Baby Boomers Embracing Mobile Technology

Though younger consumers remain at the forefront of mobile technology adoption, Baby Boomers are also embracing mobile - and their behavior is surprisingly similar to younger users’, according to a new study from InsightExpress, writes MarketingCharts.

Approximately 80 percent of all respondents (2015 mobile respondents contacted in July 2007) reported owning a mobile phone, with mobile adoption spread relatively equally across generations: Gen Y (those age 18-24) leads the pack at 85 percent, followed closely by Gen X (25-44) at 82 percent, younger Baby Boomers (45-54) at 80 percent, and older Baby Boomers (55-64) at 79 percent.

Other findings from the study:

• Over half of Gen Y-ers and 37 percent for Gen X-ers plan to upgrade their device in the next year or so, and 30 percent of younger Boomers and almost a quarter (24 percent) of older Boomers plan to upgrade in the next year.
• Although more Gen Y-ers and Gen X-ers have feature-packed phones that allow the user to connect to people and information in a variety of ways, the Boomers are not too far behind:
  • 51 percent of Gen Y-ers say they have phones that can access the mobile internet, followed by 47 percent of Gen X-ers, 39 percent of younger Boomers and 32 percent of older Boomers.
  • 75 percent of younger Boomers have text-messaging capabilities, 54 percent have ring tones, and 52 percent have camera phones.
• Gen Y sends the most text messages (43 percent text on a daily basis), but Boomers are taking up this relatively new mode of communication as well: 16 percent of younger Boomers and 10 percent of older Boomers text daily.
• The Boomers are also not that far behind Gen Y in daily mobile internet access: 8 percent of Gen Y accesses the mobile internet daily, as do 4 percent of younger Boomers and 3 percent of older Boomers.
• Gen Y is more apt to send and receive text messages while driving, but significant numbers from all generations do so as well, despite some state laws against such behavior: 47 percent of Gen Y-ers, 42 percent of Gen X-ers, 37 percent of younger Boomers and 28 percent of older Boomers admit to texting while driving.
• Two in five Gen Y-ers (40 percent) using the mobile internet recall seeing some type of advertisement on their phone, and one in four (25 percent) pf older mobile users recall seeing ads on their phone.