IFTM Comments is a partnership between Macau News Agency and Macao Institute for Tourism Studies

By Cheng Tak, Chan (Kenton)

Aging inhabitants is a standard concern in growing nations all over the world, with super-aged societies on the horizon. Facing new developments in know-how is prone to be inevitable for most people all through their senior years. The unfold of know-how has already affected the aged who’ve blended views on the usage of know-how, with some discovering it sophisticated and even inconvenient, whereas others might discover the Internet too harmful for belief.

It is kind of uncommon that a few of the aged have skipped the stage of utilizing computer systems because the mainstream methodology for studying about know-how on the Internet, and jumped instantly into the period of smartphones.

Based on my remark, increasingly more Macau residents aged 60 or above have the behavior of utilizing smartphones, and are proficient at utilizing WeChat (a well-liked social media in mainland China, Hong Kong S.A.R. and Macau S.A.R.), however they appear reluctant to make use of different new purposes. This is probably going resulting from the truth that the features and operations of another purposes might not fairly match the wants of the aged, which additional reduces their willingness to broaden the implementation of Internet-based sensible know-how.

For instance, in occasions of epidemics or when QR codes are required for crossing the border from Macau S.A.R. to Zhuhai metropolis in Mainland China, some aged who’re unfamiliar with the mandatory know-how can solely depend on their kinfolk and buddies to generate QR codes, which is undoubtedly a standard impediment to them.

Moreover, the aged finger dexterity and eyesight are comparatively poor, so they’re unable to successfully enter their private data within the small strains of the applying. In addition, some eating places in Macau have began to popularize the usage of scanning codes for ordering meals with the intention to cut back the workload of restaurant employees. However, some aged can not see the names and footage of the meals clearly on the small screens of their cell phones, and so they might not know how one can add additional dishes and drinks, and so forth. to the order, or they might be afraid of constructing errors when utilizing digital fee purposes. As a results of these inconveniences, the aged’s sense of well-being whereas utilizing know-how is probably going diminished.

Apart from that, the Internet setting has its personal complexity, and the aged might discover it troublesome to acknowledge fraudulent traps and false data. At a time when cell phone funds and on-line buying are prevalent, the aged might hand over or not dare to make use of the digital fee perform for the sake of fraud prevention, which can be a manifestation of the difficulties the aged are dealing with whereas integrating into the sensible society. Furthermore, the aged might have issue in distinguishing between true and false sources of knowledge on the Internet, or they might even unintentionally ahead to others the unverified data they’ve obtained from different platforms or buddies, which can undoubtedly result in the dissemination of false data within the society.

In addition to the above, inappropriate use of know-how by the aged can even have an effect on their bodily and psychological well being. Due to the wealthy content material offered by the social media, some might simply get addicted, and grow to be depending on cell telephones, which can have an effect on their eyes, backbone and neck.

It is hoped that whereas the federal government is vigorously selling the event of know-how in Macau, extra consideration is given to the wants of the aged relating to the usage of know-how. For instance, related publicity ought to be strengthened and extra workshops ought to be provided to help the aged in the usage of commonly-found technological merchandise and purposes in order to boost their technological know-how. Researchers and technological product designers additionally have to conduct in-depth research on the expertise and particular wants of the aged in order that the design of digital {hardware} and software program merchandise could be refined to mirror the mindset and perspective of the aged.