While the elderly have often been touted as the slowest to adapt to digital technology, Dr Natalie Pang (NUS Department of Communications and New Media) points out in ‘Seniors are spending too much time on their smartphones which can spell trouble’ (Channel News Asia, 2021) that there are many senior citizens who are not averse to technology. During the recent wave of COVID-19, many seniors picked up the knowledge on how to use technology to stay connected to their loved ones.

The 2020 IMDA Annual Survey on Infocomm Usage reported that smartphone use rose sharply from 41 to 60 percent from 2019 to 2020 for residents aged 75 and over. This was accompanied by a rise in internet usage for residents in the same age group.

According to Dr Pang, seniors typically use their smartphones to watch drama series, follow YouTube channels, play games, and access messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and WeChat. Furthermore, with IMDA’s expanded outreach efforts and increase in resources to get seniors to become more tech-savvy, this trend of increased smartphone usage is expected to continue on an upward slope.

However, Dr Pang stresses that the elderly are often more vulnerable to online scams. In a 2020 survey, the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) found that the elderly had generally lower awareness and adoption of practices to protect them against such scams, like using strong passwords and enabling two-factor authentication. This was corroborated by the sharp increase of money cheated from the elderly – from $4,700 in 2017 to $88,000 in 2018.

One suggestion to combat this growing threat of elderly falling prey to online scams would be to make conversations about scams a daily activity among families and friends. However, Dr Pang also notes that the risk of too much dependency on smartphones is something that cannot be dealt with as easily.

Just like youths, seniors can also become caught up with mobile games, online videos, and social media. However, the true threat lies in how seniors may end up replacing important in-person social interactions and physical activity with time on their smartphones.

Dr Pang explains that when teaching the elderly about the different applications and social media platforms that they may use, digital mindfulness is another important thing they need to be made aware of. Studies have shown that smartphone use can worsen seniors’ existing emotional and mental health, especially when seniors turn to smartphones as a quick remedy to loneliness and anxiety. Furthermore, although one can curb this problem in children by setting time limits, one cannot do the same for seniors. The best method to resolve this would be for loved ones to talk to seniors who may be facing this problem about the dangers of excessive smartphone usage. One topic that these conversations could be about is how algorithms constantly work to recommend videos, which may end up encouraging an unhealthy amount of content consumption.

Read the article here.