When "Internet addiction for the elderly" becomes a business

Image source @ Visual China

Text | Sting Institute, author | Small full

In the past two days, the topic of "being completely broken by the elderly who do not have mobile phones" has been on the hot search. Videos related to the topic show that in the vaccination observation room, many elderly people without mobile phones sit silently in chairs and have nothing to do, which is in sharp contrast to the young people who are playing with their smartphones down next to them.

However, some netizens shared that their parents were addicted to short videos and online shopping, becoming "Internet addicted to the elderly". Recently, some relevant people have suggested that we should follow the youth protection model and establish a "anti-addiction" system for the elderly in short videos.

On the one hand, in the process of rapid development of digital business, the elderly group has been neglected. On the other hand, rich network content and e-commerce consumption have created a number of "Internet addicts for the elderly". Where does the contrast come from? At a time when the mobile Internet and algorithms dominate everything, what kind of business is hidden behind the "Internet addiction and old age"?

Stopped "out of the net" by the elderly machine

On the surface, the biggest difference between "the elderly without a mobile phone" and the "internet addicted elderly" is "whether there is a mobile phone or not". This reveals that the "elderly machine" launched by manufacturers for the elderly group is precisely one of the main obstacles that hinder the elderly from "touching the net".

In 2021, the Sichuan Provincial Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Commission conducted a comparative test of mobile phone products of elderly consumers on the market from the three directions of safety standards, ease of use and durability. The test found that some "elderly machines" have inconvenient button designs. At the same time, some manufacturers still have a stereotype of the "elderly machine", believing that the less functions, the smaller the volume, the larger the font, the louder the sound, and the cheaper the price, the more suitable for the elderly to use, and the products that have long been eliminated by the public are provided to the elderly. This makes some elderly people lag behind the development of digital society in the information age.

As for the smartphones used by the elderly population, although they have been synchronized with ordinary smartphones in terms of functions. But the complex operating system and the ubiquity of pop-up ads and false links make the elderly bear the extremely high cost of learning. This actually reflects the problem of "adapting to aging" of smart technology.

For example, the verification code login process commonly used in the App is often unable to log in because the verification code picture is difficult to read when used by the elderly. For example, most intelligent speech functions can only recognize standard Mandarin, and cannot distinguish the dialect accents of the elderly. These difficulties in the use experience have become an important challenge for the popularization of smart devices and smart technologies among the elderly population.

In December 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a press conference to effectively solve the difficulties of the elderly in using intelligent technology, and announced that from January 2021, a one-year "special action on the aging and barrier-free transformation of Internet applications" will be launched nationwide. In February this year, Xiao Yaqing, minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, introduced at the press conference of the State Council New Office that in 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized 227 websites and Apps to launch a variety of distinctive functions such as font amplification, voice guidance, and "one-click direct connection to manual customer service" in terms of aging transformation.

However, recently, some industry insiders pointed out that the "adaptive aging" transformation of some Apps is superficial, "The page settings, fonts, icon sizes of the home page have been adjusted, and voice navigation and 'one-key access manual' have also been set up, but once they enter the secondary interface, they are the same as the normal version." And this can lead to "missing out" a huge market of more than 200 million users.

Elderly netizens will support the market of 100 billion

According to the data of the seventh national census, the population aged 60 and above in the mainland exceeds 264 million, accounting for 18.7%,; the population aged 65 and over exceeds 190 million, accounting for 13.5%. In order to cater to the new market, domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO have also launched various synchronization tools to facilitate children to help parents set up and operate mobile phones through remote collaboration. These mobile phone manufacturers have also won the favor of many elderly users.

In fact, not only in terms of selling hardware to gain revenue, information, short video-related content industries have also opened new doors for the "Internet addicted elderly".

"Anyway retired, usually there is nothing to do, like to watch TV series have watched several times, now like to watch short videos and live broadcasts, play small games." Ms. Wu after the 60s told the Sting Institute that in addition to eating, sleeping, and going out to buy vegetables, she basically kills time by brushing short videos, and the time to watch short videos alone is 4 or 5 hours a day. "In the past, when there was no epidemic, I would go out to play mahjong, but now the epidemic is repeated, and I dare not go out at will, so I can only find something to do at home."

According to Ms. Wu, many of her friends like to watch short videos and live broadcasts on Douyin and Kuaishou, and will also place orders and shop in the live broadcast room. "Everyday items like toilet paper, slippers, and mops at home are all bought in the live broadcast room. Some people like to eat snacks, and they will also buy some snail powder and chutney powder in the live broadcast room to eat. ”

According to the 49th Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network, as of December 2021, the number of elderly internet users aged 60 and above in the mainland will reach 119 million, and the Internet penetration rate will reach 43.2%. Among them, the proportion of elderly netizens who can independently complete online activities such as showing health codes/itinerary cards, purchasing daily necessities and finding information has reached 69.7%, 52.1% and 46.2% respectively.

