"The elderly have no access to the Internet or have low levels of access to the Internet, resulting in serious inconveniences for the elderly in digital social life, and they cannot help but feel anxious when facing digital operations." During the National Two Sessions, Huang Yuguang, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief physician of the Department of Anesthesiology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital , and put forward relevant suggestions around the phenomenon of "digital divide" faced by the elderly in digital learning and life.
From within the home, the home appliances around us are becoming more and more "smart", improving people's quality of life, but at the same time making it difficult for some elderly people to start.
experience
The old man is looking for a pressure cooker without buttons
Recently, in order to buy a pressure cooker for her 76-year-old mother, Ms. Liu went to the home appliance store twice.
I took pictures of several pots of suitable sizes and showed them to my mother, but she always shook her head and said, "I think there are too many buttons and I can't understand them."
What my mother wants is the old-fashioned pressure cooker that used to have "no display and buttons", which is no longer available in offline shopping malls today.
After repeated persuasion, she agreed to try out an "off-season model" that was easy to operate and placed in a corner on the bottom floor of the store.
There are fewer and fewer choices for single-function home appliances.
Mr. Chen once wanted to buy a "most common" microwave oven so that he could heat milk and dry food for his parents.
But there is only one knob-type machine on the entire store floor.
The clerk also emphasized that this is a eliminated product, and the new model now heats more evenly and radiates less.
“I thought since we have better technology, why can’t we make the product heat evenly while maintaining simple operation?”
Similar to the feelings of citizens, reporters visited chain electrical appliance comprehensive stores and found that home appliances, especially kitchen appliances, have blurred their original functional boundaries and evolved in the direction of "all-rounders".
An electrical appliance often "plays many roles" and is equipped with many and detailed functions.
Correspondingly, its display screen, buttons, etc. are all lined up on the operation panel, which looks full of "technological sense".
For example, the broken-wall cooking machine can make fruit and vegetable juice, cook rice paste, boil mung bean paste, and can also make soup and multi-grain porridge. It has nearly 20 buttons arranged in more than three rows.
For a rice cooker, you must first select the type of rice and then the cooking type. If you want to cook porridge, there are also casserole porridge, fragrant porridge and other modes to choose from.
According to a shopping guide of a certain brand, the main product currently being promoted in the store is an all-in-one micro-steaming and baking machine, which is equivalent to integrating a microwave oven, a steamer, and an oven in one place.
Some of the more "advanced" models even have expanded bombing functions.
Of course, each function corresponds to a corresponding button or menu. If the duration and heat are adjusted more precisely, twenty or thirty buttons are indispensable.
The "evolution" of home appliances has indeed improved the sophistication of people's lives, but it has also brought confusion to some people.
In the rice cooker sales area, an old man "complained" to a shopping guide. His son bought a "high-end pot". Every time he cooks, he has to choose the rice and choose the cooking mode.
The buttons are purely touch-sensitive, with no protrusions. Several times I made the wrong selection to start running, but I didn’t know how to stop it, so I had to quickly unplug the power and reset it.
market
Prices of home appliances with complex functions are rising
In the microwave area, the shopping guide recommended a smartphone to the reporter.
The reporter said that if you want to buy it for the elderly, it may be too complicated and difficult to master.
"It works, just teach it and you'll be good at it." The shopping guide introduced and demonstrated, "Here, set the firepower. You can add time here, from 10 seconds to 10 minutes. Then press 'Start'. The main thing is to remember this Three steps." The reporter asked about the dozen or so buttons in the middle of the panel, and the shopping guide said, "These are for cooking and are basically not used. We rarely use them after buying them."
Regardless of whether it is used or not, it should look "rich".
As functions increase, the prices of smart home appliances also rise.
The popular all-in-one micro-steaming and baking machine generally sells for as high as three to four thousand yuan.
However, even some young and middle-aged people who have no operational obstacles and are not sensitive to price often criticize the problem of idle functions of smart home appliances and feel helpless with deliberate voice interaction.
For example, many people have rice cookers that can cook soup and pressure cookers that can stew rice, but each of them only has one main function.
The reason is very simple. One pot cannot cook meat, rice and soup at the same time.
No matter how many functions the "all-in-one machine" has, it is impossible to steam the steamed buns and bake the chicken wings at the same time.
"It may be more suitable for young people who don't cook much. They don't have a steamer, oven, or air fryer at home. If they get the mood to bake and fry occasionally, they don't need to buy other equipment."
Last year, Xiao Song renovated his home and purchased a gas water heater.
After the master came to install it, the machine started to "say hello".
