Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Meet Korea's tech-savvy older citizens
.jpg?w=728)
/ Korea Times file
By Kim Bo-eun
Korea's middle-aged and older population, who have a certain level of income and actively pursue their interests, are mostly positive about the fast-changing digital environment, a survey shows.
The findings are from the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp.'s survey of 5,000 Koreans aged 14-64, including 700 referred to as ”active seniors.”
Active seniors are defined as people in their 50s who as a couple earn at least 5 million won and as singles or people in their 60s who as a couple earn a combined 3 million won a month.
According to the survey, 80 percent of this group believe their "quality of life is rising thanks to technology." The percentage is higher than that of people in their 30s (69 percent); 40s (67 percent); and others in their 50s and 60s (59 percent).
They also believe (68 percent) that "their daily lives have become more convenient due to the use of applications." This percentage is also higher than that of people in their 30s (65 percent), 40s (56 percent) and others in their 50s and 60s (36 percent).
Unsurprisingly, 93 percent of this group owned smartphones and 32 percent owned laptops, close to the figures for the 30s age group (99 percent and 29 percent respectively).
The seniors also had a keen interest in leisure as well as their appearance. Twenty-six percent had travelled abroad and 67 percent believed it was natural to spend money to improve one’s appearance.