Where are the elderly going amid the flow of technology?

October 1st is chosen by the United Nations as the International Day of Older Persons. Removing technological barriers for older people is a top priority for many platforms in the digital age.

Every Friday evening, Ms. Vu Thi Hong (62 years old, Hanoi) spends time video calling her son who lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City. Using the phone in particular and technology in general used to be a "nightmare" for Ms. Hong when operations that seemed simple for young people such as logging in, registering an account, sending pictures... made Ms. Hong confused. When she first started using a smartphone, Ms. Hong often asked her eldest son to call her when needed, but now, having become more familiar with using the phone and Zalo, she can be more independent in communication.

Ms. Hong shared: “I often use Zalo to talk to my son who is far away, even making video calls. Before, I didn’t know how to use it, so I just called him normally, which was both expensive and I couldn’t see his face. Since my son went to study abroad and moved to Ho Chi Minh City, I realized how convenient it is to call him on the phone.”

Although Zalo is easy to use, Ms. Hong still encounters confusion in many situations such as not knowing where to adjust the volume, sometimes when the Wi-Fi signal is lost or 4G is malfunctioning, she also fumbles around not knowing how to handle it. Being over 60 years old, her hearing has decreased, many times when making a video call, Ms. Hong has to put her headphones to the phone to hear clearly. "When video calling her child, many times she can't see her child's face because she has to put her ear to the screen to listen to the call," Ms. Hong laughs.

Seemingly simple features on the phone such as listening, calling, texting... are still barriers for many elderly people.

According to the General Statistics Office, by 2025, Vietnam will have about 14.2 million people over 60 years old. This number is forecast to increase to 18 million people by 2030. In the context of digital transformation becoming an inevitable trend and an important goal of the country, popularizing digital knowledge for the entire population plays an important role, helping to narrow the digital gap, improve national competitiveness and ensure that no one is left behind in this process.

The "Digital Literacy for All" movement was launched by General Secretary To Lam, Head of the Central Steering Committee on Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation with the goal of helping people grasp and master technology, thereby participating more deeply in the digital economy and digital society.

Improving the technology use ability of the elderly is an important goal of digital transformation.

To promote the strength and effectiveness of the "Digital Literacy" movement, the elderly are the subjects that need attention and digital capacity development. Technological utilities can support the elderly in many different aspects, from improving the quality of relationships in life through effective texting and calling to accessing medical information and health care.

In particular, possessing digital capacity and the ability to use technology is also a way to help the elderly limit the situation of being scammed in cyberspace. According to Ho Chi Minh City Police, the elderly are the target of many online scammers because of limited access to information and low understanding of technology.

To improve the ability of the elderly to use technology, in addition to educational activities and raising awareness, companies and technology service providers also need to pay attention to the needs of the elderly when designing technology products. As the leading messaging application in Vietnam, Zalo has brought technology into the lives of the elderly with many useful features.

Bridging the technology gap for seniors

It is estimated that nearly 1 million people over 60 years old are using the Zalo platform regularly every month. For people like Ms. Hong, Zalo is not only a tool to access information, but also opens up a spiritual space where Ms. Hong can connect with relatives and friends proactively and easily.

Technology has crept into the lives of seniors.

While technology platforms often focus on the experience of young users, the elderly are sometimes “forgotten” on the digital journey. Optimizing communication support for older users is Zalo’s outstanding strength compared to other messaging platforms.

With features such as changing the font size to large to help the elderly read messages easily, converting voice messages to text messages, Zalo shows its understanding of elderly users, solving obstacles in accessing technology. In addition, not having to create a complicated account when logging into Zalo or designing experiences and easy-to-use operations are also features that make elderly users favor Zalo.

According to the report "The Connected Consumer" Q4/2024 published by Decision Lab, Zalo is the most favorite platform among all 3 user generation groups: Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z, especially with Gen X users - those born between 1965-1980. Survey data shows that 68% of Gen X users love to use Zalo for daily messaging, while the rate of using Facebook and Messenger for messaging in Gen X group is only 14% and 12% respectively.

Technology is not only the "privilege" of young people, AI - Artificial Intelligence is not only a trendy playground of Gen Y and Gen Z. In many countries around the world, technology in general and AI have penetrated the lives of the elderly, helping them access health indicators through mobile applications, increasing access to press information, or helping them connect with family, friends and relatives more easily and quickly.

By bringing AI features into the daily lives of Vietnamese users, Zalo demonstrates its ability to master technology, affirming its pioneering position in investment and research to serve users, so that artificial intelligence is not a distant concept but has many practical applications in life.

More importantly, Zalo understands that for the country to thrive in the technological era, it needs to ensure that no one is left behind. When each citizen masters technology, society will move faster on the path to modernization.

Source: https://znews.vn/nguoi-cao-tuoi-ve-dau-giua-dong-chay-cong-nghe-post1589834.html