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Social Networking: Elderly Risk Disfranchisement
- The Telegraph , Monday, January 21, 2013 3:58 PM
The concept of identity in Britain will undergo a major change within the next decade as a generation who grew up with smart phones and online profiles enters adulthood, Sir John Beddington said. The spread of social media and increasing amount of personal information we put online is redefining the way people see themselves and form social groups, a new report published as part of the government's Foresight Programme found.
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I disagree many of those that are older are also using social media. Many are using due to the fact that their children and grand children are using social so to keep in communication so are they. Note that with the way the world changes many will or can find it hard to keep up. Remember younger people are tech savvy they are tech dependent.
Our family uses social media. The oldest is 88 and the youngest (with her own account) is 13. There are many younger members who peek at parent's accounts until they get an individual account.
The online lives of our multi-national, multi-generational group may be a bit unusual, but we know many other friends and families who enjoy the same connections.
As social media becomes easier to use and people of all ages learn to negotiate the perils of scammers and other unsavoury characters who look for new users to victimize, the age limits will get even more irrelevant.
What is amusing is the reaction of the teen, 20 something and 30 something wiz kids when they find out great-granny has a Facebook page and plenty of friends her own age!