More than 90% of the interviewed college students will teach their elders to use electronic products, and more than 50% believe that it can enhance communication and family ties
Digital Youth Starts "Digital Feedback"
"How do I save this person's phone number?" "Where should I press this video?" Grandpa outputted the questions he had accumulated for half a year like bullets, because the end of the year is approaching, "Mengqi is back."
After the start of the summer vacation in 2022, Ni Mengqi became a freshman in a university in Fujian.
Before going to university, Ni Mengqi was the "smart product assistant" of her grandparents. She was uncertain about the functions of mobile phones and tablets, so Mengqi immediately stepped in.
After leaving home to go to university, it was inconvenient for Ni Mengqi to "command" remotely, but the "smart product assistant" resumed work the next day after returning home from vacation.
"Although my younger sister who is in junior high school is very good at using her mobile phone, her grandparents always feel that she is still a child and still has to wait for me to come back." Ni Mengqi said.
Li Xinmiao, who is studying at Luliang College, never thought that one day she would "exchange roles" with her grandmother.
Since she was in kindergarten, she grew up under the guardianship of her grandmother. After the advent of smartphones, the former child became her grandmother's "little teacher".
In her opinion, teaching grandma to use a smartphone brought back the intimacy that had been “far away” due to geographical distance.
With the rapid development of emerging technologies, a "digital divide" lies between some middle-aged and elderly people and their digital life, making them at a loss.
However, as "Internet natives" grow up, they gradually become the "little teachers" of their elders, and "digital feedback" has become one of the key words in their communication with their elders.
China Youth Daily and China Youth School Media launched a questionnaire survey for college students across the country, and collected 3,035 valid questionnaires from 142 college students. 95.19% of the respondents have taught their parents, grandparents or other elders to use electronic products, of which 91.86% Respondents will teach their elders when they return home for Chinese New Year or holidays. Remote voice or video guidance (33.81%), remote screenshots, and guide map making (20.89%) also happen from time to time.
Embrace digital life with elders
The unshakable status of "Chief Smart Product Assistant" stems from Ni Mengqi's tireless work on answering questions.
A grandmother in her 60s started learning to use WeChat a few years ago. From how to make voice calls, how to make video calls, how to post to Moments, and give others likes, she always asks Ni Mengqi when she encounters any questions she wants to learn.
Grandma is also catching up with the trend of electronic products. When she saw other people posting videos, she wanted to give it a try. Under the guidance of her granddaughter, she learned how to shoot videos, send daily life and beautiful scenery to the App, and then share them with her friends.
Ni Mengqi also specially taught grandma how to use the tablet.
"There are not many entertainment and leisure items for the elderly. Grandma likes to watch TV series. Because the on-demand function of TV is too complicated, and the screen of the mobile phone is too small, watching videos is too tiring. I taught grandma the function of watching TV dramas on a tablet. "In Ni Mengqi's view, smart electronic products are indeed convenient to use, and the elders should also enjoy the convenience and new functions they bring.
According to the survey conducted by China Youth School Media, the respondents taught their elders to use smartphones (94.76%) the most, in addition to computers (30.51%), smart TVs (28.20%), tablets (20.13%), cameras or video cameras ( 8.11%), wearable devices such as smart watches and VR glasses (7.91%), smart speakers (7.38%), etc.
28.17% of the respondents will take the initiative to teach their elders to use new products and functions, 29.69% of the respondents will teach their elders how to use them when they ask them, and 42.14% of the respondents have both of the above situations.
The functions of electronic products that the respondents teach their elders to use include chatting and communicating (83.03%), taking pictures or recording videos (53.77%), mobile payment or online banking (45.04%), online shopping and ordering food (38.91%), watching short videos (36.64%), posting emoticons (34.40%), sharing in Moments and other dynamic releases (25.40%), checking news (22.21%), etc.
As early as the dawn of smartphones, Tang Guiyuan encouraged parents to learn new things quickly.
"This is the future development trend. If everyone else uses it in the future, you won't know how to use it. Just like others driving a car, you can only ride a bicycle. You will definitely fall behind." Convenient, without electronic payment, cash will definitely solve the problem.