Considering that after setting the value, she rarely adjusts it back and forth, so she asked the master to help turn off the smart voice. "Even the master said that this function is actually useless."
Not long ago, there was a sudden power outage at home, and soon came the call again. All the appliances were restarted, and the water heater started "talking to itself" again.
Xiao Song ignored it at the moment. When chatting with her husband at night, the water heater suddenly "interrupted" loudly, which startled people. She quickly studied to turn off the voice assistant function.
change
“Not intelligent” has gradually become a hot selling point online
"If you want to find old models, you can look online." After being prompted by shopping guides, consumers turn to online shopping platforms for models that are difficult to find in stores.
The reporter saw that classic knob microwave ovens from brands such as Galanz, Panasonic, and Midea continue to sell well online. The prices after discounts are generally between 200 and 400 yuan, which is quite affordable.
Slogans such as "Suitable for the elderly, easy to clean, and easy to use" are often posted. Among the tens of thousands of reviews, many are "The knob type is specially bought and is convenient for the elderly and children to use." "For the elderly, it is still a mechanical operation." It's simple. The push-button model I bought before was too complicated. I had to press it three times to start it, so I decided to return it. "I bought it for the elderly to warm up at night, it's safe and convenient," and other statements.
In addition to kitchen appliances, consumers' pursuit of "retro" also extends to other home appliances, such as televisions.
This is the "hardest hit area" that has aroused heated discussions and criticized the cumbersome operation of smart appliances.
A research report on aging-friendly TVs previously released by China State Grid showed that many elderly people encountered difficulties when using smart TVs.
"Cannot directly access the TV programs I want to watch after turning on the phone", "There are many devices (set-top boxes, TVs) and I don't know how to switch between them" and "The operation is complicated and I don't know how to find the content I want to watch" occupy the top three.
How do you usually solve difficulties when you encounter them?
40.3% of the respondents chose "Ask the children", and as many as 27.2% of users chose "Just give up and stop reading".
The survey resonated with netizens, who all said, "This is the case for the elderly at home..." "Don't talk about the elderly. I haven't read it for a while. Even young people have to think about it."
Under such a situation, a batch of "non-smart" TVs that have no network, no advertising, and can be watched immediately after turning on the TV have become more popular. The "non-smart" has been specially emphasized and has become a product selling point.
Some consumers even said that it is not easy to find a non-smart TV nowadays. "I specially chose a completely non-smart TV. The elderly like it very much. They can watch it as soon as it is turned on without any other actions."
View
Intelligence cannot come at the expense of ease of use
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued the "Work Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Digital Technology for Aging", focusing on measures to bridge the "digital divide" for the elderly.
It is clear that by the end of 2025, more than 100 smart products with aging-friendly features will be launched, covering multiple categories such as mobile phones and televisions.
During this process, industry insiders reminded that cognitive misunderstandings such as regarding complexity as intelligence and equating "age-appropriate" with low-end obsolescence should be avoided.
"Frankly speaking, I have been paying attention to the aging-friendly smart appliances for the past few years. I have not seen any eye-catching aging-friendly smart home appliances currently on the market." Lu Renbo, deputy secretary-general of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce and market research expert in the home appliance industry "Intelligence" is undoubtedly the direction that the home appliance industry will be chasing in the future, but it is necessary to avoid the misunderstanding that intelligence is paramount and functions are too segmented.
Everything is left to customers to judge by themselves. Complicated buttons appear to be rich in choices, but they add barriers and troubles to consumers. In fact, they are a kind of pseudo-intelligence.
It makes people feel that this machine is very high-end and can be sold at a good price. Merchants can use this to achieve a value-added premium for the product.
Lu Renbo believes that intelligence cannot be at the expense of simplicity and ease of use.
If a certain kind of home appliance requires repeated education for some people to use it, or even if it is difficult to use it after repeated education, it cannot be called a truly qualified smart home appliance.
According to his observation, some aging-friendly smart home appliances launched by some early-starting countries focus on "people-oriented" and will start from the psychological needs of the elderly and take into account physiological changes such as slower thinking and slower hands and feet, and provide assistance in details.
For example, minimize the number of buttons and knobs on the remote control and machine body, and supplement them with clear and easy-to-understand graphics and color symbols.
The opening angle design of the washing machine reduces the need for the elderly to bend over, automatically recognizes the material and weight of the clothes, and runs the corresponding washing mode.
"Our enterprise is still relatively extensive at present, and the R&D department is still focused on how to reduce consumption and energy in product manufacturing. There is still a long way to go before we can achieve the ideal intelligence."
Reporter Wei Jingwen
(Beijing Evening News)