The Growing Number of Older Internet Users—and Susceptibility to Scams
Q:
Tammy,
I have run into more of a personal generational difference for the first time that has completely thrown me for a loop (even with all the tools I have in my belt to understand the differences in the generations!)
As a member of Gen X, we are really experiencing the full-on “Sandwich Generation” squeeze right now. In dealing with my Boomer mother, we recently had an issue come up that she could not comprehend… Internet safety/ Internet scams. My children would think this is just crazy, others my age would appreciate that they are out there and we have to be cautious, but my mother just cannot comprehend that scams are out there. (This was the one that comes from a “lawyer” on “Lloyds of London” letterhead telling her that she has just come into $6 million.)
We all know that anyone who is slightly Internet-savvy can create Lloyds of London letterhead, even create an email address that looks like it is coming from them, claim to be a lawyer (or even better yet, just a real person) and convince people that it is all real. HOWEVER, as someone who only knows how to use the Internet to get email and order from Amazon, she cannot comprehend that scams like this could even happen. She truly believes that “if it is on the Internet, then it must be true” (probably as she believed that if it was on CBS Evening News or the NY Times, it must be true).
Do you have any research about Internet safety and the older generations? I would have to imagine she is not alone! How do we as those more familiar with the Internet let them know that there is a lot of garbage out there that can even hurt them?
Erinn
A:
Hi Erinn,
I haven’t seen anything specific on Internet scams, but I suspect this is just the latest incarnation of older people’s susceptibility to scams of all kinds – phone, Internet, someone dressed as a repairman at the front door, and so on. I’m afraid just as we have to help our children understand the implications of their online activity, we also need to help our older relatives – or ourselves – become increasingly savvy.
It’s clear that your mother is part of a growing trend in terms of Internet usage. Today, women over 55 are the fastest-growing demographic group of social network users; 41% of all Boomers (men and women) have visited online social networks. According to a 2009 Pew internet study, more than half of all Boomers are online on an average day, and more than a third go online several times a day. Forty-one percent of Boomers say they go online just to have fun. The NPD Group found that 61% of Boomer Internet users in the U.S. have visited sites that offer streaming or downloadable video.
There’s no turning back – it’s time for us all to learn the Internet ropes.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Warmly,
Tammy