Until later, my parents gradually discovered that when selling agricultural products to vendors, the vendors no longer carry cash, but a mobile phone to transfer money and deliver goods. It is difficult to do transactions without a mobile payment account.
So Tang Guiyuan helped Dad download the software, opened an online payment account, and taught Dad how to receive and pay. In order to prevent property risks caused by improper use, he also asked Dad to use it only when receiving money.
However, my father did not escape the "true fragrance law", and soon found that it is very convenient to pay by mobile phone for grocery shopping and gas, and he gradually accepted mobile payment.
Yang Yuankai is a student of a university in Shanxi.
As the "little teacher" of grandparents, the teaching content of "Yang Yunkai Smart Classroom" starts from the most basic unlocking mobile phone.
"First, unlock the off-screen status, turn on the phone, find the mobile application software store, download the software, register and log in, and then teach how to use it." "Teacher Xiao Yang" has a strict teaching mode-after teaching, uninstall the mobile phone software , Let grandparents download it by themselves.
"I can feel that they are very motivated to learn, and they are very happy after learning." Yang Yuankai said.
In addition to teaching parents to use electronic products, Tang Guiyuan will also start "avoiding pitfalls" teaching.
When he first taught his father to use online payment, he gave him popular science knowledge about anti-fraud, "For example, don't click on the links in various text messages, don't click on the red envelopes sent by others casually, don't believe in the sky, etc. Now my father Very strict, even if someone sends red envelopes in the group, he will not open them."
If encountering a situation where the possibility of loss is small, Tang Guiyuan will still choose to let her parents "trial and error".
Once my mother saw a piece of clothing on an e-commerce platform and thought it was cheap and good-looking. Tang Guiyuan felt that the quality of the clothing was poor, but she couldn't convince her mother, so he decided to buy it first.
After receiving the clothes, it turned out that the quality of the clothes was not good, and my mother didn't like it, but I had to wear them first.
"But this will let parents know that not everything on the Internet is as good as it looks, and of course not everything is as bad as they imagined. They must learn to distinguish rationally." The "instructor" is also the "chief of staff". The elders often ask for his opinions.
"Teach them like our elders raised us when we were children"
According to the survey by China Youth School Media, the most common emotions for respondents when teaching elders to use electronic products are patience (64.71%), joy (50.15%) and sense of accomplishment (33.18%), but sometimes it is funny (29.52%) , even difficult (17.73%), crash (6.66%).
"Patience is the most important thing. Sometimes they have to repeat it many times before they can remember it. If they don't use a certain function for a while, they may forget it." But Ni Mengqi is more afraid of her grandparents than the trouble of repeating it over and over again. I feel old and useless.
"I always say 'there are not many elderly people who can use smartphones, but you are already very good at using them'. They must be encouraged."
Li Xinmiao felt that she was relatively impatient, and sometimes she was "a little impatient" because her grandma didn't learn it.
Once when my grandma was watching a video, she clicked on someone’s homepage and didn’t know how to exit, “Like an old child, I’m in a hurry and don’t know what to do.” I was worried that Li Xinmiao would be impatient, and my grandma would act like a child who made a mistake. Cautiously asked Li Xinmiao what to do, and even pretended to say "So that's the case, I know".
Li Xinmiao was a little choked up. She knew that her grandma was very good to her, but she didn't do enough.
After realizing this problem, she made up her mind to change.
"After my grandma learned how to make videos, every tenth day of the first lunar month is my grandpa's birthday, and the family members will go back to celebrate my grandpa's birthday, and my grandma will organize everyone to shoot videos. The whole family from young to old will appear on camera one by one, or the whole family will dance together "Similar videos have been filmed for several years, but Li Xinmiao always refuses to participate, and she plans to join this year.
"Grandma will be very happy. Family affection is mutual. Grandma wants me to be happy, and I hope grandma is happy too."
It wasn't just Li Xinmiao's reaction to persuading himself to be patient after being impetuous unconsciously.
The experience of asking my mother to take a picture of a certificate for me made Tang Guiyuan "crash".
In order to remotely teach his mother how to take pictures of the certificate and send pictures to himself, he spent two or three hours. After finally receiving the pictures, he found that what his mother sent was not the "original picture" and the picture was blurred, so he had to teach her how to send it again. 'Original Image'".
