Mention the phrase “smartphone generation,” and whom do you picture? Teenagers snapchatting with one another? Thirtysomething business types running their entire careers and social schedules from that small item of hand held technology? Perhaps.
But what is that in your handbag? Chances are, it is a smartphone. A recent survey by AARP, the US not-for-profit organisation that represents the interests of American over 50s, revealed that around three quarters of those in the 50 to 59 age bracket own a smartphone. And of those, more than 80 percent use them for email, internet access and the various apps that differentiate them from basic mobile telephones.
Put that way, suggesting that you have to be under 40 to be in the smartphone generation is like saying the TV generation is restricted to over 60s. It is clearly nonsense, a fact to which the industry is finally waking up.
Apps for over 50s
Of course, just as there are different TV programmes designed to appeal to various age groups and demographics, exactly the same applies when it comes to smartphone apps. You probably have about as much interest in Snapchat or Angry Birds as you do in Game of Thrones or Celebrity Love Island. But there is a growing range of apps designed with over 50s in mind.
Predominant among these are the gaming apps that have become particularly popular in recent years. Female gamers have traditionally been marginalised as much as the over 50s, so to suggest that there are some apps that are specifically aimed at exactly our demographic is progress indeed.
It might sound cliched, but bingo is a perfect example. What could be more archetypally designed for the over-50 female? And nowadays, daytime TV is saturated with ads for not one but a whole range of online bingo sites. Nine different sites are listed at http://www.bestbingosites.co.uk/, along with details of special opening offers.
Even if you are not into bingo, there are other games and apps that are pitched at older, female gamers. It is easy to forget that anyone born after 1960 or so grew up around video games of one sort or another, and they have always been part of our lives. Social games like Farmville have become so popular over the past decade because they captured the imaginations, not of teenagers, but of middle aged female gamers, who welcomed the apps as a fun, social diversion from the rigours of day to day life.
Large print smartphones?
Aside from the apps, the other aspect of smartphone technology that can be a turnoff is that the touchscreens are undeniably fiddly. Yet just as publishers have come up with large print books for the older generation, tech companies have a solution at hand.
Android offers an “easy mode” , which makes the icons larger and puts everything you need on a single screen. Others are offering functions such as simplified emergency call settings, which are aimed specifically at older users.
It seems that finally, the manufacturers are cottoning on to the fact that we are all part of the smartphone generation.
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