The Middle Aged Adopt Technology At Their Own Pace

A new study confirms what your eyes tell you -- middle-aged adults aren't leading the charge into the digital future.

In creating their "Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users," the Pew Internet and American Life Project divided their sample into ten groups based on their use of technology -- from 'Omnivores' to 'Connected but Hassled' to 'Off the Grid.'

The Omnivores -- iPod-toting, online video creating, gadget-laden darlings of the tech industry -- averaged 28 years of age with ten years online. The 'Lackluster Veterans' may not have been excited about technology since they bought their first Walkman -- they're 40 and have also been online ten years. Two groups that average over 50 years of age are the 'Inexperienced Experimenters' and the 'Light but Satisfied' users. Both have been online five years.

(If you want to find out what group you fall into, you can take a quiz here.)

The authors do note that the ages are averages. Each age cohort has its own early adoptors, laggards, and non-participants; it's just that older generations have more of the latter.

But the results certainly mean that we won't see a lot of middle aged people queued up to buy Apple's forthcoming iPhone -- a cell phone, iPod, and portable web browser that, if the study is right, will only appeal to a small number of middle aged people.