Beijing, April 6 (Reporter Guo Yanwei) Recently, the theme seminar on "Rational Use of the Internet for the Elderly" jointly organized by the Population and Development Research Center of Chinese University and the Chinese Society was held in Beijing. A number of experts and scholars from Chinese University, Nankai University, Peking University, Beijing Normal University, China Research Center on Aging, and Beijing Institute of Population and Social Development were invited to participate in the discussion on the topic of the Internet for the elderly that is widely concerned in the current society.
Experts attending the meeting agreed that the overall use of the Internet by the elderly is within a reasonable range, and there are subjective and exaggerated components in the statement that "the elderly are addicted to the Internet", and it is recommended that everyone rationally look at the elderly's Internet use behavior and help and guide the elderly to carry out effective self-management. At the same time, participating experts also pointed out that short videos are "promising" in the learning development and knowledge dissemination of the elderly.
Seminar site
"Internet addiction" has three elements: excessive use, inability to restrain, and negative impact
In 1994, the American psychologist Goldberg proposed the concept of "Internet addiction" and defined it as "an individual's time and frequency on the Internet exceeding their expectations, trying to control their Internet behavior but failing, and experiencing withdrawal symptoms after being deprived of Internet behavior." Du Peng, vice president of Chinese University and director of the Institute of Gerontology of Chinese Min University, stressed that "Internet addiction" is different from "Internet addiction", and at the same time summarized the basic connotation of "Internet addiction", that is, due to the uncontrolled use of the Internet by individuals, there are situations that affect life, study and work, and damage physical and mental health.
Zhai Zhenwu, president of the Chinese Society, director of the Population and Development Research Center of Chinese Min University, and professor, further summarized people's Internet use behavior into three levels: "Internet hobby", "Internet addiction" and "Internet addiction", pointing out that judging "Internet addiction" needs to meet three indicators at the same time - excessive use (extra long duration), inability to restrain the desire to use and physical and mental, interpersonal and other aspects of the negative impact, "strictly speaking, everyone's daily discussions and media reports often appear in the elderly' The word 'addiction' is more about the length of time to use than to 'internet addiction' in the true sense, and the accuracy of the wording is debatable. Zhai Zhenwu said.
"Internet addiction" in the elderly is an isolated phenomenon rather than a social problem
The essential difference between "phenomena" and "problems" is whether they are universal or not. The Population and Development Research Center of Chinese University conducted a survey on the use of the Internet and short videos by middle-aged and elderly people. The results showed that 73.9% of middle-aged and elderly people spent less than 4 hours online per day. It can be seen that the vast majority of middle-aged and elderly people use the Internet for a reasonable range.
Middle-aged and elderly people spend an average of time online every day
Tang Dan, associate professor of the Institute of Gerontology at Chinese Min University, believes that the "Internet addiction" of the elderly is an isolated phenomenon and has not risen to the level of a common social problem. Wu Xiaolan, a researcher at the Institute of Aging Health of the China Research Center on Aging, also encouraged everyone to look at the various phenomena and problems that appear in the process of using the Internet for the elderly with a development perspective.
Intervention in the use of the Internet in the elderly should be based on suggestions and reminders
Participating experts agreed that the intervention of the elderly's Internet use behavior should be based on recommendations and reminders. Tang Dan pointed out that we usually regard the elderly as a vulnerable group, believing that they lack mobility and self-control. In fact, older adults are autonomous adults with fully autonomous self-awareness, self-selection, and self-control.
Based on the continuous research on the cognition, understanding and usage of elderly users, Douyin has successively launched multiple versions of rest reminder and time management functions. For example, the landscape documentary with higher preference of the elderly group is selected as a rest reminder video, and voice reminders are added at the same time, so that the elderly users can better understand. In this regard, Yuan Xin, professor of the School of Economics of Nankai University and director of the Strategic Research Center for Social Governance of Aging in Nankai University, affirmed the exploration and practice of Douyin in anti-addiction, believing that it has certain reference value in guiding the elderly to carry out time management and helping the elderly improve their network literacy.
Meet the learning and development needs of the elderly Short video "promising"
The "Survey Report on the Use of Short Videos for Middle-aged and Elderly People" pointed out that short video platforms such as Douyin provide new tools for contemporary elderly people to obtain knowledge, social entertainment, and self-display, strengthen the social connection of the elderly, and enhance the social adaptation and social participation of the elderly after they withdraw from the labor market.
Peng Huamao, a professor at the School of Psychology of Beijing Normal University, called for attention to the deep psychological needs of the elderly, and suggested relying on online resources such as short videos to expand the channels of science education for the elderly, enrich the forms of popular science education for the elderly, complement the offline social services, meet the learning needs of the elderly, and help the elderly complete the realization of self-worth.
The level of psychological needs of the elderly
Du Peng, vice president of Chinese Min University and director of the Institute of Gerontology of Chinese Min University, pointed out that the content ecology of Douyin has gradually changed to cultural, intellectual, and popular science, and short video platforms such as Douyin have "great potential" in the knowledge learning level of the elderly.
In this regard, Wu Xiaolan suggested that short video platforms such as Douyin should further improve the quality and richness of content, integrate the elderly's Internet use skills, anti-fraud/anti-addiction reminders, health and wellness knowledge and other content into the daily leisure of the elderly, and subtly help the elderly improve their network literacy and enhance the sense of harvest and happiness of the elderly.
"Although in the actual process, individual phenomena such as excessive use of the Internet by the elderly will be encountered, the overall situation is good. We should have a positive attitude and avoid ignoring the 'benefits' brought by subjective amplification of the 'drawbacks' of the Internet and short videos, so as to better play the positive role of the Internet and short videos and help the realization of healthy aging and active aging. Zhai Zhenwu concluded.