Our Grandparents Are Getting More and More Internet Savvy

In only seven years, the proportion of Britons who are 75 years old and up has almost doubled, joining the rest of the adult population online.

“Although I had been online before the pandemic, it was just the occasional answering of emails. Now I’m a past master at all sorts of amazing things,” says Jim Whelan, 79.

The Office of National Statistics has compiled the numbers, and the share of older people going online went from 29% in 2013 to 54% in 2020. Despite the fact that the 2020 figures were compiled between January and March, therefore pre-pandemic, it is expected that the use of the Internet among the elderly has continued to grow since services have been moved online and social distancing is required.