Granddad’s on Youtube!

As the baby boomers come of age,  we are seeing a social revolution of this demographic starting to collect pensions. Since 2006 the largest generation of people ever is starting to move through to retirement. Baby boomers are a generation of people born just after W.W.2 to the mid 60’s and the advent of oral contraception but what do they think of the Internet?

Their children are buying them laptops and showing them how to use webcams and Skype to keep in touch as they explore the planet. It is cheaper now for families to travel and emigrate than it was 30 years ago, so families move around a lot more. I remember living abroad in the 70’s and my Dad calling UK on Christmas day and my Mum sat with a huge alarm clock to record the time and my Dad shouting incoherently ( Why do we shout when it’s far away?) it was very expensive then for a couple of minutes to wish folk back home festive cheer, now however we can spend all night chatting to people all over the world for free. Who remembers having a pen pal in another country and a week between letters?

I read recently that London UK has the highest number of ethnic groups than any other city. The kids are travelling and their parents are keeping in touch online.

Over half of all UK pensioners are now actively engaging in Facebook, so much so that my own daughters who are early teens, stay off it because they value their privacy too much, and don’t want parents and grandparents knowing too much about them.

30 million people in the UK have registered on Facebook with 26 million Twitter followers at the start of 2012.

•There are 70 million WordPress blogs worldwide
•There are 39 million Tumblr blogs worldwide
•4 out of 5 internet users visit social networks and blogs

Social Media is finally on the map. From a business point of view 42% of users claim to be in the £30k-£49,999 income bracket – and the second most highly represented bracket is £50k plus, at 22%!

Sites like Tigoby.com are now giving pensioners or ‘Silver Surfers’ as the are now known, the way to have a video biography of their lives and stories to leave for prosperity. Family trees are a popular online activity for the elderly to explore their family way back. Shipping data for hundreds of years is accessible so you can see who travelled on what ship and when, as well as birth registers are all to be explored online from the comfort of your own home.

If given a choice what career had the most leverage now, I would say anything to do with pensioners. Every high street has a mobility shop and people in this industry are doing very well thank you. I do not think you will see a poor undertaker in the next thirty years, boom time! Sad or happy to say which ever way you look at it!

Ebay is a massive site for pensioners as they look to see what treasures are being thrown out and sold off, like a giant global boot sale on your lap.

What do your pensioners enjoy looking at online?