"Quickly help me see, why is the phone black screen?" "I've heard from neighbors that ordering food online is now cheaper than buying it in store, is it true?" "I got up at six o'clock in the morning and ran to the hospital, why can't I hang up?" ...... In recent years, with the rapid development of digital technology, many elderly people have used electronic products such as smartphones and tablets. However, these novelties also create an invisible "digital divide" in front of the elderly.
Since 2021, Beijing Open University has launched the "Millions of Wisdom to Help the Elderly Public Welfare Action", convening branch teachers, social volunteers, experts in the field, etc. to carry out teaching activities through a combination of online and offline forms, starting from the urgent problems faced by the elderly on a daily basis, helping them better integrate into modern life, and has benefited 790,000 elderly people in Beijing.
Elderly residents of the community carefully read the "I'll teach you how to use your mobile phone" textbook
status quo
Mobile apps have mostly become "decorations"
"But I'm looking forward to you!" On the first day of the new year, Mr. Mo, a 78-year-old citizen, and his wife welcomed their daughter's family of three, welcomed them into the door, briefly greeted them, Mr. Mo took out his mobile phone and handed it to his little granddaughter - "Baby help me see, the mobile phone has been carded recently, is there something wrong?" ”
Without waiting for his granddaughter to take the phone, Mr. Mo put on reading glasses and hurriedly demonstrated it himself: click on an application at will, it takes at least 10 seconds to enter, and some applications flash back to the home page of the phone with a black screen before entering.
"It should be that there is not enough memory, I will clean up the 'garbage' for your phone." This little thing is difficult for the young man, the granddaughter took the phone while talking, clicked a few times on the screen, and swiped up and down a few times, and within five minutes, the phone was smooth again.
"Have 'junk' in your phone too?" Hearing the new words, the old man pushed his reading glasses, his eyes full of curiosity.
For the next half an hour, grandfather and grandson sat on the sofa, tinkering with the "little square" in their hands, and the granddaughter spoke patiently, and Mr. Mo listened with relish. "I really envy you young people, dexterous, I am old, I can't remember so many steps." After a vivid "mobile phone practice class", Mr. Mo waved his hand, smiled and sighed, every time he saved a lot of mobile phone problems, just waiting for young people to come to solve it, "Sometimes I see that you are busy, and I am a little embarrassed, I am afraid of troubleing you." ”
Mr. Mo's voice is also the epitome of countless elderly people in the digital age.
The reporter's interview found that although most of the elderly use smart devices, the experience is not "smart" - hospitals promote online registration, the elderly who cannot operate can only go to the hospital site to register as usual, young people move their fingers, but they have to get up several hours early; Online ordering is convenient and affordable, but most elderly people do not use takeaway software, and can only go to the store to buy at the original price; Some elderly people do not know how to watch videos and listen to music with their mobile phones, so they are forced to give up their colorful retirement life...
In the face of complex mobile phone functions, the old people themselves can not understand, young people teach can not remember once, these obstacles make them prohibitive to explore new mobile phone functions, in addition to calling, sending WeChat, brushing short videos and other simple operations, the rest of the functions will hardly be used, children help download functional applications have mostly become "decorations".
change
Set up a "mobile phone training course" at your doorstep
At the weekly residents' tea party in Shichahai Street, Xicheng District, "mobile phones" became the theme of residents' chats after tea. "After I retired, my child bought me a smartphone." Jiang Min, a resident in his 60s, is showing off his new phone with neighbors, and colorful apps are swiping across his fingertips, dazzling the elderly. "There are so many functions, but apart from calling and sending WeChat, I have hardly used anything else." Jiang Min envied young people, "They can get a car and buy vegetables with just a few pokes on the screen, and I also want to learn!" ”
After many contacts, "mobile phone experts" were invited from universities - teachers from Beijing Open University to enter the community and set up "mobile phone training courses" at the doorsteps of residents.
Teachers from Beijing Open University explain the use of smartphones to the elderly in the community
Coming to the residents' tea party again, many elderly residents have discovered new changes: the tea party has moved from a small activity room in the community residents' activity center to a large conference room that can accommodate nearly 100 people, and a group of young people in blue vests walked to the residents, bringing them a feast of digital knowledge.
"Hello uncle and aunt, let's not rush to get a notebook first, open a mobile phone memo with me, I will teach you to remember things without pen and paper!" Cao Kai, a teacher at Beijing Open University, went straight to the point and led the elderly to unlock a basic function of smartphones. The "students" put on reading glasses and learned in a similar way.
Teachers from Beijing Open University explain the use of smartphones to the elderly in the community
"Before class, I chatted with several uncles and aunts, and found that everyone likes to sing, dance, and travel, so today I will teach you how to take beautiful photos and share our beautiful elderly life with more people." Cao Kai walked from the audience to the old people, teaching them hand-in-hand how to call up the nine-square grid in the camera, reference lines, as well as focus zoom, zoom in and out... With the blessing of a series of new features, the photos taken by the old people are much clearer.
