Winton Dong dht0620@126.com AS we all know, left-behind children are a common phenomenon in rural China because their parents have to find jobs and make a better living in relatively developed regions while leaving children in poor hometowns. But nowadays, in addition to rural children, elderly people are also left behind, but by a digital divide, manifested by the problems they encounter in the use of apps, smartphones, facial recognition, 5G telecommunication and other modern technologies. Last week, a video footage showing family members of a 94-year-old woman in Guangshui City, Central China’s Hubei Province, carrying her to a local bank to pass a facial recognition test, drew wide attention and public outcry nationwide. The family members were just trying to activate the old woman’s new social security card. With the development of new technologies, many government departments have moved their office procedures and administrative approvals online. For example, almost all authorities require users to place orders and handle services on their smartphones. Such a tendency is even more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, a compulsory check of a health code is now a necessity in many places. But what if an elderly citizen does not have a smartphone or does not know how to operate a smartphone? The elderly woman in Guangshui was unlucky that she had to undergo such an ordeal to go to the bank personally at such an old age. It is also sad to see that new technologies introduced to make our lives more convenient are actually making life more difficult for some people. Nevertheless, the old woman was lucky because she was living together with sons and daughters and still had family members who could carry her to the bank to finish the verification. Guangshui is a small and county-level city in China. But the problem is that the country’s traditional big families with three to four generations living under the same roof is now becoming history in most medium-sized and big Chinese cities, making it difficult or impossible for children to take care of their aged parents. Thanks to China’s rapid social and economic development and improving public health care, life expectancy has greatly increased in the country during the past decades. According to official statistics, by the end of 2019, China had more than 250 million people above the age of 60 and 29 million aged above 80, too large a group for any government to handle. Increasing life expectancy has also created new challenges for China. What should the country do to meet the needs of an aging society, especially under the circumstances of a 5G-enabled and pandemic-shrouded society? Teaching elderly people to learn and use new technologies is seen as a requirement for their integration in society and as an important factor for an active life for the elderly. However, the reality is when people are over 70, their health drastically declines, response starts to slow, and eyesight also weakens. They have to find ways to spend their remaining years in comfort. In my point of view, new technologies should serve the people, not trouble the people. I am happy to know that the bank in Guangshui has responded to public outcry and said their staff have apologized for the ordeal of the old woman. Several days ago, the State Council issued a draft plan to solve the digital divide facing elderly people. While being interviewed, a senior official with the National Commission of Health also said that the commission is thinking of integrating online health codes with public transport cards and senior citizen cards, so as to bring more convenience to aged persons and show more humane care. I really hope that more and more government agencies can take the abilities of elderly and other vulnerable groups into consideration when making rules and regulations in the future. (The author is the editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.) | 