Hello again, dear readers. We believe that by now you already know why we made this blog. The issue of digital connectivity of elderly people is important to explore in today’s world that is becoming more and more digitalised.
We believe that everyone should have access to vital online services, but unfortunately, senior citizens tend to fall behind due to lack of skills or distrust in modern technology. For more information about this growing problem, we suggest reading our welcome post which provides current data and outlines this ongoing issue.
We will use this section of the blog to tell you a little bit about ourselves and what inspired us to create this blog and keep you updated about news regarding senior citizens using digital technology.
We are a group of friends who really love their grandparents. Yes, it can be all boiled down to our love for our ageing grandparents. Being the good grandkids that we are, we want the best for our elderly family members and we believe that increasing the access to digital technology would greatly improve their lives.
You’d probably relate with the story we’re going tell.
It’s Christmas time and you’re at your grandparents’ home opening presents. Your mum or dad gives a carefully wrapped present to your grandpa/grandma containing a smartphone. If you were the recipient, you’d have excitedly opened it and started exploring the menu of your new phone. Instead, your grandparent looks puzzled and exclaims something like “I’m too old for that, you should return it”.
Sounds familiar? Not surprisingly, we have all witnessed something similar in our lives. At least once, but probably more than once, our grandparents have said that they disliked modern technology and have refused to use a computer or a smartphone.
Sure, that’s not always the case, some of our grandparents are proud of how tech-savvy they are, but it happens often enough to inspire us to write a whole blog about it.
We understand that elderly people are less inclined to change their ways and embrace new inventions, but the problem is that they have to. European governments always boast about digitalising this or that service, yet many fail to see how this impacts people who don’t use modern technology.
It’s no longer a choice to be online, it’s a necessity. This is why we are doing our best to encourage our family members to use computers and smartphones and to teach them the necessary skills for surviving in today’s digital world.
Everyone can do their part and spend time with their loved ones explaining how everything works, so they can at least access vital services. Still, not everyone is able to do that which is why we decided to make a blog promoting digital connectivity and showing ongoing European projects which help senior citizens use modern devices and go online.
We hope that by doing this, we can help elderly people all across Europe bridge the generational gap and become involved members in the political and social lives of their country.
At the same time, we also hope to reach software developers and ask them to not disregard the needs of elderly people and create websites and apps that could be used just as easily by someone in their 20’s and someone in their late 60’s.
Thank you for supporting our blog! We hope that together we can raise awareness on the issue of digital technology access and consequently help senior citizens navigate their daily lives better.