Latest Data Shows Low % Of Seniors Online

Everyone always wants to move to electronic communications (e-mail, portal) in healthcare (along with other industries) based on cost and data availability.  Unfortunately, seniors aren’t online as much as we think.  Yes, there are exceptions.  We all have stories about our grandparents being online or some blogger whose 80 years old.

But, the latest data from Pew shows that they aren’t online.  Their not using high speed connections.  And, when they do go online, they’re dipping their toes in the water not jumping in the deep end to use all the cool tools. 

This is certainly reinforcing of the data we observe at Silverlink when we interact with Seniors.  They are used to the phone.  They like to talk on the phone.  They know how to navigate and interact with automated telephony (especially intelligent telephony not annoying IVR trees).  And, since we can provide similar data to the web and e-mail about how Seniors interact with the communications, it has been a growing area for healthcare companies.