Elderly people are increasingly making use of social media channels, according to research by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Monday. Last year 76 percent of people aged 65 to 75 made use of social media, in 2014 that was 40 percent.
The study shows that in the 12 to 55 age group, almost everyone in the three months prior to the study made use of social media.
Among 55-65-year-olds, 89 percent were active on social media last year. Five years earlier that was 64 percent.
People over 75 also make increasing use of social media. In 2014, 13 percent of Dutch people over 75 sometimes used social media such as Facebook and Twitter, in 2019 this number rose to 40 percent.
70 percent of people aged 65 to 75 used WhatsApp in 2019
Exchanging text messages via, for example, WhatsApp is the most commonly used form of social media: 84 percent of Dutch people aged 12 years and over did this in 2019. The greatest growth can be seen in the age group of 65 to 75 year-olds. Last year, 70 percent of 65 to 75 year olds sent WhatsApp messages. That was 25 percent in 2014.
Calling via the internet is also increasing. Of the Dutch population aged twelve years and older, 58 percent said they had telephoned via the internet in the three months prior to the survey with services such as Skype or WhatsApp. In 2014, 31 percent called via the internet.
92 percent of Dutch people over the age of eleven said they would use a smartphone in 2019 to visit social media channels. That was 74 percent in 2014.
After the smartphone, the laptop with 83 percent is the most popular for internet use. The laptop has thus been overtaken as the most used device for surfing the internet. In 2014 the laptop was the most used device with 76 percent.
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