With the popularization of China's mobile Internet, the scale of elderly netizens is becoming more and more huge, waking up early and waking up to brush the circle of friends, watching short videos for hours, staying up until two or three o'clock in the middle of the night just to catch up on dramas...... At the same time, problems such as the elderly being addicted to the Internet, believing Internet rumors, and being induced to give tips appear from time to time. More and more people are aware that digital technology is suitable for the elderly, not only to make it easy for the elderly to use the Internet, but also to create a clear and safe Internet environment for the elderly.
These elderly people "never leave the machine"
"I've heard of 'Internet addicted teenagers', but I didn't expect there to be 'Internet addicted old people'." Wang Yifan, a citizen of Shenzhen, couldn't believe that his 65-year-old mother was addicted to the Internet, until the problem became serious - his mother never left her hands and eyes, and spent at least seven or eight hours a day surfing the Internet. What made him laugh the most was that two days ago, his mother watched a short video while cooking and boiled the water in the pot dry. When the mother who smelled the smell of burnt smoke in the house walked into the kitchen, the first thing she thought of was not to turn off the fire, but to take a picture of the bottom of the black pot and upload it to Moments.
Wang Yifan reminded his mother not to be overly addicted to the Internet, but the answer she got was: "I don't have any friends in Shenzhen, how boring is it if I don't play with my mobile phone?" ”
Also having a headache for the elderly to be addicted to the Internet is Cangzhou citizen Song Min. Not long ago, she received a massage chair from the courier, a brand copycat, with rough workmanship, which was originally bought by her father from a live broadcast room, and the price was 19,999 yuan. The anchor's gimmick of selling goods obviously defies common sense: "This massage chair specializes in osteoporosis." ”
"This is not the first time my father has been induced to consume, and there are still stacks of health care products purchased online in the storage room, the price is often thousands of yuan, and there is no certification from the quality inspection department. I once reminded my father to spend rationally, but he said that I was not filial and that he was ...... spending money," Song Min said.
According to the survey, in March 2024, there will be about 320 million mobile Internet users over the age of 50, who use the mobile Internet for more than 130 hours and more than 2,600 times a month, which means that these "silver-haired people" spend more than 4 hours a day on average. In recent years, news such as "the elderly stayed up late on the Internet and was hospitalized with a sudden cerebral infarction" and "mother-in-law chasing short dramas and crazy recharge" have frequently appeared in the media.
What's more, some software platforms take advantage of the characteristics of the elderly, such as lack of network knowledge and weak awareness of prevention, to collect personal information in violation of regulations and excessively ask for mobile phone permissions. According to reports, more than 70% of mobile phone apps will obtain user privacy permissions without necessity. Elderly users lack the ability to discern information, easily acquiesce to all the requests made by mobile phone software, and are completely unaware of the platform's collection of information that violates individual rights, and even fall into online scams and suffer heavy losses.
Recently, the People's Procuratorate of Yunyang County, Chongqing Municipality handled a criminal case of infringing on citizens' personal information against the elderly. A group of "salesmen" claiming to be a well-known shopping platform appeared near some farmers' markets and residential areas in Yunyang County, saying that consumers only need to use their mobile phone numbers to register the company's official APP to receive daily necessities for free. They sent the deceived phone number to their accomplices, registered on various social networking sites, and asked the elderly for personal information such as names and dates of birth in various names, and after completing the registration, they got cash rebates or commissions from relevant online platforms, and cashed out more than 190,000 yuan in half a year.
In the interview, the reporter also found that in the face of the platform's mandatory collection of personal information, the vast majority of the elderly have not formed enough awareness of the protection of their rights and interests, and are often confused about whether personal data will be collected, by whom, and what it will be used for.
"Anti-addiction" is a top priority
Why are there more and more "Internet addicted elderly people"? The reporter interviewed several elderly people who love to play with mobile phones in several communities in Beijing, and most of them said that the life of the elderly is relatively monotonous, and the Internet is a good pastime to find spiritual sustenance from it.
