Solving an age-old problem

According to a recent report in The Beijing News, at least 157 million Chinese people aged 60 or above have never had access to the internet.

The internet has become an indispensable tool in contemporary society. Every single individual has the right to use it, but not everyone knows how to. It was not until the outbreak of the pandemic that people realized just how marginalized seniors had become because of new technology.

Xu Yinzhen, 78, lives on a different floor, but in the same building, as two of her daughters in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. She describes her life as "easy and satisfying".

In 2014, Xu received a secondhand iPhone from her grandson. Living in an era when landline phones descending into obsolescence, her two daughters helped her catch up with the mobile trend and got her used to contacting people with her smartphone.

After the pandemic, Xu soon came to understand the importance of the health QR code system and how much it relates to her everyday life. "It is a pass that allows me to enter the market, so I can buy meat and vegetables and cook a nice meal for us all to enjoy," she says.

Yuan Fubao, an old friend of Xu, however, is living in a very different world.

On Jan 14, Xu visited 86-year-old Yuan, who lives alone in a nearby village called Zhonglian.

According to Xu, Yuan's children, in search of a higher income, are working away in a bigger city. Every day, Yuan cooks herself congee for breakfast and dinner, and the countryside commission would charge her three yuan ($0.46) to have a lunchtime meal delivered to her door.

Xu found that, as there are only about three households left in the village, and Yuan has no smartphone or health code, she has nowhere to go and nobody to talk with. Sunbathing is Yuan's only way to relax and kill time.

In a relieved tone, Xu reveals that Yuan's children will collect their mother and take her to the city to celebrate Chinese New Year together, and the countryside commission will issue a certificate to act as Yuan's pass.

"The elderly can be really lonely and lost without families around," Xu says. "It's heartbreaking to just imagine Yuan's daily life. She's experiencing social isolation in the digital world, especially during the pandemic."

To allow seniors to continue enjoying life throughout this challenging period, government departments have introduced policies that bring back a world when the internet and smartphones were not a necessity.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, recently issued a plan aimed at helping the elderly to better cope with the difficulties caused by the utilization of smart technologies. That was followed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Cultural Heritage Administration's decision to help remove technological barriers to entry for the elderly in their relevant sectors.