In 2021, Tang Guiyuan graduated from school and became a pilot, spending less time at home every year.
When he gets home, he will help his parents clean up the junk software and cache in their phones, and then ask them if they need to use some new software, and help them download them on their phones.
He will also write the steps of some commonly used functions on a small card, which is convenient for parents to check at any time.
There are also times when he guides his parents step-by-step over the phone.
"They can clearly understand the prompt words, but they dare not click, and they have to guide them step by step." When his mother wants to send him something, he is the first to ask "what word do you see now", when his mother says Seeing "Send", he said, "Then if you want to send it to me now, you have to click 'Send'."
"It feels like facing a child. It's really broken. You need to say it over and over again. You said it today, but you forgot it tomorrow." Teach us to walk and talk, and maybe repeat it countless times before we learn it.” Thinking about it this way, he still has to go all out for this “digital feedback”.
After all, after he finally took a breath and sighed that "Parents have learned it", he will see their sense of accomplishment and "little pride".
"In my fifties and sixties, I know how to pay and shop online, and I'm a trendy person in the village, and I feel like I'm ahead of the times." After working, Tang Guiyuan let her parents take this "little pride" to the extreme. .
He bought smart home products such as smart refrigerators and smart massagers for his family.
"It is said that when the smart refrigerator was first installed at home, the neighbors were envious."
Intergenerational distance shortened by digital life
According to the survey conducted by China Youth School Media, the respondents said that they can take the initiative to pay attention to some new functions, teach the elders to use them, and increase the common language (52.85%).
In addition, 33.94% of the respondents believe that the use of electronic products is also a kind of talk, which can enhance communication and enhance family affection.
Li Xinmiao felt that the emergence of smartphones opened up the conversation between her and her grandmother.
"When I grow up, I don't have much time to go back to my grandma. Compared with when I was a child, I feel a little alienated. Sometimes I don't know how to speak face to face. But now when I go back to my grandma's house during holidays and holidays, she often asks me how to use my smartphone, and the usual communication has changed. It feels like our relationship is slowly getting closer in the process.”
Although young parents don’t really need Ni Mengqi’s electronic product science, and sometimes she would nudge her to “don’t look at your phone for too long”, but the use of electronic products has also narrowed the distance between parents and daughters. .
My mother works abroad all year round and only returns home once a year.
She didn't have a video call when she was a child, and she didn't see her mother for a long time. When her mother came home, she opened her mouth and called "Auntie".
But my sister won't make such "jokes" when she was a child, and mother and daughter can often see each other across the network cable.
Yang Yunkai didn't want to create barriers between his grandparents and grandparents because of age, distance, "I don't want them to be abandoned by the times, and I hope to accompany them in my own way. Now everyone often plays with mobile phones when eating, and grandparents don't know that younger generations are busy on mobile phones. What. After teaching them now, they are actually very happy, they can know what the juniors are doing and what they think, and they can also join in the discussion.”
As the New Year approached, Yang Yuankai's grandfather took the initiative to ask to learn how to "give out red envelopes". "I thought about making everyone happy during the festival. I will demonstrate it once, and grandpa will be able to do it."
After completing the "theoretical study", Grandpa immediately practiced and sent three red envelopes of 200 yuan to Yang Yuankai's WeChat account.
From the brand-new banknotes in the red envelopes to the electronic money in the WeChat group, the changes of the times have expanded the way of communication between the grandparents and grandchildren.
Due to work reasons, Tang Guiyuan sometimes misses festivals and family reunions, but through the functions of electronic products he teaches his parents to use, the warmth of home is passed on.
During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, he couldn't go home because he had to fly.
At 5 o'clock in the morning on the first day of the new year, he got up to prepare for a new day of flying, and his mother sent a WeChat voice early in the morning: "Happy Chinese New Year. Don't worry about home. You are working now, so you should focus on work and ensure the flight Be safe." The familiar and simple voice from the handset of the mobile phone opened the source of warmth and fulfillment for Tang Guiyuan this year.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Net trainee reporter Bi Ruoxu Cheng Si Source: China Youth Daily