How can middle-aged and elderly migrant workers get rid of the dilemma of the digital divide?

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　　Recently, news about the dilemma of the elderly in digital life continues to arouse attention, and the cliche topic of the digital divide has been discussed again.

And there is another group-middle-aged and elderly migrant workers are also easily ignored by digitalization. In contrast, those with generally low educational level and weaker learning ability need more popularization and training of network literacy.

　　A domestic smartphone costing less than RMB 2,000, with a monthly data package of RMB 58 and 10GB; using interesting headlines is not for reading information but for earning phone bills, and not browsing policies and recruitment information for migrant workers on the phone; not using a cell phone to take the subway, Online registration, ticket purchase, health code generation... At a construction site in Shenbei New District, Shenyang, these are the "standard equipment" for the digital life of 13 migrant workers over 40 years old, including Huang Jianguo.

　　According to the "Monitoring and Survey Report on Migrant Workers in 2019", there were 144 million migrant workers over 40 in my country last year. Huang Jianguo and others are the epitome of these middle-aged migrant workers.

With the general decline in smart phone prices and traffic charges, mobile phone operations have become more convenient, and middle-aged and elderly migrant workers have entered the digital age.

Recently, a reporter from the Workers’ Daily found that middle-aged and elderly migrant workers have become the “severe disaster area” in the “digital divide”.

　"The most inconvenient thing is getting medical treatment and buying tickets"

　　In the container dormitory, under the dim incandescent lamp, five migrant workers lying on the bed are holding a smart phone alone.

At 20 o'clock on December 15th, when the reporter met 49-year-old Huang Jianguo, he had just ended a video call with his wife in the countryside of Taiping Town, Liaoning.

　　Nowadays, people on the construction site have a smart phone, and they must swipe their real-name mobile phone cards and read the "green code" when entering the construction site.

In addition to talking with his family, Huang Jianguo most frequently used short videos to "earn phone bills" and swiping "Golden Sentences" from Moments. If the data in the package was not enough, he would recharge and buy data, and his monthly spending could reach 120 yuan at most.

　　Only one of the 13 migrant workers interviewed by the reporter has opened online banking.

Liu Chunqi, a 55-year-old migrant worker from Chaoyang, Liaoning, said that if he did not open online banking, he was afraid of online telecommunications fraud. His wife would take out cash from the bank and transfer it to his daughter every few months, and then the daughter would transfer the money to the WeChat wallet.

In addition, Liu Chunqi will try to choose cash on delivery when shopping online, because he does not know how to return or exchange.

　　“The most inconvenient thing is getting medical treatment and buying tickets.” In September last year, 58-year-old Zhang Chenhai was hit by a hammer in his right wrist. He was afraid that his son would be worried, so he paid attention to the public account of the hospital. I'm stuck at the step of registering an account.

First, I couldn't receive the verification code, but after finally receiving it, because I cut out the page and couldn't find the previous page, I tried for 3 and a half hours and failed to register.

The next day, Zhang Chenhai could only hold his swollen wrist and came to the hospital's artificial window to register at 6 o'clock in the morning.

　　48-year-old Chen Xu is the “youngest member” on the construction site and also a “popular man”. Because of his mobile phone operation, he also opened online banking.

"The folks in the village can trust it. Sometimes it's a pack of cigarettes and sometimes a bag of fruits. They buy large appliances for the family through me. Sometimes their children urgently need money, and they ask me to help transfer money. I didn't think of the benefits. It’s a great help.” Chen Xu said that in the circle of migrant workers, “populars” like themselves are very common, because old migrant workers are not willing to make trouble for their children.

　Short Internet age and lack of learning opportunities are the main reasons

　　Huang Jianguo, who has been out to work for 28 years, told reporters that he did not buy his first smartphone until 2012, which was still a rarity among workers at the time. Many people asked him to use the Internet to receive photos sent by his family and then use Bluetooth to send them. In my cell phone.

"Smart phones are cheap and data tariffs have been reduced in recent years." Huang Jianguo said that in 2015, when real-name mobile phone cards became popular on construction sites, workers switched to smart phones.

This year, the outbreak of the epidemic broke out, and the use of the "green code" has also caused many "old antiques" who have not changed their mobile phones for many years.

　　The reporter learned that price factors make middle-aged and elderly migrant workers the latest group of people to touch the Internet.

Short internet age and few learning opportunities reduce their proficiency in surfing the Internet on mobile phones.

　　Liu Chunqi has gone out to work for 30 years. He spends most of his time on construction sites, working with reinforced concrete, and chatting together in his spare time.

After leaving school, his opportunity to access the Internet is through people around him and "young people at home."

"We have missed the fastest growing years of the Internet. It is a bit difficult for me to adapt to the era of swiping QR codes everywhere." Liu Chunqi told reporters that older migrant workers generally have low levels of education and weak learning ability. Verification codes often exceed the verification time.

　　What makes the 56-year-old Li Mantang feel that the "digital gap" between him and his daughter is getting deeper and deeper is the gap between the two parties' ability to distinguish network information.

Many of the articles on the official account that I believed in at first were forwarded to the family group and judged by my daughter as fake news.

In June of this year, his daughter found a job as a reference clerk through a video interview, which surprised him.

"When I first came to Shenyang from Henan to find a job, I relied on introductions from my fellow villagers. Even if I saw online recruitment, we were afraid to go."

　　Li Mantang usually browses most information about entertainment, sports, constellations, and anecdotes, while public affairs information such as politics, economy, education, science and technology, and legal system is rarely browsed actively.

To describe herself in the words of her daughter: "It's all unnutritious and amused."

Need to strengthen network literacy training

　　Unwilling to be left behind by the digitalization process, Huang Jianguo and his workers tried to learn.

"I kept trying and making mistakes with my mobile phone, but it was too slow. In order to make it easier for us to use the health code, the construction site made a short video of the operation and sent it to everyone. We gathered around for a long time, and finally let the technicians help us register one by one. Generate health codes." Huang Jianguo said that with smart phones, they still lack volunteers and digital science courses willing to guide the operation.

Therefore, Huang Jianguo hopes that more volunteers can come to the construction site to do network science popularization.

"Although we have a low level of education, we are not very stupid, and we can remember some operations a few times. Some operations can't be remembered, at least we know that we can distinguish between true and false, so that we will not talk about fake news and be jokes by our children." Huang Jianguo once met a few college students who came to do fieldwork and volunteered to explain the use of mobile phones to everyone. “He was patient and spoke well.”

　　Li Mantang said that every year, health and law will be sent to the construction site, and he also hopes to send a class on "Network Information Discrimination".

"We want to know how online information can be distinguished from true and false, such as which news has high credibility and which are mixed with false information. We also want to know how to avoid online fraud, how to buy things safely online, and where to find authoritative farmers Related policies."

　　Wang Lei, director of the Institute of Sociology of the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the digital divide is not formed in a day, and naturally it cannot be filled in a day.

Relevant departments should increase network literacy training for migrant workers, especially middle-aged and elderly migrant workers who are more disadvantaged in digital life.

Although the Internet has the characteristics of spontaneity and sharing, middle-aged and elderly migrant workers should not be left behind in the digital age.

"Technical workers can develop a simple operating system for the elderly to facilitate the use of middle-aged and elderly migrant workers, reducing operating steps and certification process." Wang Lei suggested.

　　Liu Xu