Baby Boomers Embracing Popular Consumer Technology Faster Than Gen-Y

A new report from Accenture found that Baby Boomers are embracing consumer technology applications nearly 20 times faster than younger generations.  The report surveyed 3000 consumers across the US, representing all geographic regions.

Accenture’s Consumer Electronics Products and Services report shows that Boomers

• Increased reading blogs and listening to podcasts by 67 percent year over year; nearly 80 times faster than Gen Y (1 percent)
• Posted a 59 percent increase in using social networking sites—more than 30 times faster than Gen Y (2 percent)
• Increased watching/posting videos on the Internet by 35 percent—while Gen Y usage decreased slightly (-2 percent)
• Accelerated playing video games on the go via mobile devices by 52 percent— 20 times faster than Gen Y (2 percent)
• Increased listening to music on an iPod or other portable music player by 49 percent—more than four times faster than Gen Y (12 percent)

Accenture found that younger boomers are adopting the technologies in part because they realize they will be in the labor force longer than they thought, thanks to dwindling retirement funds.