Question of the Fortnight
Will Google force you to give up passwords?
It will have no choice if older people keep ignoring passkeys
When tech firms are finding it hard to persuade the wider public to adopt a technology, they often commission research to ‘prove’ it’s popular among young people. That’s almost certainly the point of Google’s recent survey showing that 40 per cent of ‘Generation Z’ in the US (born 1997 to 2012) now use passkeys.
By contrast, only 26 per cent of ‘Baby Boomers’ (1946-1964) say they use them. Google’s hope is that older people will think, ‘Wow, those kids always seem to know what’s happening – maybe I should ditch passwords too’.