Older Australians have taken to the Internet in droves in the past 12 months, with 89 percent of the over-65s saying they accessed the Net last year, up from 59 percent the year before, a Sensis report has found.
The past year has seen a 23 percentage point increase in people 65 and over who said they have a computer at home (up from 59 percentage points to 82 percent), according to Sensis.
Among older people, the increase in ownership of tablet devices such as an iPad or Galaxy jumped even more dramatically. Almost one in five (19 percent) now own a tablet device compared to one in 50 (2 percent) just a year ago.
Use of social media more than tripled during the past year among over-65s, with 27 percent saying they have used social media sites in the past year, up from 10 percent last year.
Almost half (49 percent) said they use social media less than once a week, while 42 percent of the total population said they use social media several times a day.
