Does the Tech-savvy Baby Boomer Exist?

Last week my friend spent 4 hours teaching her 64-year-old mother how to program her brand new Ti-Vo to record her two favorite daily soaps. After 4 hours Mama Brown asked her daughter to return the “useless” machine to the store and bring her a good ol’ VCR that could easily record her shows. While there are many baby boomers like Mama Brown who couldn’t send an email to more than one person at once, or take 10 minutes to type a text message, there are just as many who have embraced technology as a crucial facet in everyday life. There are many boomers who instant message, can program their iPod nanos with no difficulty, even keep track of their daily blogs.

Tech-savvy baby boomers are quickly becoming the norm. Recent studies have shown that America’s 78 million boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are just as likely as Gen X-ers and Gen Y-ers to own a mobile phone or to use the Internet. But the technology products and Web services they use often reflect the concerns boomers have as they move into their 60s. “Kids adopt new technology because it’s fun and cool and they’re curious,” says Dr. Reisen, co-founder of a popular boomer social website. “Boomers adopt technology as they need it.”

The lifestyle of the boomer generation influences the products they buy, says Susan Walker, founder of the Smart-Silvers Alliance, which seeks to promote awareness and development of consumer-friendly technology products for seniors. “Younger generations don’t hang around the house too long; they’re all about having portable media, personal entertainment,” Walker says. As we get older, we develop cataracts, weight gain, arthritis and that makes portable entertainment a tougher sell. The older generation loves TV, but you can’t stare at a 2-inch screen without having to get a stronger eyeglass prescription.

Difficulty of use is a common complaint; mobile phone developers have been chasing the younger generation with slicker, smaller handsets. Those tiny buttons are not made for an adult hand. That is probably why you don’t see many boomers text messaging.

Having witnessed the tech revolution, Baby Boomers are willing to embrace and purchase today’s emerging entertainment offerings, according to the findings in TV Land’s Joy of Tech Study. 78 million strong and $2.3 trillion in annual spending, and outpacing 18-39 year-olds by 53%, Baby Boomers have the numbers, financial means and desire to create their own “digital nest” - a place where new media technology creates both a personal escape as well as an entertainment hub for family and friends.

If you are tired of the teasing and taunting from your younger more tech-savvy counterparts, you can tell them that it is you the boomer that can take credit for shaping the course of this technology if not the entire direction of the digital revolution. Have you heard of Bill Gates? He is among one of digital industry pioneers now in their 50s. But several decades ago he was the annoying tech-savvy kid who seized the moment when the “old folks” had no clue.

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For Boomeryearbook.com