Like… Follow… Share… Add friend – these are just some of the trending buttons that have been clicked in the new millennium whether you’re a youngster or with an advance age already.
The social media might be used often by the young people when it was introduced, but the elderly are now using it for their own benefits too. The social media that was an “unknown” item to elderly has become a new weapon for them nowadays. As we all know, the young people are the ones who get to know these items first than the elderly, but why did young people use it first and elderly resist social media?
In the past, we have seen the elderly taught the young people on how to read, write, go to the bathroom, change clothes, study, and exercise, eat, drink, walk, run, ride a bicycle, and do household chores. But there was a big turn around when the social media came into the picture.
The elderly might have thought the young people the basics of this life, but when the social media stuff has come alive, the young people were the first to learn it because of their educational background. The elderly do not have the privilege of being in front of the computer for so long during their times while the young people were already exposed to it.
Another fact on why the young people were the first one to have used social media more than the elderly is because they were the most enthusiastic people in this world as they are always excited for new things. The young people love to explore while some of the elderly resist new stuff. Especially, the use of mobile devices known as smart phones.
One of the reasons why the elderly resist this change is that some of them do not know how to operate the system. Another factor is that they don’t have time to do social media stuff because of their busy schedule. One more reason is that they just don’t like that kind of change – a change where you just spend more time with the people around you through computer and internet than spending time together in a personal way. The elderly values those personal contact more.
Advantages of Social Media to the Elderly:
Some seniors who learned how to use social media became more open minded. They are now willing to embrace especially after realizing that these platforms are good for business. One advantage of social media to the elderly is that it allows them to connect with their love ones easily especially those who are far away. The platforms can also be used in easily transacting business. They just need to log in and complete transactions with a few clicks.
What Social Media Do the Elderly Prefer?
Facebook is one of the top choices of the elderly when it comes to using social media. Most of them prefer using Facebook too because this promotes ease in sending message to their loved ones or simply and quickly completing business transactions. They also love it because they can see news feeds on their Timeline, thereby keeping them updated. More than 40% of the elderly are now using social media in different platforms with Facebook being the number one in the list. The elderly now learned how to like all of this stuff, tweet to their friends so that they will get connected, and connect with their business partners and clients.
Finally, the elderly has embraced this change as the young people continue to do so. In the turn around that has happened, the elderly who formerly trained the young people the basics of life are now being trained by the young people in exploring the social media world.