Millennials digital activities make for an interesting chart because most people over 40 wouldn’t have the same profile at all. Have you updated your social media profiles lately? If you had to bet which social media would be here in five years which would you select? Will Linkedin outlast Facebook? What I hear from older workers is that they resent being “forced” to communicate via the social media just to get the attention of younger people who don’t always answer emails or check their phones for messages. Think of the power exerted by ignoring things you don’t want to deal with!
In 2019 60 percent of the US/Canadian population will be 60 years of age or older. The fastest growing age cohort contains people 85+. The age recognized as “old” rises two or three years every year. Remember “Life Begins at 40?” It was a popular feature in the Reader’s Digest. Do you remember the magazine? People marry and have children after 40. Thirty percent of households consist of two people whose age disparity is more than 15 years. Consider the effect on use of social media. The workplace age range is now 18-80, the broadest in history.
The point: Millennials are fully in tune with the digital world. As people live longer, an ever-increasing group may not be. When the old decisively out number the young, how will that affect the social media? It’s always a mistake to assume the people “get with the program.” What if they change the program?