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Over-50s Invade the Social Networking Scene
An anonymous reader writes "The Telegraph newspaper reports that over-50s are invading sites like Facebook and MySpace in massive numbers. A recent study showed that nearly one third of Facebook users are aged between 35 and 54, and that this group also made up 41 percent of MySpace users. "Because the mind of an over-50 is likely superior to that of a drink-addled undergrad, at first there was uncertainty about whether older users would find the Facebook-led social-networking phenomena attractive." Looks like dad just turned up to the party."
"Because the mind of an over-50 is likely superior to that of a drink-addled undergrad, at first there was uncertainty about whether older users would find the Facebook-led social-networking phenomena attractive."
So the over-50's were never drink-addled undergrads? Does this mean I'm not going to make it to 50?
Because the mind of an over-50 is likely superior to that of a drink-addled undergrad, at first there was uncertainty about whether older users would find the Facebook-led social-networking phenomena attractive.
I've passed my [drink]-addled college years and haven't passed 50 yet, but I have to say, FP author, you've managed to write a summary that insults pretty much everybody! Kudos!
That said, clearly the presense of these older folks on the ego-aggregator networks demonstrates that some of them still do have drink-addled minds.
A recent study showed that nearly one third of Facebook users are aged between 35 and 54
Statistics abuse time - That also means that a third of facebook users have ages between 35 and 84! Quick, re-write the FP title, the Octogenarian Invasion has begun!
The first two answers that came to my mind: the computer industry and the Cold War.
I'll give you two contra-answers: Political Correctness and the current Presidency.
From the silly adolescent jokes you suggest, it is you who has a long way to go to reach parity with us.
Don't flatter yourself into believing that you know more about technology and the Internet then the "elder generation".
Where do you think the technology and the Internet came from? It didn't magically fall out of the sky one day. It came from the work of the "elder generation" in the 60's, 70's and 80's when we were the age you are now.
As a over 50 guy, I guess we will have to re-educate you as to how you received life. Since you are posting here you are probably a product-(as are most of the smart-assed comments here) of a boomer. We stopped the Vietnam War, gave women and minorities the same rights as everyone else, won the space race, gave you the ability to even post your snarky comments due to the fact that we pushed technology forward. These are just a few of the many things we have contributed to the greater good. Now please tell me what your chicken-shit generation have done except sit back on your ass and whine about how shitty every thing is. The difference between us and you is when we seen something that was wrong we DID something about it!
Won't Bow.....Don't Know How
To me, this isn't surprising. .
.
Older people, like everyone else, have a need for social interaction. But as they grow older, they are less and less willing to go out and/or meet up in the traditional sense - bars, restaurants, etc. Soc. network are ideal for them - they are easy to use and through them, the older crowd can fulfill their basic human need without having to leave their home.
Anyway, if Facebook make just one mother stop complaining to her grown up children about not visiting - we should all rejoice!
Magazine 13 - We like to think its funny... sort of
It seems to be a general rule in society that parents must sacrifice themselves on an altar for their children. It seems that becoming anything less than a completely devoted man servant to your offspring is a moral wrong. I'm of the opinion that becoming a parent does not oblige you to devote 100% of your (free) time to your children, and that telling your clinging offspring every now and again to push off because you're busy with your own life, will be a benefit to them in the long run.
All that said, if my parents ever do get a social networking account, I will publicly disown them.
May the Maths Be with you!
Oh great!
I thought the whole point of "Social Networking" was to be socialiable??!!
One of the great aspects of the Internet was anyone could take part, no matter your race, religion, colour or *age* everyone is equal behind the keyboard.
After reading some of the negative comments on this thread it saddens me there are people who obviously find people of "a certain age" offensive.
Me? I am 37 years old and have no hang-ups or insecurites about my age at all (I never did)!
As this thread continues I am hoping many more positive posts will outweigh the negative comments I have seen so far otherwise I will have to re-consdider participating in Slashdot.
The funny thing it is *inevitable* *you* will reach this age one day...HaHaHa
1. I come from the opposite angle. Mom... well, make no mistake, she loved us sincerely, but... entirely too much, you know? It took some almost violent verbal clashes to get her to just leave me alone and live her own life. That started when I was around 30 years old, and continued for some 5 years, give or take.
As far as I can tell, she's still not over it, but has learned to control herself by now.
Her first conclusion was that someone's obviously manipulating me and my brother against her, when I too started telling her to mind her own business. (My brother had been at it since childhood.) Again, as far as I can tell, she still isn't convinced that that's not the case.
So, trust me, noone really wants 100% of their parents' attention and devotion. And if anyone actually thinks they do, I doubt that they'd be happy with it, if they actually got it. Even the most affectionate lap cat needs some time alone, or it _will_ go neurotic. A human, doubly so.
2. That said, well, humans
A) judge each other all the time, so big freakin' surprise that they judge their parents/children too.
B) are judged by the company they keep, or the company they drag you into, all the time. And parents, well, are a company you can't easily change.
Being annoyed by some of your kids' or parents' habits doesn't necessarily mean you want them as a manservant or anything. When you can look at your kids (and/or co-workers, friends, etc) and say that you truly don't care what they do, it's all their choice how they want to live your life, have your full support in anything whatsoever... well, then you'll have earned the right to ask the same in return. Until then, nope. If you've ever thought you're so embarassed of something your son did in front of the guests, then he too has a right to feel embarassed by something _you_ did in front of _his_ friends.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
gave women and minorities the same rights as everyone else - You definitely get partial credit for this. However... Rosa Parks was NOT a baby boomer. Martin Luther King? NOT a baby boomer. The suffragettes? NOT baby boomers. Heck, Mary Tyler Moore? NOT a baby boomer! You guys helped, but you were only continuing the momentum started by previous generations.
won the space race - O RLY? Baby boomers born between 1942-1962 (or so, ish) were responsible for the moon landing in 1969? It was a bunch of 7-27 year olds who pulled that off?
I think you may be confusing "Thing that we did" with "thing that I happen to remember that happened before you were born." I'll give you some credit for Vietnam, and sure, you get credit for a lot of great technology in the 80s and 90s. But by the early 90s, Gen Xers were also participating in the tech boom (Gen Xers include: Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell, Larry Page, Sergei Brin, Linus Torvalds, Tom Anderson).
Also, if women's lib and civil rights for minorities defined your generation, I would guess that gay rights is the parallel movement that would define Gen X in many of the same ways.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
I don't really see how this is a big deal. I have news for everyone in highschool and college -- you didn't invent the internet. You didn't even make it popular. Is it really so shocking that people 35 to 54 (about the same age as the CHILDREN of the men who popularized the internet as we currently know it) are using services on the internet?
This study just shows how self centered kids are these days. Their entire use of the internet revolves around instant messaging and posting naked photos of themselves at beer parties on myspace and they're shocked that people who were 20 when the web started to really take off are making use of it today at the gray old age of 35 to 54?!