The impact of cognitive age on Internet use of the elderly: an introduction to the public policy implications

Abstract

Despite the growth of the Internet, one area that has not really been discussed is the elderly's use of the Internet. Given the rapid growth of this population as well as the potential the Internet holds for them, it is a subject worth consideration. However, seniors cannot be defined simply by their chronological age, but by their cognitive age. This paper discusses the impact of cognitive age of a national random sample of American elderly consumers on their Internet use. The results suggest that those seniors with a younger cognitive age use the Internet more than those seniors with an older cognitive age. Additionally, seniors with a younger cognitive age have more social contact off‐line (but not online) than those seniors with an older cognitive age. Finally, in terms of demographic variables, chronological age is positively associated with cognitive age and women report a younger cognitive age than men. These results suggest that for policy makers interested in increasing the participation of seniors, they can utilize the Internet to reach those who are younger in terms of cognitive age; however, they will not be able to reach all seniors in this manner and they need to utilize the Internet as a complementing media to their traditional communication sources.

Internet Marketing to 50+ Generations in the UK and France

“…An article in the Harvard Business Review (Bartos 1980) was the first U.S. publication to redefine this market in terms both of size and buying power, and conflicting views on the utility of a focus on the 50+ as a single group may be a factor. Greco (1986), for example, considered that grouping all older consumers into one age-based category could result in marketers overlooking crucial segments of this important market, and there have been pressing recent calls for further research on the segmentation of older people (Eastman and Iyer 2005;Jayanti, McManamon, and Whipple 2004). In fact, almost a decade earlier Moschis (1996) spoke of the need for segmentation, arguing that people become more dissimilar with respect to lifestyles, needs, and consumption habits over time.…”

Older Adults in an Aging Society and Social Computing: A Research Agenda

“…According to Lenhart (2009), only 7% of people older than 65 actively use SNS in the United States. However, there is expected to be an increase in the number of older adults to use SNS (Eastman & Iyer, 2005). Therefore, we propose the following research to improve the SNS experience of older adults and increase the number of older users of SNS.…”

“…The former issue, use of digital devices, is related to following subjects: abilities or impressions when handling complex digital devices (N. E. Kang & Yoon, 2008;J. S. Lee, Lee, Lim, & Sohn, 2007) and factors affecting the use of digital devices (Eastman & Iyer, 2005;Eom, Hyun, & Han, 2009;Kurniawan, 2008). On the ability of older adults, they tend to make more mistakes in completing given tasks with digital devices than younger people (Czaja & Sharit, 1993;Laberge & Scialfa, 2005;Sayers, 2004) due to the physical and cognitive change with aging.…”

Children’s interaction with the Internet: time dedicated to communications and games

“…In the context of older consumers comprising a growing segment of Internet users, Eastman and Iyer (2005) discuss the impact of the cognitive age of American consumers 65 years old or older, on their Internet use, with results indicating that seniors with lower cognitive age will use the Internet more than seniors who are older in cognitive age. Fowler et al (2015) investigate the strategies that consumers deploy to cope with ageing issues through internet communications.…”

“…Other papers have analyzed different age groups, with Eastman and Iyer (2005) and Fowler et al (2015) focusing on various uses of the internet for the elderly. In the context of older consumers comprising a growing segment of Internet users, Eastman and Iyer (2005) discuss the impact of the cognitive age of American consumers 65 years old or older, on their Internet use, with results indicating that seniors with lower cognitive age will use the Internet more than seniors who are older in cognitive age.…”