Tech Acting as Lifeline for US Seniors During Pandemic: AARP
Tech use by people over 50 “skyrocketed” during the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to continue, said a Tuesday report from the American Association of Retired Persons. Some 70% of survey respondents said they bought tech products in 2020. This…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
year, they spent an average $821 on tech vs. $394 in 2019, said the report. Smartphones and accessories, along with Bluetooth headsets, topped the list of purchases. Three-quarters of respondents in their 50s, 79% in their 60s, and 72% over 70 count technology as their link to families and the wider world, AARP said. Tech behaviors formed during the pandemic appear to be long term, the organization said, highlighting video chat and online shopping, banking and engagement in health services. A third of older adults ordered food online from a restaurant and one in four listened to a podcast in the past two years, it said. Seniors subscribe on average to three streaming video platforms, said AARP, but four in 10 felt technology is not designed with them in mind.