OTTAWA – Nearly two-thirds of Canadian Anglophone seniors now own a cell phone, while Canadians self-identifying as visible minorities are more likely to social network, according to two new reports from Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
Seniors’ Media Technology Adoption and Use profiles Anglophone Seniors and their ownership and use of media technology. For the purposes of this report, the senior generation is defined as those aged 69 years and older. While they’ve seen the introduction and advancements of traditional television and radio, they’ve not grown up with publicly available Internet and wireless technologies.
Highlights from the report include:
– Anglophone seniors are heavy users of traditional TV and radio, spending 69% more time watching TV and 27% more time listening to the radio than non-seniors;
– Nearly two-thirds of Anglophone seniors now own a cell phone, but only 18% have upgraded to a smartphone. They're also much less likely to use their mobile phone's more advanced features such as texting, Internet access or email; and
– One-third of Anglophone seniors watch online video, however, the majority of that viewing is to YouTube.
A second report, Visible Minorities and Media Consumption, focuses on Canada’s diverse multicultural landscape and looks at how visible minority status contributes to Canadians’ ownership and use of media technology.
Highlights from that report include:
– Canadians who identify themselves as visible minorities are generally very similar to other Canadians in terms of their media adoption and use;
– Visible minority Canadians also tend to watch similar amounts of TV both on a traditional set and online. What sets visible minorities apart, however, is their interest in accessing online TV and video content from multiple sources – computers, tablets and smartphones; and
– They are 28% more likely to engage in social TV activities than other Canadians.
MTM is the research arm of the CBC.
