WASHINGTON, April 29, 2026 – Roughly one in three Americans over 65 still lacks a wireline broadband connection at home, panelists said during a Broadband Breakfast Live Online discussion on the role of technology in helping older adults age in place.

While the disconnection rate has dropped from 42% five years ago to 32% today, the remaining gap represents what one panelist called a national crisis requiring coordinated action from nonprofits, governments and industry.

Thomas Kamber, executive director of Older Adults Technology Services, which runs the Senior Planet program at AARP, said the figure “constitutes a crisis” given that broadband participation among 18- to 64-year-olds runs 12 to 15 percentage points higher depending on the state. Kamber’s organization has grown from a Brooklyn kitchen-table operation 21 years ago into a national network with more than 760 partner sites across 42 states.

Broadband Breakfast on April 29, 2026 – Older Adults Connectivity

Older adults remain among the least likely to have home broadband access or the digital skills to fully benefit from it.



Stacking up the barriers

Debra Berlyn, executive director of the Project to Get Older Adults Online, framed the adoption challenge as a three-legged stool, digital literacy, affordability, and trust and safety, but said the realities of aging make it more like an “extended table” with additional legs, including the 20% of older adults living in rural communities and the accessibility needs of those with disabilities.

A 2021 survey by the Franklin County, Ohio Office on Aging found more than 70% of older respondents identified literacy and education as the biggest hurdle, said director Chanda Wingo. Her office serves 15,000 to 17,000 seniors annually in Ohio’s largest county, where 38 residents turn 60 every day.

Devices, platforms and the wireline question

Anna Verbuk, director of the resident technology program at 2Life Communities, a Greater Boston nonprofit serving roughly 2,000 low-income older adults with an average annual income of $14,000, said many residents own only a smartphone. Websites, especially medical portals, are often poorly designed for mobile screens, and seniors with poor eyesight struggle to navigate small interfaces, she said.

Kamber’s research, conducted with broadband demographer John Horrigan, treats wireline broadband as the gold standard because of its bandwidth, reliability and natural pairing with larger screens and keyboards. Panelists agreed, however, that the right configuration depends on the individual user.

Kami Griffiths, founding executive director of San Francisco-based Digital Lift, recommended choosing the platform that close family members already use so technical help is a phone call away. Griffiths shared a story about her mother, in her late 70s, who was switched from an iPhone to an Android by a budget-conscious sibling, and simply refused to use the new device.

Scams and the loneliness factor

Older Americans reported $2.4 billion in scam losses to the Federal Trade Commission in 2024, with unreported losses estimated near $10 billion, Berlyn said. The risk is amplified, she added, because retirees stand to lose entire nest eggs rather than incremental amounts.

Wingo said her office’s adult protective services caseload increasingly involves older adults who recognize the warning signs but proceed anyway. “The loneliness takes the lead” over common sense in romance and friendship scams, she said, prompting the county to design programs with strong social components, including an intergenerational e-sports league set to compete internationally against Belgium later this year.

Verbuk said 2Life has begun teaching residents to use Senior Shield, an AI-powered app that flags suspicious texts and emails.

Pushing past stereotypes

Panelists rejected the notion that older adults resist technology. “There is a negative stereotype that seniors would rather not use technology,” Verbuk said, but her organization trained residents who had never touched a computer to use Chromebooks during the pandemic.

Griffiths urged listeners to volunteer at local senior centers, donate devices or join nonprofit boards. “We all can help move people across the digital divide,” she said.

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