Even people over 65 spend a lot of time on these small touch screens. The latter have changed their digital journey, itself transformed by this new audience.
We all have in mind the image of our grandparents criticizing us for spending too much time in front of the television, the computer screen or on our portable console. Of course, smartphones are also the subject of criticism and dismay, but for how much longer?
Indeed, these tools have gained in popularity, to the point of becoming essential windows on an Internet which has taken a preponderant place in our daily lives. And, even the wisest among us cannot resist it.
Universal use of the internet and above all… the smartphone
How much time do you spend on the Internet? According to Médiamétrie, the French are on average connected for 2 hours and 24 minutes… every day. If the youngest remain very active on the web with almost 4 hours of surfing », Explains the company, seniors are not left out. People aged 50 to 64 browse the web for approximately 2 hours and 29 minutes per day, while people aged 65 and over spend almost 1 hour and 32 minutes.
In this age group, just over 8 in 10 people (81%) are online at least once a month, five times more than in 2009. At a time when almost all households (93%) have access to the Internet and the population aged 15 to 65 is almost entirely connected to the Internet, we are witnessing a homogenization of digital uses which is increasing. extends to all generations », notes Catherine Poullet of Médiamétrie. “ In this context, seniors appear to be an undeniable source of growth. »
Another trend followed by baby boomers: the use of smartphones. These have ended up slipping into everyone’s pocket, and people aged 65 and over today access the Internet in 57% of cases via these devices, compared to 79% for the entire French population.
Facebook is aging, and so is its audience
Social networks and instant messaging, now more used than e-mails, bring everyone into agreement and have been used by two thirds of the French population in 2023. If the average French person browses 3.5 per day , those aged 50-64 consult around three in the same time, and those aged 65 and over around 2.3, or twice as many as five years ago. In fact, our fellow citizens devote 39% (+3 points compared to 2022) of their internet browsing time to WhatsApp and others.
However, as you may have noticed, grandma doesn’t necessarily like the same apps as her grandchildren. As we mentioned in our article on Facebook’s 20th anniversary, the world’s leading social network is increasingly popular with older people. On a daily basis, it is preferred by 40% of those aged 65 and over, who favor it over Instagram, Snapchat, X.com (formerly Twitter) and, of course, TikTok, which has seen its strongest growth among Generation Z However, the audience of all these platforms is becoming more mature over the years, reaching an average age of 44 in 2023, compared to 41 in 2018.
As for other categories of websites and platforms, Médiamétrie found that video streaming services attract 52.4 million French visitors each month. Podcasts are also in the spotlight, since they are listened to by nearly 20 million of our fellow citizens. Relatively new on the web, generative AI tools are already used regularly by 5 million people in France.
Finally, one last statistic revealed by the analysis company is reason for us at Clubic to rejoice: “ Nearly 7 in 10 French people (69%) and almost 2 thirds of 15-24 year olds (64%) get information on dedicated sites and apps every month “. The smartphone remains a window of choice here, since it is used by 40.3 million people to browse the written press online, which still seems to hold up quite well to new uses driven by platforms such as TikTok.
Sources: Le Figaro, Médiamétrie
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