Silver Surfers Aren’t Catching Download Wave

The media portrayal of the ‘silver surfer’ generation as catching up with the tech-savvy younger generation has today been shown to be wildly inaccurate, new research from ICM, commissioned by BiBC, has this week revealed.

Despite commonly held beliefs that downloading is now for everyone, the reality shows that whilst only 14 per cent of 18 – 24 year old respondents have never downloaded anything and will not do so in the future, an astonishing 48 per cent of respondents aged between 55 and 64 have not and will not download.

Further shattering the notion of the internet-confident older generation is the statistic that whilst 71 per cent of 25 – 34 year olds (with internet access and who would download) would be interested in digital TV integrated with broadband to deliver alternative programmes on demand, the percentage of 55 – 64 year olds interested falls to 46 per cent.

The older generation is similarly reticent when it comes to downloading movies and other visual media to other devices. Whilst 54 per cent of 18 – 24 year old respondents would download to an MP3 player, only 16 per cent of 55 – 64 year olds are interested in downloading to this device. No one in the 55 – 64 age group has considered downloading movies and other visual content to a mobile phone or PDA.

Paul Hague, Managing Director of BiBC, commented that, “it’s time for everyone to join the download revolution - there is no need for downloading to be a preserve of the youth. In fact the internet is perfect for older people to use – it is convenient as people do not need to leave the house, and there is a wide choice for those not interested in youth ‘popular’ culture – there is so much downloadable content and archived material that is ready-made old people with niche interests.

“Education and integration are the key – buying an older relative a download for Christmas and explaining the simplicity to them could be a way of educating them about downloading and integrating them into the online habits of mainstream society.”