More difficult to quit than young people?

Shopping and entertainment by... phone

Cooking, watching TV or going to bed, Mrs. Ha Thanh Thuy in Nam Dinh still cannot do without her mobile phone. She shows off her cool linen crop top that is so cheap to wear at home, only about 70 thousand VND, while if it were to be tailored, it would cost several hundred thousand VND.

Watching livestreams too much becomes "addictive".

The phone screen was a livestream of an online clothing sale account with hundreds of followers. Ms. Thuy lay on the chair, eyes half-closed, the phone on the bedside table, occasionally the phone rang "Sisters, close the order now with surprisingly low prices", Ms. Thuy was startled awake.

"I buy household items regularly. Some months in a row, 5-6 times," said Ms. Thuy.

Unlike Mrs. Thuy, Mr. Cuong, the husband of Mrs. Phan Thi Lan in Ha Nam, is not addicted to online shopping on Facebook, but is "addicted" to all the video content on Facebook Watch and YouTube. He almost completely gave up the TV to focus his eyes on the 6.1-inch phone screen, just enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

"He didn't look after me, just kept his head down on his phone. I had to call him over and over again while eating before he could sit down to eat," Mrs. Lan was upset.

It is certain that social media is no longer the privilege of the young. More and more seniors are online. They take selfies, post their feelings on their personal pages, express their feelings, and write comments on their friends' posts skillfully. Even connecting online with their children and grandchildren is more common than communicating directly.

Not all seniors know the two-sided nature of social media.

Five years ago, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh in Bac Ninh bought her mother a smartphone and installed wifi at home. "It's very convenient, mother and child meet every day, exchange a lot without spending much money. But when my mother became proficient with the phone and had a social network account, she liked to go online more and became addicted, " she shared.

Ms. Tran Thi Hoa, Ms. Hanh's mother, does not have just one phone. She uses two smartphones for her livestream singing sessions.

"One for livestreaming and one for playing music," she said, explaining the tasks of each phone.

At the age of 65, Ms. Hoa is proficient in using social networks like Facebook and Zalo. She participates in many groups, including a group that sings to each other every night via livestream.

"I'm old. I stay home to look after my grandchildren and don't go anywhere. At night, I go online to sing or cheer for this team or that team," said Mrs. Hoa.

Older people have more difficulty quitting the Internet than young people.

In 2018, the US market research company eMarketer announced that Facebook was gradually losing its appeal to young people, while the world's largest social network was welcoming a wave of users over 55 years old.

Simply put, the elderly have more time, they need to connect with friends, share stories in life. Especially now, multi-generational families are decreasing, children tend to get married and live separately. Not only to ease loneliness, many elderly people find ways to make technology more interesting and meaningful.

The internet helps make long-distance connections closer, but it is also proving to be a loss of direct connection between people. "It is clear that children connect online with their parents and grandparents more than they visit them in person, " said psychologist Le Thi Tinh Tuyet.

So now every family is not only young people focused on their phones, but also has additional members: grandparents, senior online citizens.

Psychologist Le Thi Tinh Tuyet warns that when spending too much time on the Internet, the elderly are more likely to suffer from insomnia, poor health, poor hearing, and laziness to connect with reality... More importantly, the elderly are very likely to believe in advertisements and are willing to spend money on items that do not match their value.

Ms. Ha Thanh Thuy in Nam Dinh still watches livestream sales for 8 hours a day, charging her phone while watching. No one needs to teach the retired teacher how to shop online, she learned and knew how to contact and order delivery herself, just as proficiently as her children and grandchildren.

The delivery man in the commune where Ms. Thuy lives has become a regular customer. She admits that there have been times when the goods she received were different from the pictures posted, leaving her with bitter feelings.

"If you don't like it, I'll pay the shipping fee." Ms. Thuy doesn't mind spending a few dozen dollars on shipping.

"Old people are often a bit conservative. They think they have enough life skills, so when their children and grandchildren analyze this and tell them what they shouldn't do, they hide it from them. They are at risk of being financially scammed," the analyst said.

Minh Khang (VOV2)

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