`titrebSOCIAL NETWORKS AND THE DIFFUSION OF ICT' CONSUMPTION Some insights from "young retired people" `/titreb The article discusses diffusion of new communication technology among retired people, a group often supposed to have "resistance" to technical innovations. The first part focuses on the part played in diffusion by generations within a family. It analyses the flow of information between the generations (concluding that there are limits to this flow); the way in which meaning is constructed via the relationship to children and grandchildren; and the role of presents from children in initiating retired people to new technological goods. The second part of the article argues that the complexity of the concept of "useful" – so central in studies of adoption of new goods – has been underestimated. Material from interviews with retired people shows that usefulness rarely corresponds simply to ergonomic criteria of saving time or effort, but is a more social process of valorization. Some examples are given of how such valorization occurs.