Elderly group: Access to Computers Not Enough to Motivate Elderly to Get Online
提供電腦硬件非推動長者學習使用互聯網的關鍵
The elderly are often regarded as one of the minority group in the digital world, as many typically refuse to use the Internet and are hence being excluded due to their poor IT knowledge. The Netmission Elderly group was formed by 4 students from Netmission Ambassadors Programme. The aim was to organize a community project to raise society's awareness of the need to include the elderly in the cyber world.
Last year, we partnered with Cybersenior, a non-government organization in Hong Kong that organizes classes for the elderly to help them learn computer skills. We conducted a survey to study the computer usage behavior of the elderly and their respective reasons for accepting or refusing the digital world. Within 3 months, we collected more than 190 respondent’s answers and conducted a quantitative analysis with the use of Chi-square analysis to study the relationship among answers. Our general findings are as follows:
- Teaching old people to use email functions and search engines will be the most effective way to increase their willingness to use the Internet
- Despite the obstacles faced by the elderly group using computers, they still make use of the information technology regularly.
- Ease of access to computers does not affect motivation to learn.
We have also found that, despite the obstacles faced by the elderly group using computers, many still make use of information technology regularly. In fact, many have expressed the desire to keep abreast with technology, citing that it helps them develop common conversation topics amongst their peers and family. Some of them have also said they would prefer having activities to kill time, as traditional means of entertainment can no longer satisfy some of the old people. So as long as they can manage it, they will give computers a try.
As a result, we found that it is possible to advocate the use of computer and Internet to the elderly group, if certain main concerns are addressed. Hopefully, this can also serve to ease their sense of loneliness, especially if they live alone.
The survey results highlight that poor eyesight is the greatest barrier stopping the elderly from integrating into the digital world. Enlarging the monitor size and display front size may address the issue.
老年組：提供電腦硬件非推動長者學習使用互聯網的關鍵
長 者，往往被視為數碼世界中的少數族群。因為他們普遍上不太熟悉電腦，因而對使用互聯網有所抗拒，故隔離於數碼世界之外。有見及此，四位網域使命青年使者組 成了老年組，並以組織一個社區服務計劃，提高大眾更關注老年人融入數碼世界的需要。去年，我們很高興與「老友網」（一個專門教授老年人使用電腦的公益組 織）成為計劃伙伴，全賴他們的支持，讓我們得以進行一個關於老年人使用電腦的習慣及他們對數碼世界接受與否的問卷調查，並在三個月內收集了多於一百九十份 問卷及進行分析。
在利用Chi-square分析法，我們找到了以下的關係：
- 最容易引導長者嘗試使用互聯網的方法是教他們使用電郵或搜索引擎的功能。
- 即使有使用上的障礙也好，長者只要懂得使用，也會經常去利用資訊科技。
- 容易接觸電腦，反而不是推動長者學習使用互聯網的原因。
我們也發現到，長者也表達了與資訊科技保持接觸的願望，他們認為資訊科技，能成為與家人及朋友之間，日常生活話題的一部份。他們也希望有更多的方式去消磨時間，因為一般的娛樂往往未能符合某些長者的需要。總括而言，只要長者們有能力，就會去嘗試使用電腦。
為此，我們發現到只要掌握到關注的重點，鼓勵長者使用電腦及互聯網是可行的事，亦同時能緩和長者的孤獨感。
在調查中，我們亦發現到一個重點－由於長者視力欠佳，這亦構成他們與數碼世界之間最大的障礙，所以在鼓勵長者使用電腦之先，必須安裝放大顯示的字體軟件作為配套。
