It’s not just the young who can’t stop scrolling. Adults aged 65 or more years now are spending about 300 hours every year on social media, and a fourth of them spend more than an hour a day on platforms, a new study shows.
Although the research found that older adults largely use social media for entertainment or out of boredom, the study participants did find that almost half of older social media users also seek health-related content online.
The study also found that 63% of those surveyed said they’d learned something new that was “helpful” in their lives through social media. Although heavy social media use — particularly Facebook — puts seniors, or anyone else, at risk for getting misinformation, the study seemed to indicate that older adults are becoming more aware of social media’s pitfalls.
Only 35% of the study participants said they considered social media a reliable source of news, and 60% said that they understood that social media was only “sometimes” trustworthy or accurate. More than one-third of participants said they were either misinformed or outright scammed online in the past.
Navigating social media could be a part of tech literacy programs for older adults, as 20% of respondents acknowledged that they did not know how to “safely navigate” platforms to avoid scams or misinformation.
In addition to social media, health misinformation is an issue with both texting and artificial intelligence queries, although the latter may be subject-dependent.
Facebook remains the most common platform for older adults by a wide margin, a trend that began before the pandemic. Although the social media company has tried to address concerns about fake news, one recent study found that almost a fourth of image posts contain misinformation.
The past several years also have seen the rise of “granfluencers” on social media to promote their travel and leisure activities.
The study was commissioned by ClearMatch Medicare, a service that assists potential Medicare enrollees and helps find them the best coverage. It involved surveys of 2,000 older adults conducted last month.
