Daily Time Boomers and Seniors Spend Online (hrs:minutes) | |
Age | Time on Line Daily |
Boomers 50-61 | 5:42 |
Seniors 62-75 | 4:36 |
Source: McAfee, October 2013 |
Many Baby Boomers have voluntarily shared personal information with people they have never met in person. 57% have shared information or posted online personal information. This includes 52% who have shared their email address, 27% who have shared their cell phone number and 26% who have shared their home address.
According to Michelle Dennedy, vice president and chief privacy officer at McAfee, “The use of social networks among people 50+ is trending (up)… counterintuitive that sharing personal information with strangers would not concern them… highlights… need to better understand the difference between the real and perceived dangers online… “
Though social networks have a reputation among the younger generation as a hub for drama among friends, the survey found this to be the case even in this age group. 80% use social media networks, 36% of which log in daily, opening the doors to the possibilities of social media drama. 16% admitted to experiencing negative situations while logged into their social media accounts, leading to 19% of claims that the incident was severe enough to end a friendship. Other results from those who had negative experiences include inappropriate posts from friends (23%) and having a fight with a friend, spouse, or partner (9%).
Despite their technological confidence, these adults revealed some concerning and surprising realities regarding online security (excluding instances where this information was necessary for online purchases):
The sample of 1,258 online interviews included 15% Hispanic and 17% African American respondents, achieved geographic distribution according to the US census, and is distributed evenly by age and gender The total sample of 1,258 yields a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
For more information about this study, please visit here.
There is no way that these demo segments are truly spending this much time online. The data in the study were collected via an online survey and as such are skewed because the small percentage of the online population that joins online survey panels has been shown to be 2X to 3X heavier users of the Internet than the average person in their particular demo segment.