Internet usage up in East of England even before the pandemic
The number of people using digital services has gone up in our region.
The East of England's internet usage increased in early 2020.
An Office for National Statistics survey shows that from January 2020 to March 2020 92.2% of the region's residents said they had been online the last 3 months.
That was up from 92.0% in 2019, and in line with the average across the UK, where 92.1% of over-16s regularly use the internet.
Although internet use has increased across the UK, 3.4 million people surveyed by the ONS in 2020 said they had never used the web – and more than 60% of them were aged 75 and over.
But the number of older people regularly using the internet is rising rapidly, closing the age gap with younger users.
Last year, 54% of over-75s nationally said they had used the internet in the last three months – up from 47% the year before, and a huge leap from 20% in 2011.
The ONS suggested that the sharp rise in use among older people last year could be partly related to the effects of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, as millions of people began to head online to stay in touch with friends and family.
Liam is a Barclays Eagle, a national team working to engage all generations with the digital world.
He explained the last year has changed the digital landscape for everyone, but it's important to recognise the risks as well as the benefits:
"The last 14 months has been this big digital revolution to do things they would previously have done outside the digital world. So the needs have changed so we know from working specifically with the elderly there were trust issues about being online.
"We absolutely wanted to wrap our arms around that need and let them know they are safe. It is a two sided coin, so while I champion being able to enhance your life through digital there is the other side.
"So, we run sessions around fraud and scams to say there are some things that exist out there that you do need to be weary off.
"Not to put you off but so you can spot them and be confident, its all about digital confidence for the individual."
The sessions run by Barclays Eagles are free and available for anyone, whether they are a customer of the banking group or not.
Lots of local organisations, councils and schools across the country also run digital education and support sessions.