First They Laughed at Us for Not Having Email. Now We Out-Device the Twentysomethings.

Remember when your kids used to yell at you to get off your phone?

Yeah, about that.

It turns out the tables have quietly, hilariously turned. And according to NPR, the generation that once had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age is now… kind of hooked on it.

The Screens Are Calling (And We’re Answering)

A recent NPR Short Wave episode dove into a trend that anyone over 65 probably already knows about — but might not want to admit.

People aged 60 and older now spend more than half their daily leisure time in front of screens. That’s according to Pew Research Center data, and the numbers have only climbed higher since the pandemic turned us all into professional screen-starers.

Here’s the part that will surprise absolutely no one who’s ever tried to pry an iPad away from their spouse at 11 p.m.: global research firm GWI found that older adults are now more likely than people under 25 to own tablets, smart TVs, e-readers, and computers.

Read that again. We out-device the twentysomethings!

But Is It Actually a Problem?

Ipsit Vahia, Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, told NPR that older adults tend to use screens differently than younger generations. It’s less doom-scrolling through TikTok drama and more… checking the weather. Reading the news. Falling into a WhatsApp rabbit hole with your college friends at 9:30 in the morning.

“A lot of it is just following the news or getting information,” Vahia said. Which sounds perfectly reasonable until you realize you’ve been “just checking the news” for three hours and your coffee went cold two hours ago.

Vahia also pointed out something important: for many older adults, technology is genuinely a lifeline. If driving has gotten harder or you’ve moved somewhere without a lot of nearby friends, screens aren’t just entertainment — they’re a window to the world that might otherwise close.

The WhatsApp Problem (And Yes, It’s Real)

One detail from the NPR piece that made me laugh out loud: Vahia specifically called out WhatsApp overuse as something he sees frequently.

If you’ve ever been in a WhatsApp family group that pings 47 times before breakfast — with a mix of good morning messages, forwarded articles about turmeric, blurry photos of someone’s garden, and one cousin asking if anyone knows a good plumber — you understand exactly what he’s talking about.

It’s not necessarily dangerous. But it is a time vortex.

The Genuinely Exciting Part

Here’s where the story gets interesting. Vahia told NPR that virtual reality is “under-tapped and under-utilized” as a tool for older adults, particularly in therapeutic settings. He sees potential for VR to help patients who are reluctant to talk about difficult experiences — letting them process things in a different way.

Meanwhile, the AARP’s 2026 tech trends survey found that AI use among adults 50 and older nearly doubled in a single year — jumping from 18% to 30%. And adults 80 and over showed the biggest jump in recognizing technology’s benefits for healthy aging.

The people who were supposedly “too old for all this” are adopting new tech faster than anyone expected.

The Real Concern (Because There Is One)

Vahia didn’t sugarcoat the risks. More screen time means more exposure to misinformation and scams — two things that disproportionately target older adults. And unlike younger people who grew up swimming in digital waters, many seniors came to screens later in life, sometimes after cognitive changes or periods of isolation that can make them more vulnerable.

That’s not a reason to put the tablet down forever. It’s a reason to be thoughtful about how we use it.

A Beautiful Way to Think About Getting Older

The quote from Vahia that stuck with me most had nothing to do with screens at all.

“There is this implicit fear of aging,” he said. “And yet we have spent centuries perfecting medicine… getting old is the whole point.”

Getting old is the whole point.

We didn’t survive everything we’ve survived — the bad haircuts of the ’70s, dial-up internet, the great Y2K panic — just to feel bad about enjoying a little screen time.

So if you want to spend your evening scrolling through YouTube videos of dogs being surprised by their owners, or reading three different news sources just to make sure you have the full story, or yes, checking WhatsApp one more time before bed…

Go ahead. You’ve earned those screens.

Just maybe let your coffee stay warm this time.