(New Year's news) Chinese silver-haired people "touch the Internet" encounter "growth troubles" and cross the digital divide calling for "warmth home"
China News Service, Lanzhou, February 24 (Reporter Ding Si) "Digital Years" has brought homesickness closer. The active embrace of the Internet age in China has become a new trend in the Spring Festival in recent years.
The silver-haired tribe after "on the Internet" presents a "two heavens of ice and fire". On the one hand, they encounter various dilemmas in real life under the "digital divide". On the other hand, they are unable to extricate themselves from being attached to the Internet and face many "growth troubles".
According to a survey conducted by the China Internet Network Information Center, as of June 2020, there are close to 100 million (97 million) Internet users over 60 in China, which means that 38.8% of China’s 250 million elderly people have joined the digital wave, but there are also More than half of the elderly have failed to catch the Internet express.
Video chat, digital photo albums of family photos, online shopping... During the Spring Festival in the era of the epidemic, the elderly are more willing to "connect to the Internet" than usual.
"The children won't come back this year, and want to see them, I asked the young people in the village to teach me to use WeChat and send red envelopes to the children." Zhu Quanyou, 65, and his wife in Wangshi Township, Jianli County, Hubei Province celebrated the New Year. With children staying in Hunan, video chat has become a way for them to share New Year’s fun, and it has also become the most important spiritual comfort for the elderly.
"Most old people in the countryside don't know how to use mobile phones, so just think about it and pass the time."
Different from the feeling of "touching the Internet", some elderly people have a strong demand for digital services and are keen to use the Internet to shop, entertain, socialize, obtain health, news, etc., and some elderly people indulge in short videos and hot chicken soup. Even fall into the trap of the Internet, letting their children know what to do.
In the past few days, the topic "Do parents indulge in short videos or not interfere" initiated by Sina Weibo has become the focus of heated discussions among netizens.
The netizen "youyouyouyouyou Zzz" left a message saying, "My mother-in-law broadcasts live on Mai for 8 hours during the day, and she uses the phone until 3 a.m. During the day, she basically uses her mobile phone to cook, sweep the floor, and bring her baby. The addiction to her mobile phone is bigger than me. It’s weird for two adults to hang up their headphones all day long."
For the Chinese elderly who are "lost" in the Internet, Dr. Kou Xingliang from the Investment Consulting Research Institute of Guangdong International Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd. accepted an interview with China News Agency reporters and analyzed that the elderly’s physical condition, family economy, family structure, and self-learning ability are objective. Factors restrict their use of the Internet, and some elderly people are excluded from the digital life; and the elderly who spend a lot of time in the online world, especially the elderly with Internet addiction, in addition to novel psychology, family and social environment and other factors, many It is because their emotional needs have not been well met in real life, and the Internet has become their important spiritual companion.
In November 2020, the Chinese government issued the "Implementation Plan on Effectively Solving the Difficulties of the Elderly in the Use of Intelligent Technology" and proposed that by the end of 2022, a long-term mechanism for solving the problem of the "digital divide" for the elderly will be basically established, and online and offline services will be More collaborative and efficient.
Kou Xingliang also suggested that the government should deepen the concept of a service-oriented government, formulate targeted policies and measures, guide and encourage market players to develop software products suitable for the elderly, and improve the level of application of digital and smart technologies in elderly care services; network regulatory authorities It is necessary to purify the cyberspace and reduce the living space of all kinds of pseudo-scientific knowledge.
Community colleges for the elderly can hold training activities to allow the elderly to adapt to the intelligent age in an atmosphere of collective learning.
"It is even more necessary for the family and society to take care of the elderly, and never let cold digital technology replace the warm companionship." Kou Xingliang said that the elderly's ability to accept new things has declined, and children are required to be patient, carefully guided and accompanied; For the elderly who are obsessed with the Internet world, their children should pay more attention to online and offline to enhance interaction with their parents, rather than let the Internet become the main place for the elderly to sustenance.
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