"Brush up on short videos, watch online articles, and the day will pass quickly." Wang Yuping, a retired worker living in Beijing's Haidian District, calls herself an "old networm." She showed reporters her mobile phone interface, which has hundreds of mobile phone applications, most of which are social networking, e-commerce and video software. "The kids are busy at work and have little time to spend with me, and the mobile phone is a good entertainment tool. If I wasn't allowed to play with my phone, I really don't know how to pass the day. Wang Yuping said.
Chen Yulu, a 62-year-old resident of Beijing's Dongcheng District, is a square dance enthusiast who shares short videos of dancing online every day, sometimes live-streamed. Chen Yulu confessed that after retiring two years ago, she felt very uncomfortable, and there was always a "sense of loneliness" and "disconnection", and through online socialization, she found a "sense of belonging" again. "My work is very popular, every time I see likes and message reminders popping up on my phone, I am very excited, and in order not to disappoint fans, every message is carefully replied."
After retirement, the elderly have a lot of free time and spend a lot of time alone, and they can't help but feel empty and lonely. Children are busy with work, lack of companionship, and lack of community activities, which will increase their dependence on the Internet.
This dependence is likely to be further amplified in the age of artificial intelligence and algorithms. "The APP platform uses big data algorithms and other technologies to often push interesting content to the elderly, and give time incentives and certain rewards. Over time, the elderly will become addicted to the 'information cocoon'. Zhang Yinghua, an associate researcher at the Institute of Social Development Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that to help the elderly learn to use the Internet safely, it is not only necessary to enhance the Internet application for the elderly and barrier-free functions, but also to enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the elderly and prevent the elderly from becoming addicted to mobile phones.
Develop cybersecurity awareness
To make the online life of the "silver-haired" safer and clearer, it is necessary to form a joint force and work for a long time.
Open the WeChat "Silver Guardian Assistant" applet, you can see three functional modules: "Risk Prevention Station", "Risk Knowledge Station" and "Silver Service Station". This mini program can not only provide anti-fraud tips for the elderly, but also popularize online security knowledge through case displays, short video explanations, and 24-hour online Q&A with the "silver-haired grandma" intelligent AI robot.
"We have created the "Silver Hair Guardian Safety Course", including preventing pension fraud, fake online investment and financial management, swiping orders and part-time jobs, renting and selling bank cards, etc., and also carried out offline courses in more than 400 communities in 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country to send safety knowledge to elderly netizens across the country." Wang Nan, head of operations at Tencent's SSV Silver Technology Lab, believes that online platforms have an obligation to strengthen online education and training for elderly users, teaching them to set up security measures, identify online scams, and protect personal information.
The relevant state departments also need to speed up the process of adapting digital technology to the elderly, clear up the chaos in the industry, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of elderly netizens. In recent years, the state has successively promulgated the "General Design Specifications for Internet Websites for the Elderly", "Provisions on the Management of Internet Information Service Algorithm Recommendations", and "Notice on Further Improving the Implementation of Special Actions for the Elderly and Barrier-free Transformation of Internet Applications", clearly proposing to provide intelligent services for the elderly in accordance with relevant national regulations, and to carry out monitoring, identification, and disposal of information related to telecommunications network fraud in accordance with the law.
Not long ago, Zhao Zhiguo, spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that in the past year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has focused on strengthening the governance of the whole process and chain of APP, increasing the pass rate of APP sampling inspection in app stores by 20%, continuing to promote the prevention and governance of telecommunication network fraud, intercepting nearly 5 billion fraudulent calls and text messages, and verifying and disposing of more than 200 million high-risk Internet accounts involved in fraud.
"In the next step, we will carry out the upgrade of digital technology for the elderly 2.0, promote a number of new functions for the elderly and the disabled, promote the inclusive sharing of digital technology for the elderly, and actively use innovative technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence models to help agile, accurate and efficient supervision, continue to improve the anti-harassment service capacity of 'Do Not Disturb Calls', increase the prevention and governance of telecommunication network fraud, continue to deepen the anti-fraud technical defense system, and effectively safeguard the property safety of the people." Zhao Zhiguo said.
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
Review: Li Chenxue
Braided hair: Ma Kai
Material arrangement: Shi Jiaojiao, Lu Xinwei
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