Previously, the "2019 Elderly Group Access Research Report" released by Aurora Big Data showed that the average Internet use of elderly netizens is as long as 3 hours, and 6.4% of the elderly spend more than 7 hours online every day. The "2020 Elderly Internet Life Report" jointly released by mobile content platform Qutoutiao and The Paper mentioned that the number of elderly netizens who have been online for more than 10 hours per day has exceeded 100,000.

When e-commerce and content platforms fall into a traffic shortage, the "Internet addicts" instead send important user growth and conversion support with a "newcomer" attitude, but some contradictions have also arisen.

"Internet addiction in old age": lonely addiction

"When I was a child, I was often scolded by my mother for watching TV and not eating, and now we have changed our identities, my mother watches short videos and live broadcasts, and I can't bear to put my mobile phone, and I have to call her several times every day when I eat." According to Li Li after the 80s, since she was exposed to short videos, her mother has been a little unable to extricate herself, whether it is washing and cooking or doing other housework, the mobile phone has to be placed next to it. "Every night before going to bed, I have to watch it, I can't sleep without watching, and I got up several times in the middle of the night to find her lying on the bed asleep, but the phone is still playing short videos."

Indulging in online short videos consumes more time for the elderly at best, and some low-quality content has had a serious impact on other family members. Li Li said that once her mother said that she was going to fight a war everywhere, so that her family members rushed to stock up on grain, and later learned that she believed some rumors and short videos, "This kind of thing makes people can't believe that she is still a highly educated person." ”

In addition to believing in the information on the Internet, Li Li's mother often forwards some emotional content to the circle of friends and family groups, and does not forget to "name" Li Li to tell her some big truths. "I don't know how many times the videos of marriage and child promotion have been posted. The most common is that an actress speaks filial piety in front of the camera, saying that 'no filial piety is greater than three', but this actress does not even speak Mandarin standardly, and this low-quality content is very appetizing to people of my mother's age. ”

In addition, the "Internet addicted elderly" are also an important target group for live streaming with goods. "9 pieces of 9 mop buckets with the function of throwing drying, 15 pieces of two pairs of cotton slippers, anyway, will be used, so cheap do not buy white do not buy, and the video looks like the quality is not bad." Talking about the experience of live shopping, Ms. Wu's emotions are a little excited, she said that some of the goods she bought at a low price in the live broadcast room before were later found to be flawed in quality. "The handle of the mop is not the right size, and it is always easy to fall off when mopping the floor." Cotton slippers begin to shed hair when put on, and the padding inside will still clump. After encountering these "pit" experiences, Ms. Wu is now extra cautious when watching live shopping.

In fact, the elderly are already high-incidence incidents of being deceived by watching live shopping, and similar routines are almost inherited from previous TV shopping. Health care products and drugs have rarely been seen again because of platform restrictions. However, various celebrity calligraphy paintings, coin badges and other collectibles that can be steadily value-added, as well as jadeite jade jewelry that can play a role in cancer prevention and transport, still attract many elderly people to place orders.

As early as 2019, Tencent 110 platform had released the "Anti-Fraud White Paper for Middle-aged and Elderly People", which mentioned that the Tencent 110 platform accepted more than 20,000 reports of middle-aged and elderly people being deceived in the first half of that year alone, of which 97% of the deceived people had suffered financial losses, ranging from 100 yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. Under the general trend that more elderly people will "touch the net" in the future, how to ensure the property safety of the elderly will be a serious problem that the whole industry needs to face.

Whether it is "the elderly who do not have mobile phones are broken and prevented", or the "Internet addicted elderly" in the Internet world encounters various temptations and hidden dangers, the most fundamental problem is that the elderly are prone to loneliness in the absence of companionship. The "2020 Internet Life Report for the Elderly" pointed out that "the elderly withdraw from social and professional life, their leisure time increases, and their loneliness is more intense, so they tend to use entertainment and emotional content to enrich their lives." Among the entertainment content they focus on, they prefer themes such as family and children. ”

At the same time, content providers and platforms that are proficient in algorithms have long noticed that the elderly can contribute to the commercial value of platform activity, user stickiness and traffic realization, so with the help of user behavior analysis, they continue to recommend accurate content to quickly cultivate Internet novices into "Internet addicts for the elderly". And due to the short time and lack of experience in "touching the net", elderly netizens are more likely to be routined, and rarely actively defend their rights after their rights and interests are damaged.

"Internet addiction in the elderly" is a social phenomenon that needs attention. It not only reflects the lonely situation of the elderly after entering retirement, but also triggers people's thinking about whether to continue to let go of "algorithm hegemony" in the era of mobile Internet. If even the elderly with rich life experience cannot avoid becoming "Internet addicted elderly", then what else can not be made into a business?

*In order to protect the privacy of the respondents, the above names are pseudonyms.