandmother has the smartphone but does not use all its features except for the camera and gets the basic plan that she would if she had a regular cell phone because she feels all the extra stuff on the phone is not needed and she doesn’t use them, so why have it.