"It is addictive," says 62-year-old Tracie from West Sussex. "I spend far too much time on my phone.

"I pick it up without realising a lot of the time... and before I know it, I've lost complete track of time idly scrolling."

Tracie is one of more than 50% of adults aged over 55 who use social media at least once a week, according to a 2026 YouGov poll.

"It's an epidemic," she said. "We are addicted to the scroll."

Having used social media during the lockdown to entertain herself, Tracie said she has since limited her usage - even deleting some platforms from her phone.

"I don't think it's good for you," she said.

"Social media fills your head so you've got no headspace for anything that's relevant or important.

"You miss so much as a parent or a grandparent when you're on your phone all the time. You are not in that moment."

Speaking to the BBC as the government works on plans to ban social media usage for children under 16, Tracie said it was important older people set an example.

"It's not just about the young - it's consuming for all ages," she said.

"It's all well and good paying attention to [how] kids [use their phone], but older people need to be mindful too.

"I don't think there is enough emphasis on the role modelling that we're doing for our grandchildren and children.

"Behaviours breed behaviours."

David Harley, a University of Brighton cyberpsychology lecturer and researcher, said early concerns used to focus on whether or not older people would be able to use digital technologies, like social media.

While still an issue, he said attention was now on the potential harms of their usage.

"In the early days of social media," Harley explained. "The creation of content and participatory interactive stuff was much more prominent.

"As time's gone on, that's become less and less dominant. Now there's a lot more passive consumption and algorithmic content... that grabs attention."

Though Harley said all age groups were susceptible, he told the BBC more research needed to be done into the impacts on older people.

Still, researchers have also pointed to benefits of this group using social media.

Brigitte Stangl, an associate professor and digital expert at the University of Surrey, told the BBC it can be very effective in reducing loneliness in older people.

"Being online can get rid of issues around mobility or [accessing] transport" that particularly affect this demographic, she explained.

Stangl said social media was able to give older people "real connections" they may not have been able to maintain before the internet, especially if their families were dispersed and scattered around the globe.

She suggested it could also potentially help reduce cognitive decline in old age.

Kerri Hedley-Cheney, a 61-year-old from Worthing in West Sussex, said that without social media she would have lost touch with many people in her life.

"That's been an absolutely beautiful thing," she said.

Hedley-Cheney, an actress, added social media had allowed her to be part of acting groups where they made connections and supported one another.

But she added: "The flip side of that is that you waste hours when you should be... focusing on what needs to be done.

"The floors don't get hoovered by finding out what Janice from accounts is doing.

She also said social media usage had decreased her concentration span - an effect normally associated with younger people.

"Years ago it was much stronger - now it's about 10 seconds," she said.

When asked if she would like to use social media less, Hedley-Cheney said "no".

"I love it."

She added: "It's a fantastic tool we have at our fingertips for reaching people, finding advice on things and getting help if you need it."

Stangl said the key thing was how social media was used.

"We need to differentiate between this going down the rabbit hole of non-stop scrolling - which we know impacts our brains negatively - compared to using [social media] in a purposeful, useful and meaningful way.

"There are groups of older adults who are very good with everything online and technology... and there are definitely others at risk," she said.

"It's a double-edged sword."

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