"Young man, how do you adjust the brightness?" "How can the picture I took be darker than his?" "Can you teach me how to retouch drawings?" ...... Faced with questions from all directions, Cao Kai and his colleagues patiently answered them over and over again. He said that teaching the elderly to learn is urgent, and they have to break each step and knead it many times before they can fully master it. "With patience and love, we will impart professional knowledge and help the elderly to cross the 'digital divide' step by step."
After a vivid mobile phone training session, many elderly trainees felt overwhelmed and proposed to the street: "Welcome these young people to come often!" ”
After class, they also spontaneously organized a mobile phone learning group to review and review "knowledge points". "When you are old, it is easy to forget things, and you have to do it over and over again to remember." Jiang Min volunteered to be the group leader, she took screenshots of the key operations step by step, used the retouching software learned in class to add annotations to the pictures, and printed them into a book and distributed them to the group members. "Sharing my experience with my neighbors is also an exercise for me." Jiang Min said with a smile, not feeling troublesome at all, but enjoying it.
Bai Xinrui, head of Beijing Open University for Elderly Education, introduced that as the education base of Beijing's aging population and market conditions, Beijing Open University has launched the "Millions of Wisdom to Help the Elderly Public Welfare Action" in the past two years, and has entered more than 500 communities and institutions for the elderly, going deep into the doorsteps of residents to teach the most practical mobile phone skills that the elderly urgently need every day. At the same time, the school has also developed 100 episodes of online video course resources to provide lifelong learning services for more elderly people.
effect
Wisdom to help the elderly covers 16 districts of the city
As more and more elderly people participate in the team of mobile phone learning, the problem of imbalance between supply and demand has gradually become prominent - "Uncles and aunts have a particularly strong thirst for knowledge, often ask questions through WeChat and phone after class, as teachers will of course do their best to help them, but sometimes they feel overwhelmed." Cao Kai bluntly said that some mobile phone problems that need to be solved urgently, such as black screen of death, payment errors, lag cleaning, etc., cannot be solved in time by relying on several weekly courses and online Q&A.
To truly meet the daily needs of elderly residents, it is necessary to go deeper to them.
Introducing social forces and recruiting public welfare volunteers is a brilliant trick come up with by Beijing Open University. In recent years, the school has cooperated with Lianjia Shell Foundation, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Beijing Sunset Zaichen Social Work Service Center, etc., and teachers have provided teaching and training for store staff, trained them to become public welfare volunteers, and encouraged them to help the elderly improve their smartphone application capabilities and solve practical problems after work.
Relying on hundreds of stores, one by one digital "supply stations" for the elderly have been established.
"Hello, can you teach me how to register online?" In the early morning, Wang Lun, a 75-year-old resident living in the Tiantongyuan community in Changping District, walked into the chain store downstairs of the community on crutches. It happened that Wu Shuping, the person in charge of the Beijing Lianjia Public Welfare Foundation, toured the store, and she hurriedly helped the old man to the sofa and asked him to sit down and catch his breath.
Wang Lun said that in the past two days of cooling down, the "old cold leg" has committed a crime, and wants to go to the hospital to prescribe some medicine, "The children are very busy with work, I don't want to alarm them this big deal, take advantage of the effort of buying vegetables to ask, can you teach me online registration?" Wu Shuping didn't say a word, took Wang Lun's mobile phone, started from the search appointment registration mini program, and demonstrated each step of online registration in detail. The old man also learned quite quickly, and under the patient guidance of Wu Shuping, he smoothly hung up the outpatient number that afternoon.
"Thanks to your help, learn to register with your mobile phone, and you won't have to go to the hospital to queue up in the future, it's really convenient, thank you!" Before leaving, Wang Lun thanked him again and again. Wu Shuping took out a textbook called "I'll teach you to use a mobile phone" and gave it to the elderly, opened the inner page, and introduced the mobile phone knowledge such as WeChat use, space cleaning, living payment, appointment registration, route navigation, and ordering takeaway, and also cooperated with bold text and multiple pictures.
"I'll teach you how to use your phone" textbook
"Sometimes our little contribution can help the elderly solve big problems, and everyone is willing to do such a public welfare." Wu Shuping said that Lianjia Shell Public Welfare Foundation has cooperated with Beijing Open University since 2022, and schools and enterprises have joined hands to serve elderly residents in the community. Relying on offline stores, Lianjia has also held an offline class of "I will teach you to use your mobile phone", which has served nearly 700 communities.
With the blossoming of mobile phone training courses and digital "supply stations", the "Millions of Wisdom to Help the Elderly Public Welfare Action" has successively covered 16 districts of the city, and more and more elderly people feel the fun of mobile phone learning. "Because if we don't study, we will be eliminated by society, so we are eager to learn, and we hope to enjoy our old age with vitality and vitality." Jiang Min posted his learning experience in the latest circle of friends, and the smiles of the old people in the photo bloomed like flowers.
(Original title: Build a digital "supply station" at the doorstep of the house, so that the elderly no longer have difficulties with mobile phones)
Source: Beijing Daily client intern reporter He Rui
Process Editor: U099
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