What is the progress of network adaptation to aging?

  Our reporter Huang Xin

  According to a report released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) a few days ago, as of June this year, the number of Internet users in my country reached 1.011 billion.

Among them, netizens aged 50 and above accounted for 28%, an increase of 5.2 percentage points from June 2020.

  "Silver-haired people" have always been a hot spot of social concern.

In January of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched a special action on the ageing and barrier-free transformation of Internet applications.

How is the current progress?

On this topic, a reporter from the Economic Daily interviewed experts and heads of relevant departments.

The first batch of renovations will be completed by the end of the year

  On September 1, the railway 12306 website announced that the website’s ageing and barrier-free transformation related functions were officially launched. It supports screen-reading software to obtain complete information on the web page, supports zooming in and out, adjusting color matching, voice recognition and other functions, and optimizing the login verification code. .

At the same time, the 12306 mobile phone APP is also undergoing renovation.

  The relevant person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told reporters that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has urged the first batch of 115 websites and 43 apps that have participated in the aging process to quickly start their transformation.

  In April of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the "General Design Specification for Ageing Internet Websites" and "General Design Specification for Mobile Internet Applications (APP) Ageing Design", and put forward dozens of specific technical requirements for website and APP transformation, such as font size and color usage. It also specifically requires that the old and accessible versions of the website and mobile APP after the transformation are not equipped with ad plug-ins, and payment operations must not be equipped with any inducement buttons.

  The reporter combed and found that, at present, some government official websites have implemented various auxiliary functions such as voice reading, voice navigation, etc., to help the elderly realize barrier-free browsing website services.

Some news apps have implemented full-page large fonts, large icons, and large buttons.

Some shopping apps have developed and launched a dedicated service interface for the elderly to further simplify the search procedure.

  The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organizes telecommunication companies to hold more than 13,000 events such as mobile phone classes offline, organizes Internet companies to bring mobile phones and other smart terminals to elderly communities and colleges for the elderly, and provides counseling on commonly used APP applications for the elderly, and teaches them how to use intelligence. technology.

Take multiple measures to help the elderly

  Peng Qiaoling, 61, has been helping with her grandson in Ningbo, Zhejiang since last year.

"I don't have any friends here. When I'm fine, I like to watch some parenting and cooking videos on my mobile phone, and now I'm learning to shoot videos to share." Peng Qiaoling said.

  Zhai Zhenwu, president of the Chinese Population Association and director of the Center for Population and Development Studies of Renmin University of China, believes that many middle-aged and elderly people have difficulties in using digital products and cognizing network security.

Companies should aim for the "good use", "easy to use" and "useful" of the elderly and create elderly-friendly products.

  According to Zhang Di, the person in charge of the TikTok Elderly Friendly Project, TikTok has launched the elder model, the big-character concise model, to solve the problem that elderly users cannot see clearly or use it, and gradually upgrade the time reminder and management functions.

At the same time, it has strengthened the review standards for old-related content, raised the level of response to potential risk private messages, severely cracked down on illegal advertisements, and strived to create a safe content environment for elderly users.

As of April this year, Douyin creators over the age of 60 have created more than 600 million videos and have received more than 40 billion likes.

  The "Survey Report on Short Video Usage of Middle-aged and Elderly People" jointly released by the Center for Population and Development Research of Renmin University of China and Douyin a few days ago shows that when encountering digital difficulties, more than half of middle-aged and elderly people prefer their children for help. The first generation should be the main group to help the elderly in the family solve the digital difficulties.

  Pan Helin, Executive Dean of the Institute of Digital Economy, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that unlike offline terminals, online apps are not a rigid demand for many elderly people, and some elderly people will not take the initiative to contact and learn the functions on smartphones. People should take the initiative to guide and help the elderly to use APP.

  Some adaptations for aging have also taken this into consideration.

For example, some mobile phones have launched a "remote assistance" mode, with an average monthly active user number of nearly 20,000.

Children can directly help their parents to get a taxi or register online by remotely operating the mobile phone interface of the elderly, so as to alleviate their parents' urgent needs.

Adaptation for the old should be integrated into the design

  At present, what are the problems with the ageing transformation of Internet applications?

According to Wang Liping, senior consultant of Zhongcheng Think Tank, the main problem is that some companies have low participation and lack of aging perspective in product design; insufficient supply of aging products, and slightly complicated operating procedures; aging products have a slightly single function and are suitable for aging. Insufficient product promotion, etc.

  The relevant person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said frankly that currently, there are fewer standards for aging products and services, and the quality of products and services needs to be improved.

  At the same time, the individual needs of the elderly are different, and it is difficult to cover all aspects of adapting to aging.

In this regard, Pan Helin said that it is necessary to properly make some regular targeted recommendations for the elderly, introduce the functions of the APP, and increase the popularity.

At the same time, the offline processing method of rigid business is retained.

  According to reports, in order to encourage relevant enterprises to participate in the enthusiasm of ageing adaptation and the construction of information accessibility, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will grant the information accessibility label to websites and mobile apps that have been optimized for ageing adaptation and passed evaluation.

At the same time, major application stores and major application markets are guided to set up barrier-free application download areas, and APPs that have obtained information accessibility signs are unified into the special areas, which is convenient for the elderly and other special groups to search, download, and use, and it is also convenient for developers of various applications to combine The actual situation is further optimized, and the suitable aging level of the application is improved.

  Our reporter Huang Xin