Miss Cellania
Older Folks Love the Kindle
by Miss Cellania - May 4, 2009 - 8:09 AM
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Older folks love their Kindles. Yes, they do.

200_kindle.jpgLast week, Kindle Culture crunched the numbers from an Amazon forum thread called Average Kindle Owner’s Age, and determined that the unscientific poll showed that around 70% of Kindle users are over 40. Half are over 50.
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The blogosphere as a whole was astonished. People over 50 buy gadgets? Use gadgets? LIKE gadgets? Many speculated that the results are due to the fact that older people can afford Kindles better than young people. And they tend to read more books. Some didn’t even believe the results, since it wasn’t exactly a scientific poll.
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Some figured out the real reason. Or learned from what older people actually said.

First, presbyopia. It literally means “old eyes.” It can take many forms, with the most common symptom being trouble reading small print. First you get bifocals, then you get books with larger print. And that brings us to the second reason, arthritis. Large print books are, well, large. And heavy. Even normal-size books can be tiring when you feel pain turning page after page. The Kindle has adjustable text size that doesn’t add any weight to the unit, which is pretty light (10 ounces) compared to most hardback books. And you don’t have to turn pages.

Even when the Kindle was first introduced, the adjustable text feature was supposedly for different “preferences”.

Kindle has six adjustable font sizes to suit customers’ varying reading preferences.

Was it possible that even Amazon didn’t see how useful this would be to someone suffering from arthritis or presbyopia? The adjustable text feature and the Kindle’s light weight together can make the difference between reading and not reading for someone my age or older.

Mother’s Day is this Sunday. If your mother or grandmother has given up reading for pleasure because of arthritis or failing eyesight, a Kindle might bring back the joy she’s been missing. Even if it is expensive.

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Comments (14)

  1. Funny you should mention this. I am just beginning to get “old people eyes.” I have found myself adjusting to read a few times in the last month. I also noticed the adjustable size print on the Kindle and thought that would be convenient.

    Hmm….I wish they were just a little cheaper.

    posted by Karen on 5-4-2009 at 8:30 am

  2. Has anyone done a comparison of the kindle vs. the sony reader? I know the sony reader is about a hundred bucks less and has no internet connectiity. I’d be interested to hear what people think about the two different readers. Anyone?

    posted by nikki on 5-4-2009 at 8:53 am

  3. Another factor that might be a contributor to the popularity of the Kindle with the older folks is the fact that people in this age group tend to have more disposable income so they can actually afford it. People in this age group may also have more open schedules so they have the time available to read more books.

    I don’t fall into this age group, but love my Kindle. I tend to read several books at the same time so carrying all of them with me or choosing which books I would bring with me was a hassle every morning.

    posted by Brand on 5-4-2009 at 10:03 am

  4. I didn’t like my Kindle at first (received as a gift) but on a recent trip, I came to LOVE it! Plane was delayed so I wanted another book to read, airport did not have free Wi-Fi but I was still able to use Kindle’s Whispernet, an advantage over Sony Reader. Easy to hold, the only negative is it doesn’t have a built in light.

    posted by Judy on 5-4-2009 at 10:15 am

  5. My Dad wants one because of his shaky hands. I just got one, and can’t wait to get my first book on it. I just hope i don’t drop it in the bathtub.

    posted by Johnny Cat on 5-4-2009 at 11:34 am

  6. I am really torn on getting a Kindle. I’d love one, but there’s nothing more enjoyable for me than going to the bookstore or library & flipping through the pages of books. I know a Kindle would be more environmentally friendly, but what about the loss of jobs with the bookstores, publishers, etc.? Can ya’ll help push me one way or another?

    posted by TC on 5-4-2009 at 12:04 pm

  7. I agree with Judy on the convenience of getting a book wherever you are. It’s so comfortable to use and lightweight, so it’s nice to be able to lay down and read without your arms/hands getting tired and stiff from holding the book upright. Plus it’s got Wikipedia access, so it’s great for looking up random knowledge when you’re on the go (I’ve used it in the past when my husband and I are on trips in MD and we see some random landmark site, or looking up the difference between the VFW and the American Legion, or looking up Chinchillas vs. Ferrets when we were deciding on a pet, etc). I’m in the military and I’m going to a year long school in TX this year…I will be taking all of my “real” medical textbooks as references during my studies, but I will be taking only my Kindle for pleasure reading (it can hold thousands of books!). I highly recommend it! :)

    posted by Brandy on 5-4-2009 at 2:30 pm

  8. My sister is a twenty-something who likes large print books because she reads while walking on a treadmill. Small print is hard to see while doing that. Sadly, the books that are available in large print offer a much smaller selection than regular print books, so she has a hard time finding things that interest her. Often the only large prints she can find are geared toward the very old or the very young audiences and don’t suit her. The kindle might be a great solution for her and other treadmill readers.

    posted by Melissa on 5-4-2009 at 3:02 pm

  9. I didn’t think I would when I first got it, but I LOVE my Kindle! I’m a huge reader and travel a lot for work, so it has become indispensable for me. I can take my entire library with me!
    For TC, trying to get “pushed one way or the other” : You can download a free sample of all the books available to check out the book before you decide to buy it, so it’s like browsing through your favorite book store, but without having to leave your comfy couch!

    reCaptcha: Wooster 10

    posted by Gretchen on 5-4-2009 at 5:50 pm

  10. I’m only 16 and I keep the print on the smallest setting, but I love my Kindle. I read all the time and my parents decided that buying a Kindle was cheaper than keeping me in books. I get to the end of a book at school and don’t have another one, but I can get a new one. My teachers have decided that it doesn’t count as an electronic, too.

    posted by Sam on 5-4-2009 at 6:49 pm

  11. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE mine. I am now in the process of donating my hundreds of books to many different charities around town. When will mental_floss be offered on Kindle?!

    posted by Lissa on 5-4-2009 at 8:38 pm

  12. I am 24 years old, and one thing that would make me (as a traveler) buy the Kindle, is more travel guides like Lonely Planet available for the Kindle. Now it’s only the older-guy-travel-guides like Rick Steve’s and Frommer’s available. I just wrote a post about this on my blog. How great would it be to have all your travel guides and novels on the kindle instead of in your backpack when traveling?

    posted by The 4 Season Travel Blog on 5-6-2009 at 12:20 pm

  13. I have a Kindle and would LOVE to get my Mental Floss on it! Any idea if and when that will be coming?

    posted by Jim on 10-21-2009 at 11:21 am

  14. @TC – I totally agree with you!

    A Kindle would be ideal for getting more utilitarian books for work; things I need to read now.

    But I don’t think I would like to read “War & Peace” on it… you would have nothing to show for it at the end!

    posted by Peter Barker on 10-20-2011 at 12:00 pm

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