Communication tops the agenda for wired seniors – but they generally stick to email.

As noted, email is equally popular among Internet users age 65 or older and their younger counterparts. Fully 94% of wired seniors have sent or received email. But fewer use instant messaging to keep in touch with friends and family – 28% of wired seniors have IM’d, compared to 39% of all Internet users. There is a small group of seniors on the cutting edge of communication technology, however. Nine percent of wired seniors have made a phone call online – compared to 11% of all users.

Wired seniors are avid information seekers.

Wired seniors are similar to the rest of the Internet population when it comes to information utilities. Eighty-two percent of wired seniors have used a search engine to find information online, compared to 90% of the general population of Internet users. Fifty-nine percent of wired seniors have gone online to get news, compared to 71% of all users. Thirty-seven percent of wired seniors look for news or information about politics and the campaign, compared to 46% of all users. In addition, 60% of wired seniors have looked for information on a government Web site, compared to 66% of all users.

Today’s wired seniors are much more interested in religious information than the seniors who had Internet access in 2000.  Just 11% of wired seniors had looked for religious or spiritual material online in 2000. In the spring of 2003, 26% of wired seniors reported searching for this type of information online, compared to 29% of all Internet users.