Tech for Boomers: Prepping for a Generation of Tech-Savvy Seniors

Baby boomers are among the last generations not considered “digital natives,” but they were the first generation to integrate technology into their everyday lives. The post-WWII generation born between 1946 and 1964 essentially defined the tech-centric world we live in today.

- Aron Vaughan

Microsoft and Apple revolutionized personal tech by pioneering the first personal computers, leading to the technology in smartphones that later generations couldn’t live without — just try taking TikTok away from the modern teenager and they will exhibit symptoms concerningly close to withdrawal.

Founders of the respective companies, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were both born in 1955, placing them squarely in the middle of the baby boom. The rise of arcades and personal game consoles is also attributed to “boomers” as later generations unaffectionately call them.

Of course, boomers still stood on the shoulders of giants like Alan Turing, the man who formalized the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, and J.C.R. Licklider and Bob Taylor, the creators of ARPANET. But if these people of the silent generation laid the foundation for today’s technology, the men and women of the baby boomer generation built the house on top of it in which we now all live.

Now, as boomers reach retirement age, it’s time the technology they helped develop gives back, like a prodigal son returning home to take care of his parents in their later years. What is the tech market doing for the boomers who helped create it?

Boomers are Driving the Market

There is a misconception that seniors don’t use social media, streaming sites, or the latest smartphones. New tech is perceived as a young man’s game, with companies pushing the latest 4K cameras for Twitch streaming and the newest graphics cards for online gaming. In reality, seniors are a crucial demographic, and are in many ways drivers of the tech market.