Smartphone usage by older adults is up -- why?

Times change, so do phones. One year ago according to the latest from Pew, 18% of the 65+ had a smartphone – today, 27% have them. Why? Well, for one thing, when a phone breaks, smartphones are easy to find in the store as directed by a rep and online, while ‘basic’ phones (Verizon has 6 unique basic phones) are buried under pre-paid plans. AT&T's two unique brands are very difficult to find, with a handful of non-contract Go Phones – found online after wading through a gazillion smartphone choices. Also, 41% of people aged 65-69 are smartphone owners, perhaps side effects of working longer, greater longevity, families with pics, videos, and chats that must be seen NOW. But still, more than 70% of the 41 million 65+ still do not have smartphones. This likely isn’t because of the cost of the plans (43% of smartphone owners pay between $50 and $100) – only 10% of the 65+ are statistically classified as living in poverty.

The device is a useful irritant -- or has irritating utility. Let’s assume that the 65+ population has the same (or more) aggravations noted by the general smartphone user base. Per Pew, nearly half experience content as not displaying properly on occasion, experiencing poor or dropped signal quality and apps (39% for 50+ age group) not working correctly. Thirty-seven percent of the group aged 65+ uses their smartphone for turn-by-turn navigation, although one might bet that this is one of those apps 'not working correctly' -- at least some of the time. (Meanwhile, sales of GPS devices continue to drop year-over-year.)  Interestingly, despite the GPS app hassles, getting directions was the top issue reported when phone owners didn’t have their smartphone with them. On the other hand, 53% of smartphone owners, likely the same ratio for the 65+, have used their smartphones when observing or experiencing an emergency – like a car accident.  

Carriers also just want you to be free – to pay for data via apps. 78% of smartphone owners over the age of 50 characterized smartphone ownership as freeing (versus 66% of those aged 18-49) and also as compared to thinking of the device as a 'leash.' (I guess that depends on the meaning of 'freeing.') As for predictions, smartphone ownership will continue to accelerate among the younger-old demographic, according to Deloitte. And no doubt because carriers really want to sell you pricey data plans. And they are so DONE with supporting, fixing, or marketing clamshell phones. But there’s work to be done. As the Deloitte report noted, carriers have been relatively unpersuasive at getting older users to download any of the 2 million or more apps. Gee, I wonder why.  Because other than email, maps, the web, social and messaging apps (aka Facebook and Twitter), and a camera -- they are mostly useless and therefore not used? 

What will make the aged 70+ get a smartphone?  I predict not much and rightly so. As 32% of the 70-74 ages and 12% of the 75+ affirm, they’re pretty useless if you aren’t Tweeting that you’ve just arrived at the bar, don’t want to surf the web just now, can wait for that cute picture of little Susie the dog, already have a GPS on the dashboard, and know full well that most of your email is spam.  And if any hand/finger mobility or vision issues have arrived, getting that smartphone to behave can be one of life’s nightmares. And that’s AFTER the initial setup.  While a few companies like Great Call and Consumer Cellular offer older adults various smartphones and plans for seniors, training on how to use them is a must. There are AARP TEK workshops, local programs sprinkled here and there around the country like BLueHair Technology Group in Atlanta, for example, or OATS in New York. And then there are the stores themselves. If you know someone who is really new to smartphones, tell them to be like a friend of mine, now aged 69 – who went back to ask additional questions about her new phone every single day – and will keep going every time there is an upgrade or a new feature she doesn't understand.

Please be sure to check out Boomer Health Tech Watch, our parallel site that tracks boomers and Digital Health, wearables, and mHealth!