The Pew Internet & American Life Project surveyed teens and adults about their Internet use. Interesting enough, adults over 30 are the ones starting blogs and the ones who are Twittering.
Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application.
Apple III Computer, photo taken by Alexander Schaelss on 15 Apr 2004, uploaded to the German Wikipedia on 16 Apr 2004 under the GNU-FDL license. Source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Apple3.jpg
Here’s my question: Why is it so shocking that an older crowd enjoys communicating on the Internet? These studies seem to think it’s only for young teens. I am a 30-something adult and grew up with computers. In the mid 80′s we had computer lab. I feel as if I’ve seen the computer evolve into a machine that is useful. I remember computer lab had the really old Apple computers with the black screen and green computer font. We learned how to create a program that would make squares and circles. Sometimes we would animate these images. Forget squares and circles, now, I can communicate to people across an ocean, and I can spread my own opinion. In fact, if it wasn’t for the over 30 crowd, these young teens would not have the digital know how they have today.
The one reason why young adults do not Twitter or blog as much as the over 30 crowd is because they have no need for it. The over 30 crowd are professionals who want to use the platform to market themselves in this digital global village. The over 30 crowds’ social network goes BEYOND the high school or college crowd. These young adults have a small social circle, yes it is high school, but it’s controlled by parents. The over 30 crowd has family, career, church, neighbors, friends, etc. Our social circle goes beyond a high school class of 300, which by the way we all can reconnect with on Facebook to add to our social capital.
I just want to say, I am over 30 and I enjoy the Internet and social networking. I might not be the “digital native” that this new generation is becoming, but I have seen the possibilities of the computer grow into reality and have been computing since my teenage years. I believe I was the first generation of the digital natives, and I can appreciate the value in how it has evolved into a communication platform. Maybe the thirty-somethings should be called digital explorers who, like Columbus discovering America, helped discover the vastness and richness of this new virtual world we live in today.
