＂Digital technology senior-friendly＂ helps the elderly embrace a better digital life

Once a year, the autumn wind is strong, and it is the Double Ninth Festival full of chrysanthemums. In the digital age of the Double Ninth Festival, how should we carry forward the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation of filial piety and respect for the elderly? Recently, under the guidance of the relevant policies of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the information and communication industry has taken active actions to carry out a variety of digital technology senior-friendly activities across the country to help the elderly enjoy a more comfortable, convenient and beautiful digital life.

Internet application transformation helps the elderly cross the "digital divide"

"Let’s go to the market!" On the morning of the 20th, the Party and Mass Service Center of Shanghai Ganquan Road Street Community held a special market. Unlike the traditional market, this was a "suitable market for the elderly" to display innovative digital products. Under the organization of the Shanghai Municipal Communications Administration, 14 companies, including basic telecommunications companies and Internet companies, "set up stalls" to display functions such as "barrier-free reading" and "barrier-free payment methods" for the elderly. The event attracted many of the elderly to the scene, and everyone was eager to try it. They couldn’t wait to experience the suitable functions of various apps. The scene was full of joy and laughter.

"I don’t usually use my mobile phone to buy things. I came to participate in the event today and found that it is so convenient to buy medicine and vegetables on my mobile phone. The characters are large and the content is clear." Grandma Zhang, who lives nearby, said with a smile.

The function design of mobile apps is becoming more and more "suitable for the elderly", which is inseparable from the country’s efforts in digital technology senior-friendly. In recent years, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has organized a special project on the transformation of Internet applications senior-friendly across the country, guiding Internet websites and apps commonly used in the lives of the elderly to carry out senior-friendly functions and service upgrades, covering news and information, social communication, life shopping, financial services, travel, medical care and other high-frequency life scenarios for the elderly.

It is reported that a total of 1924 websites and apps have completed senior-friendly transformation, "large font, large icon, high contrast, simple functional interface" of the elder mode makes many of the elderly eye-catching, many specially designed features for the elderly, but also fully consider the needs and characteristics of the elderly. For example, the elderly who cannot read or read can happily chat with their children online by "listening to text messages", the elderly who cannot type can easily shop online through "voice search for goods", the elderly who have difficulty in legs and feet and going out can seek medical treatment online through "telephone consultation", prescribe medicine, and the elderly who cannot understand the operation prompts of the App can complete human-machine verification through "waiting for the countdown", etc. The elderly are more and more handy in the face of various websites and mobile apps. The "digital divide" problem encountered in the face of intelligent technology difficulties is gradually being eliminated by the senior-friendly achievements of digital technology, and the elderly friends can also enjoy digital life.

The new generation of information technology empowers barrier-free information exchange

"Is it true that the video call can display subtitles in this film? I can’t hear the voice of my children on the phone when I’m old, so how can I use this product?" Grandpa Wang consulted China Mobile’s staff. While watching the Double Ninth Festival promotional video in the Beijing Mobile business hall, he saw China Mobile’s senior-friendly smart products and services specially designed for the elderly and their children, so he went to the special hall of senior customer experience with great interest to "immerse" and experience the convenience and intelligence brought by the new generation of information technology.

China Mobile has implemented the relevant policy requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, innovatively launched the "5G New Call" function, integrated and introduced artificial intelligence real-time processing technology, and realized functions such as voice-to-text, real-time translation between Chinese and English, as well as mobile phone screen sharing and children’s remote collaboration during the call. In particular, the voice-to-text function has been upgraded to a "large-character version", which is equivalent to a call with large subtitles. When the elderly use this function to call, they can not only hear clearly, but also "see" and "see clearly" the content of the call, which is very convenient.

The Barrier-free Environment Construction Law, which was officially implemented on September 1, proposes that the state should promote the application of new scientific and technological achievements in the construction of a barrier-free environment, and encourage the research and development, production, application and promotion of barrier-free technologies, products and services. It is understood that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will coordinate and combine the actual development of digital technology senior-friendly, guide the new generation of information technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and big data to deeply empower senior-friendly transformation and upgrading, vigorously support the transformation of relevant scientific and technological achievements, support the integration and application of emerging technologies in voice control, limb control, automatic speech recognition, etc., and help the elderly and other special groups share information development results by building a barrier-free environment with smooth information and comfortable experience.

The senior-friendly service capabilities of basic telecom enterprises have been significantly improved

On the eve of the Double Ninth Festival, the business halls of basic telecommunications companies in various places are lively. Huangshan Xin’an North Road Telecom Business Hall enters the University for the Elderly to teach the elderly how to use Apps, Jiangsu Suzhou Renmin Road Telecom Business Hall enters the community to send scarves to the elderly, Beijing Mobile Caishikou Business Hall plays a promotional video to explain the "one-click access to manual customer service" hotline for the elderly, Guangdong Unicom sets up a preferential area for the Double Ninth Festival in each business hall to launch the exclusive preferential package for the elderly, Daishan Unicom enters Gaoting Home Care Agency to give the elderly free haircuts…

In the digital age, many of the elderly are accustomed to offline services gradually switched to online, and traditional telephone manual customer service is gradually replaced by artificial intelligence customer service. The elderly generally report that they cannot handle business online and cannot understand artificial intelligence customer service prompts. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pays great attention to the "slow crowd" in the "fast era", insists on the parallel innovation of traditional service methods and intelligent services, and guarantees that some of the elderly who do not use the Internet at all can use basic telecommunications services conveniently. According to the reporter’s observation, under the guidance of relevant policies, the three basic telecommunications enterprises have set up special seats for the elderly in the offline business hall, launched the elderly exclusive preferential tariffs, large-character bills, and the elderly over 65 years old "one-click call into manual customer service" and other services, regularly organize service personnel training, and effectively provide the elderly with enthusiastic, sincere and patient high-quality telecommunications services.

In the digital age, the heart-warming story of senior-friendly in the information and communication industry has just begun. Let’s hope that, under the promotion of departments such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, more and more senior-friendly functions and services can meet the elderly, give them "digital wings" for their later life, and share "digital dividends".