A staff member helps senior citizens without health codes on their mobile phones to get to their train through a "green passage" at the railway station in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, in October, 2020. [Photo by Chen Dongxia/For China Daily]
The rapid development of internet and mobile technology has increasingly changed people's lives. For the majority of people, a smartphone brings convenience, but for many seniors who haven't learned the related skills, they are inevitably left behind.
The issue appears to have become particularly apparent during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province recently issued a plan aimed at helping seniors better cope with the difficulties caused by the utilization of smart technologies.
The plan listed 55 actions of nine kinds to help remove technological barriers to entry for seniors in relevant sectors like emergencies, transportation, medical treatment, consumption, dealing with individual affairs, sports and tourism, as well as property and information security.
According to the plan, all medical institutions are required to open green channels for seniors to receive medical treatment. A certain percentage of on-site appointments will be provided. Special medical services will also be available for seniors aged over 80 who are not accompanied by relatives.
In addition, transportation institutions, including airports, metro stations, and railway stations, should retain manual service windows for seniors who don't know how to operate digital screens. They should also be allowed to use cash, paper tickets, and IDs to receive relevant services.
The government will also provide residential communities with financial support to run classes to teach seniors how to use digital services on smartphones. Officials said about 50,000 seniors will receive such classes for free by the end of November.
The classes are also expected to help quell some seniors' fears about using the internet, especially security issues and concerns that logging on will generate sky-high bills, according to officials.
