Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The Demographics of Early Technology Adopters

Young adults are stereotypically seen as early adopters of technology, older adults as Luddites. But older Americans are not the Luddites they are sometimes made out to be, according to the results of a Pew Research Center survey. To determine who is an early technology adopter, Pew asked a representative sample of Americans six questions about their preferences for new versus familiar technology, then created an "early adopter index." These are the early adopters by age...

Early technology adopters
Aged 18 to 29: 29%
Aged 30 to 49: 31%
Aged  50 to 64: 29%
Aged 65-plus: 21%

One in five Americans aged 65 or older is an early adopter of technology, a surprisingly robust figure. By age and sex, men aged 18 to 49 are most likely to be early adopters (34 percent), but other groups are not all that far behind. Among women aged 18 to 49 and both men and women aged 50 or older, a substantial 25 to 26 percent are early technology adopters.

Early technology adoption is not just an age thing. "Personality also matters," says Pew.

Source: Pew Research Center, 28% of Americans Are 'Strong' Early Adopters of Technology

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