Research by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found that COVID-19 restrictions have led to an increase in older Australians using digital communications and including social media apps, many for the first time.
Chair of ACMA, Nerida O’Loughlin said the number of people aged 75 and over who used social media doubled from 18 per cent in June 2019, to 41 per cent in June 2020.
Ms O’Loughlin said that for older Australians, emailing had increased from 37 per cent in 2019 to 81 per cent in 2020. She said use of messaging and calling apps and mobile texting had also increased significantly.
“The digital divide between younger and older Australians has narrowed, with this trend accelerated by the desire to maintain contact with friends and family during lockdowns,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
“Overall, 77 per cent of Australians in June 2020 had used an app to make voice calls, video calls or send messages in the past six months, compared to 67 per cent in 2019.”
She said more than one in three people increased their use of social networking apps following the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions.
“After years of gradual drift towards communications and social media apps, we have now seen a more pronounced shift in the way Australians connect,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
“More people are relying on social networking apps and mobile communication services like Facebook Messenger and Zoom to stay connected.”
She said the ACMA research found that Facebook was the most used social networking app for all age groups, used by 93 per cent of social network users, followed by YouTube (73 per cent), Instagram (57 per cent) and WhatsApp (48 per cent).
Access to ACMA’s findings can be found at this PS News link.
