Teenage Internet users are as likely as other users to send and receive email even if they often disparage the medium as something for “old people,” according to a report released by Pew/Internet & American Life Project.
The hip medium among users ages 12-17 is instant messaging, though 90% send and receive email across all age groups. With users age 65 or older, email is the most popular activity, probably bolstering its image as an old fogy way to communicate.
The oldest users, however, have yet to embrace Internet en masse. Only 26% of Americans age 70-75 get online at all, and only 17% of Americans 76 or older go online.
Generation Xbox (ages 12-28) prefers online applications uniquely suited for communicative, creative, and social uses. Especially among the 18-28 age group, young people are significantly more likely than older users to send and receive instant messages, play online games, create blogs, download music, and search for school information.
Though always-on, high-speed connections are thought to play a role in these activities, the study suggested that broadband access doesn’t seem to be a factor in these preferences. A comparison of Internet users in their 20’s to users in their 30’s showed that both groups are equally as likely to have broadband access, but the younger group was more enthusiastic about games and IM.
One caveat about the younger crowd, though, may be lack of funds and more idle time. While the younger groups are playing games and chatting with each other, Internet users ages 29-69 are more likely than others to conduct their banking online and make travel reservations. Fifty percent of users between 29 and 40 years old bank online, compared to 38% of the 18-28 age group.
Buying products online is popular across all ages except those at either end of the age scale: teens and Internet users age 70 or older.
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