They grew up without the Internet and now spend their days with a smartphone in hand. This late connection, going against a symbol reserved for young people, allows them to break isolation, to educate themselves and still form a society in an increasingly individualized world.
We sometimes imagine them overwhelmed, suspicious or downright hostile to screens. However, some older people do not see digital technology as an enemy or yet another superficial progress.
Michel, Chantal and Christiane, all aged over 70, share the same thing in common: digital technology occupies a central place in their daily lives, each in their own way.
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“It opens me up to the world”
Christiane P., 73, is as comfortable with a phone as a young working person would be. With eight grandchildren, the septuagenarian was able to perfect her digital skills thanks to them. “I use ChatGPT to write announcements or, for example, to redo my dining room.”
His phone is also his diary, his link with his numerous offspring, his videoconferencing tool. “I don’t have a paper diary. If I lose my phone, I lose everything,” she tells us. Sometimes she lets herself go in the scroll Instagram infinity. Where videos like “cat dancing the Macarena” abound. Far from the idea that screens stupefy her, Christiane thinks the opposite: “I learn new things by reading the news online. It opens me up to the world.”
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For Chantal, 70, the telephone is a real gateway to the world. No nostalgia for the time when ideas were shared at the local bistro or over a meal. “I can spend almost 5 hours a day there. As I live alone, it’s a way of finding out what other people think.” La Tarnaise, former president of an artisans’ association, sifts through 2.0 information, tracks down fake news and relays political, social or local news on social networks. The latest one? The complaint filed by an ecological association against the Intermarché du Loup-Garou ad. With 5,000 followers on Facebook, we can say that Chantal is a small senior influencer. “I am self-taught. I used the networks to develop the notoriety of our stores. I learned because it interested me.”
Denise, 93, surfs the La Redoute website
In Michel’s family, we are connected from mother to son. Denise Mignot, 93, surfs the La Redoute website with her tablet and calls her grandchildren via Messenger.
His 70-year-old son has more applications: “I have three mailboxes. I go on social networks. And then there is everything else: Waze, the weather, sports results, online betting,” he lists. Michel claims reasonable use of the telephone and even recognizes its limits: “I’m not 100% in control. I can post, read what’s happening… but I don’t understand everything.”
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On the dangers of digital technology, the three seniors demonstrate great lucidity. All having maintained an active life despite retirement, screens are not just a golden cage into which they retreat to kill boredom. “It gets me outside. It’s paradoxical, but for me, it gets me out,” admits Christiane. “Sometimes, I don’t leave the house, but thanks to the phone, I know what’s happening outside. It’s practical.”
The appeal of digital against scams
Due to their fragility to digital codes, seniors are often perceived by scammers as vulnerable prey. With her modest knowledge on the subject, Christiane thinks before each click to avoid the fraudulent link. Not her husband apparently: “He’s not really used to networking and one day he wanted to buy a garden shed on a weird site. I told him not to do it but when I went to bed, he had entered his bank details. As a result, he got scammed.”
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Chantal also noticed that she was more connected than her peers. So, she sometimes provides a service to the “victims” of the digital divide: “Recently, I helped elderly people create a CESU + account for their procedures. They were completely lost.”
And when we talk to him about the dangers of digital technology? Michel smiles. “On the contrary, I’m happy to still be alive and to know about this. It’s huge progress. If you go back 50 years, we didn’t know about anything.”
