According to the 49th Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network, as of December 2021, the Internet penetration rate of the elderly aged 60 and above in mainland China has reached 43.2%, and the elderly are sharing the results of informatization development with other age groups. How to help elderly users cross the digital divide and use the network healthily has become a topic of concern for all sectors of society.
On March 29, Douyin's "Old Friend Plan" upgraded a number of measures, covering anti-addiction, anti-fraud intervention, content security, late-night live rest reminders, etc., to systematically escort the health network for the elderly. It is understood that Douyin has previously launched the plan in 2021, focusing on protecting the health and safety network of the elderly and allowing the elderly to integrate and enjoy digital life.
Barrier-free access to the internet to help elderly users cross the digital divide
Digitalization is now the norm for most people, but "touching the net" is still a difficult task among the 18.7% of the population aged 60 and over.
The elderly "touch the net", first of all, to solve the problem of difficult access to the Internet. In 2021, Douyin launched the "Elder Mode" age-friendly function, and passed the First Batch of Ageing and Barrier-free Level Evaluation by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. After the function was launched, Douyin tested and optimized the mode many times, including page font size, contrast and touch area, etc., adapted to the main use scenarios, pages and pop-up windows of Douyin, and continued to solve the problems of the elderly being unable to see clearly and not using well.
In order to serve elderly users more directly, Douyin opened the "Old Friend Customer Service Hotline" 400-903-0053, and added the transfer service of the Elderly Hotline in the Douyin service hotline 95152. Combined with the characteristics of the elderly's call, the dedicated customer service staff will provide customized services for elderly users from the aspects of language, speed, volume, etc., such as providing a variety of regional dialect wiring, or slowing down the speed of speech "hand-in-hand" online guidance.
At the same time, in order to help elderly users improve their digital literacy, Douyin also launched the "Silver Age Internet User Manual" and called on creators to create mobile phone use tutorials for the elderly, and as of now, the related videos of "teaching the elderly to use mobile phones" have been played more than 54.99 million times. Douyin public welfare training courses also entered the universities and communities of the elderly in Guangxi, Fujian, Shanghai and other places, bringing smart phones and common app teaching, and popularizing online fraud prevention knowledge.
▲Silver Age Internet User Manual
Health use network to help the elderly enjoy a better digital life
Health and safety networks are another problem that the elderly will face after learning to go online. To this end, Douyin launched anti-addiction, late-night live rest reminders and other product functions, multi-angle attention to the health of elderly users on the Internet. In terms of anti-addiction, Douyin has upgraded anti-addiction auxiliary functions such as video reminders, voice reminders, and time management tools to guide elderly users to use mobile phones in moderation and enjoy digital life with reasonable work and rest.
Elderly users have different rules of their own work and rest, thus forming specific habits of using the network, such as some elderly people who do not sleep late at night or like to open live broadcasts after waking up, but the live broadcast time is too long will affect the health of the elderly. To this end, Douyin has launched a late-night live rest reminder function. When the elderly start broadcasting late at night, they will receive a pop-up window of the platform care reminder, and for the elderly users who have too long a live broadcast time, the platform will automatically interrupt the live broadcast of the elderly after the pop-up prompt, and can resume the broadcast after 6 o'clock.
In terms of content security, Douyin continues to crack down on violations such as inducing interaction, fraud, and privacy violations, and protects the legitimate rights and interests of elderly users. In the special governance action to crack down on "inducing interaction among the elderly" carried out in 2022, the Douyin Security Center has banned 464 relevant illegal accounts. In view of the network fraud behavior that is more likely to occur in the elderly, Douyin security intervention product Douyin Xiaoan will intervene in the risk by means of pop-up window prompts, security confirmation, intelligent voice and other interactive methods to protect the elderly from being deceived.
In addition, Douyin also actively introduces high-quality content such as authoritative experts and formal institutions. Recently, Douyin reached a cooperation with the Career Development Center of the Red Cross Society of China to release a short video of health education that the elderly like to hear on the official account of the "Yaoyang Lecture Hall" douyin, and disseminate public welfare content such as medical health, pension policies and legal aid, cultural and artistic life to the elderly. The first issue has invited Mr. Qin Boyi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a famous pharmacologist, to discuss how the elderly can maintain their love for life and other topics.
Zhai Zhenwu, president of the Chinese Society and director of the Population and Development Research Center of Chinese Min University, believes that the elderly after retirement generally face problems such as the disappearance of social roles, the reduction of social networks, the reduction of social participation, and the decline of life richness and happiness. Short video products such as Douyin lower the threshold for the elderly to maintain social connections. The elderly can understand social dynamics through vibrato, strengthen communication with their children, and give play to their residual heat strengths, which can be regarded as a new form of social participation of contemporary elderly people.
The relevant person in charge of Douyin said, "The creativity of elderly users is far beyond imagination, they are also 'tide makers' who play with life, we will continue to pay attention to the use of products of elderly users, help them better integrate and enjoy digital life, and strive to create sustainable social benefits for the elderly care action." ”
Upstream journalist Ma Liang intern Mao Jialian