Have you noticed? Middle-aged and elderly people are gradually becoming the new generation of smartphone addicts.

Digital technology is no longer just the domain of teenagers. Screen time for older adults is rising rapidly. While this brings risks like addiction and fraud, it also offers social connections and potential cognitive benefits. This article is based on a report from The Economist, translated and submitted by Dongqu. (Background: Glassnode: Bitcoin risks deeper pullback to 88k if it fails to hold above $113,000) Since the establishment of the National Centre for Gaming Disorders in the UK in 2019, hundreds of teenagers (sometimes at the strong insistence of their parents) have walked into this clinic. However, recently this publicly funded clinic has started to treat a rather different group of patients. Its video game addiction specialists have treated 67 patients over the age of 40 so far. The oldest was a 72-year-old woman who was addicted to games on her smartphone. Many countries have shown signs of near moral panic over the impact of digital technology on young people. Social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt calls it the “anxious generation,” whose childhood is being stolen by smartphones and social apps. Schools are increasingly requiring phones to be locked in lockers or left at home. Parent groups like “Smartphone Free Childhood” are promoting “detoxing.” Australia will ban social media use for teenagers under 16 starting in December. However, another generation's screen time is experiencing a less noticed explosive growth. As people in their 60s today, who are familiar with digital technology, enter retirement, older adults are spending significantly more time on smart devices. Ipsit Vahia, director of the Technology and Ageing Laboratory at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, states that some older individuals “are increasingly living their lives through their phones, much like teenagers sometimes do.” Those digital habits formed during youth are now entering their senior years. For a long time, older adults have been television's top viewers. Free time, mobility issues, and feelings of loneliness are the main reasons they spend hours in front of the TV: According to media regulator Ofcom, last year, individuals over 75 in the UK watched broadcast television for more than five and a half hours a day, five hours more than the 16-24 age group. Older adults are becoming a growing new market for smartphones. In the past, older adults were always lagging behind in digital technology. A decade ago, only one in five Americans aged 65 and older owned a smartphone. This situation is changing. The newly retired group (most of whom started going online in midlife) has become one of the most enthusiastic adopters of digital products. According to a seven-country survey by research firm GWI, the proportion of those aged 65 and over owning tablets, smart TVs, e-readers, desktop and laptop computers is higher than that of those aged 25 and below (see Chart 1). Chart 1 Tech companies have viewed seniors as a growing market. Apple has produced headphones that can also function as hearing aids and watches that can perform ECGs or call ambulances if the wearer falls. (This has also partly contributed to the 17% of those aged 65 and older who now own smartwatches.) The next generation of retirees seems to be more enthusiastic about digital products: nearly one in five people aged 55 to 64 owns a gaming console. Retirement is starting to look less like playing golf and more like playing Grand Theft Auto. With the popularity of digital devices, screen time for older adults is increasing. Smartphones and tablets do not seem to be replacing time spent on other media; instead, they are adding to the total hours spent daily. Over the past decade, the amount of time spent by those in their 50s and 60s on television and radio has remained stable, while time spent on social media, gaming, and audio streaming has increased (see Chart 2). Ofcom found that last year, individuals over 65 in the UK spent more than three hours a day on smartphones, computers, and tablets. This is half the time of the 18-24 age group. However, when combining television and smart devices, the total daily screen time for retirees has now surpassed that of younger people. In the countries where this trend is most evident, there is growing concern about older smartphone users, similar to worries about teenagers. South Korea is one of the countries with the highest smartphone usage rates globally; a 2022 study estimated that 15% of people aged 60-69 were at risk of smartphone addiction (based on whether they agreed with statements like “I always fail to reduce my smartphone usage”). A study in Japan found that screen time is associated with reduced physical activity in older adults. A survey in China among those aged 60 and older linked it to poorer sleep quality. Establishing a causal relationship is difficult. Screens may encourage older adults to be more sedentary — or perhaps it is because they are already often sedentary that they spend more time on their phones. Pete Etchells, a psychology professor at Bath Spa University, noted that he recently experienced a surge in screen time due to being bedridden in the hospital for a few weeks. “If you took away my iPad at that time, I can tell you I would still be unable to move — and the level of pain would be several magnitudes higher,” he said. Older adults face internet risks that some other vulnerable groups do not encounter. Unlike most teenagers, their smartphones and tablets are often linked to bank accounts. In-game microtransactions — mechanisms like loot boxes — can drain their wallets. So can fraudsters, who can contact and scam victims within the same app. Dr. Vahia states that especially in low- and middle-income countries, older adults have embraced using WhatsApp for everything from communication to shopping — “as a result, WhatsApp has also become the preferred platform for scammers.” Older adults also lack the “social guardrails” that regulate screen time for teenagers. During the day, teachers monitor teens’ phone usage; at night, parents nag them. In contrast, older adults are their own masters; when they need help, there may be no one around to guide them in seeking assistance. “For older people, sometimes there's no one around, or even if there is, no one really pays attention to what they're doing on the computer,” said Henrietta Bowden-Jones, director of the UK Gaming Clinic. Dr. Vahia mentioned that older adults are much less likely than younger people to complain to doctors about smartphone addiction. However, he noted that in some cases, screen time is a potential underlying cause of other more obvious issues in older patients. His clinic has treated some older adults whose insomnia stemmed from fears of online scams; others' anxiety was due to “doom-scrolling” on social media.