E-mail Top Online Activity for Seniors: Pew

Maybe e-mail one day soon really will be just for old people.

According to a recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 74% of Internet users age 64 and older send and receive e-mail, making it the most popular online activity for this age group.

At the same time, e-mail has lost some ground among teens, according to the Pew Internet Project. Whereas 89% of teens claimed to use email in 2004, just 73% currently say they use it.

However, e-mail is still holding its ground as the top online activity, according to the Pew Internet Project.

More than 90% of Internet users between 18 and 72 said they send and receive e-mail, making it the top online activity just ahead of search engines, according to the non-profit research group.

Meanwhile, though young people not surprisingly dominate the Internet population, the biggest recent increase in Internet use has come from 70 to 75 year olds, according to the Pew Internet Project.

Whereas 26% of 70 to 75 year olds were online in 2005, 45% of them are currently online, according to the Pew Internet Project.

According to the non-profit, 18 to 32 year olds make up 30% of the online population, 33 to 44 year olds account for 23% of Internet users, 45 to 54 year olds make up 22% of Internet users, 55 to 63 year olds are 13% of the online population, 64 to 72 year olds are 7%, and people 73 years old and older are 4%.