Finding Information on the World Wide Web: Exploring Older Adults' Exploration

Our aim was to investigate how older and younger adults find information using the World Wide Web (Web) in a naturalistic setting. After brief training in using a Web browser, 29 older (M=70.6 years) and 30 younger (M=21.8 years) adults conducted Web searches to answer two questions. Age was related to search performance on difficult problems; older adults were somewhat less efficient on the first search and were somewhat less likely to find a correct answer on the second. Age differences in computer attitudes were small; the effects of the training and search experience on attitudes were positive, large, and similar for young and old. With brief but well-designed training, novice older adults were successful in their Web searches and they had very positive reactions to the Web experience.