Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Tech Trends!
AARP recently released this report, 2021 Tech Trends and The 50-PLUS: Top Ten Biggest Trends.
Here are the ten:
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In 2020, a year when a global pandemic significantly limited social interaction, technology became more important than ever — for everyone.
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Video-chat is here to stay.
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The dependency on tech has created new social behaviors, although it’s too soon to tell what will stick around.
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Older adults are doing more with their smartphones, by development over time or necessity, and using them more frequently.
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2020 is the year older adults adopted, updated, and modernized their tech, and many spent big bucks to do so.
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Smart TV’s were the second-most popular tech purchase.
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2020 brought a dramatic shift in how adults 50-plus consume entertainment. Growth in streaming was huge, but cable tv is still important (for now).
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Some barriers to technology adoption and use still exist for older adults.
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Privacy is an important but misunderstood issue for many.
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Disparities related to access have a significant impact on technology adoption and use among older adults.
Take a look at the findings for #10. This is pretty darn important:
• Sixty percent of adults 50-plus say the cost of high-speed internet is a problem for them personally.
• On average older adults spend $269 a month (16% of their budget) on tech expenses such as internet, cellphone, cable, and streaming
services (average estimated monthly costs: internet, $68; cellphone, $103; cable, $78; and streaming services, $20).
• A quarter (23%) of rural customers acknowledge that access to high-speed internet is a major problem for their community.
• And while older, urban customers have ample access to high-speed internet such as cable and fiber, they, like rural customers, indicate
that cost is a major problem (23% and 26%, respectively).
• Fifteen percent do not have any type of internet or are not sure if they have it.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/elder_law/2021/05/tech-trends.html