Slashdot Mirror
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."
To Catch a Predator.
So are they 'over 50's' or are they 'between 35 and 54'? I know that from the perspective of a teenager it all classifies as "really old", but some of us make more subtle distinctions...
"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?
Apparently, the title was just based off the fact that the age range must have been in hexadecimal. Right? Yeah...
Previously, my desires to flame the dean of students, trick him into clicking a goatse link, and infect his computer with gay porn had all been sadly unfulfilled due to his troglodytic eschewing of modern technology.
But now that the elder generation is seeking parity with the younger, we can at last unveil the full weaponry of the internet.
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
Coincidentally my Dad just signed up for Facebook last week (he's 58). So having noted that, I can now definitively say, without having actually read the article (because, really who does that?) and having examined exactly one piece of anecdotal evidence: the over 50 crown is definitely joining social networking sites in droves.
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.
Welcome to GetOffMyLawnBook.com!
"A nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it." - Churchill
How long before we start seeing our parents posting embarrassing messages on our walls though?
"Hey son, those are some rad tunes on your interblog site! What's that? It's got a good beat!"
Thank god they can't dance online. (obligatory Mary Whitehouse experience reference)
In fact my mother just set up a facebook page, the horror.
It's My Tea and I'll Drink it if I Want To!
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
Just because you're older doesn't mean you're a techno-moron. I'm in that demographic, and I even hang out with the Slashdot crowd once in a while and I, ah, what was the question? Why am I downstairs?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
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!
Also I am intermittently loading the dishwasher between sentences.
Oh. And here I was, thinking you just fell asleep between sentences. My bad, sorry.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
A 35 year old is not a baby boomer Anyone born in the 68-82 is generation X.
;-)
Which includes
Gwen Stefani
Cameron Diaz
Drew Barrymore
This is not your moms generation this is your younger hot stepmoms generation
I figure that's where all my customers are hanging out so why not be there. It has nothing to do with my social activity and everything to do with their social activity.
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.
A quote from the Wikipedia Generation X page:
According to the US Census Bureau, from 1993 to 2006, males grossed less than their fathers (defined as the cohort 30-years prior, about the average age of fatherhood) at the same age, using combined real median income and based on the following criteria:[6]
* At ages 25-34, those born from about 1965-1981
* At ages 30-39, those born from about 1963-1976
* At ages 25-39, those born from about 1964-1981
It's been widely reported that Gen X is the first generation that will not surpass its parents' standard of living.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.