Care professionals say seniors should be provided with classes to ensure they don't get left behind in the internet age. Zhou Wenting reports from Shanghai.

Unlike her grandchildren, who use their mobile phones for everything from ordering food deliveries to booking travel products to reading, Shao Qinglan, 76, only uses her seven-year-old handset for one thing: making calls.

Every time the two generations are together, Shao feels they are living in completely different times and spaces. "They (her grandchildren) rely heavily on smartphones and the internet, which are part of a new age I don't understand," she said.

Many members of the older generation are used to shopping at brick-and-mortar grocery stores and paying with cash. They have been doing this all their lives, so they find it hard to break the habit, the retired teacher from Shanghai added.

"I feel that there is definitely a gap between the digital age and me, but luckily my daughter bridges it by helping me book appointments with the doctor on the phone and shop online," she said. "Sometimes, when my daughter is too busy and does not have time to help me, I find it difficult to arrange an appointment or hail a taxi."

She is not alone. Now that a whole range of services are only accessible via smartphone apps, many seniors feel they have been "left behind" in the internet age.

"A considerable number of elderly people don't use the internet, and some people don't even have a smartphone. Technologies aimed at making life easier are actually marginalizing this group," said Zhang Guoxin, a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, from Jiangxi province.

These services may also marginalize rural residents, most of whom are not tech-savvy, and the situation may widen the wealth gap between rich and poor, said Zhang, who is also principal of the Middle School Attached to Jiangxi Normal University in Nanchang, the provincial capital.

Equal access to services

Some national lawmakers have suggested that the government should require service providers to ensure that seniors have equal access to essential social services by maintaining traditional reservation-and-payment channels at public institutions, such as hospitals and banks.

They have also urged the introduction of simplified versions of apps that will allow seniors to become involved in the mobile internet age and enjoy the benefits of modern technology.

Shao's daughter has offered to buy her a smartphone several times, but she has always refused. "My memory, eyesight and learning ability have all receded with age. I have a real feeling of fear about smartphone apps," Shao said.

Zhang said he knows many retired teachers who have good educational backgrounds but are unable to adapt to internet-based services, where users have to download apps for just about every resource or function.

"Very often they are confused about how to operate the apps, so eventually they give up," he said.

Zhu Guoping, a 60-something NPC deputy from Shanghai, echoed that sentiment.

"How many people among the elderly group can use smartphones to make mobile payments, use taxi-hailing apps, book railway tickets, unlock shared bikes or arrange appointments at hospitals?" said Zhu, who is head of the Shanghai Association of Neighborhood and Village Committees.

"Nowadays, we see that machines have largely replaced human staff to provide services at banks and hospitals. I have suggested (to the NPC) that such institutions should retain manual service windows, because many senior people don't know how to operate the digital screens."

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of last year, about 250 million people in China were age 60 or older, while statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center show that the same age group accounted for just 40 million of the nation's 770 million internet users by the end of 2017.

Some bank employees said machines and online banking services, which customers can easily access from home, will eventually replace manual service windows.

"Now we have these machines at banks, and they can fulfill all the customers' needs, such as opening a new account, requesting a statement or reporting a lost card or a forgotten password. That means they don't need to use service windows," said a bank manager surnamed Cai, who preferred not to name her employer.

She said her bank assigns staff members to each machine to provide help for customers, especially older people.

"I feel that some seniors, especially those who are recently retired, don't dislike the machines and they don't want to be left behind by the times. If they master operating these machines, they will be very happy," she said.

Active learners

The modern world isn't a problem for all seniors, of course; some are active earners who enjoy surfing the internet wave and believe people should be open-minded about new technologies.

Chen Huilan, a retired engineer, is very skillful at smartphone use, despite only acquiring her first handset as a 60th birthday gift from her family.

"Elderly people often underestimate their abilities, as does society as a whole. However, as long as they can read Chinese characters and have normal understanding capacity, smart technology should not become a sort of monster for the 'silver generation'," the 69-year-old said.

Since 2017, Yao Hongbin, a 76-year-old from Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, has been providing seniors in his community with twice-weekly free lessons about accessing a range of services via smartphones.

So far, the classes have discussed how to use WeChat, digital maps, car-hailing services and food-ordering apps.

"In terms of WeChat, we have spoken about how to ignore someone if we don't want to add him or her to our contacts list, how to block specific people's posts and how to transfer money to friends," Yao said.

Cheng Rimin, 78, said the classes have been very helpful. "Seniors usually prefer larger characters (to make reading easier), but before I attended the classes I didn't realize there were several ways to adjust the font size," he said.

Some experts said the government should provide residential communities with financial support to run classes to teach seniors how to use digital services on smartphones.

The classes could also help quell some seniors' fears about using the internet, especially security issues and concerns that logging on will generate sky-high bills, they said.

Zhang, the NPC deputy, suggested businesses should introduce new versions of their apps tailor-made for the elderly to make operating them easier, along with larger font sizes and ensuring that their accounts are connected to their children's so they will always have access to help.

Zhu Lihua, associate professor at Qingdao University's School of Business in Shandong province, said he believes more apps tailored for seniors will be released in the near future as a result of the rapid rate of aging among the country's population.