Many things now use smart devices. What should the elderly do?

At noon on March 3, representatives of the Sichuan delegation attending the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress set off from Chengdu and headed to Beijing to attend the grand meeting. As a member of the Sichuan delegation, He Xuebin, a representative of the National People's Congress and a famous Chinese painter from Meishan, went to Beijing to participate in the meeting with the "Suggestions on Implementing Favorable Policies for Special Groups with Intelligent Backgrounds".

"As of the end of 2019, my country's population aged 60 and above accounted for 18.1%, but only about 60 million of them were online. This means that there are close to 200 million elderly people who may become the core of an intelligent society. 'Outsiders.'" He Xuebin, a representative of the National People's Congress, said that at this year's National Two Sessions, his suggestion is to implement policies that benefit special groups in the context of intelligence.

He Xuebin said that with the rapid development of intelligent Internet services, our daily lives have become more and more convenient. However, for special groups in society, especially the elderly who are very large, the development of intelligent services does not seem to have really changed their lives, but has instead "restricted" their normal lives.

“For example, when I go out to take a taxi but I don’t know how to use the taxi app, I stand on the roadside for a long time and can’t get a taxi; the smart home appliances my children bought for the elderly have many functions and are complicated to operate, and they basically become decorations at home; During the epidemic, people were 'grounded' because they couldn't scan the health code; especially when going to the hospital, the long queues were not as fast as young people making online appointments."

He Xuebin introduced, "Statistical Report on China's Internet Development". It shows that as of March 2020, the number of netizens in my country reached 904 million, of which only 6.7% were netizens aged 60 and above. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, as of the end of 2019, the proportion of my country’s population aged 60 and above was as high as 18.1%. This means that nearly 200 million elderly people have become "outsiders" in the intelligent society because they cannot keep up with the pace of Internet development.

He Xuebin said that on November 24, 2020, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Notice on the Implementation Plan for Effectively Solving the Difficulties in Using Intelligent Technology for the Elderly", starting from the top-level design level to solve the problem of special groups in the intelligent era. However, the difficulties faced by the elderly in the intelligent era have not been effectively solved.

“In order to implement the country’s favorable policies, truly embody the people-centered development concept, and allow everyone to enjoy a good life in the intelligent era, I have put forward 5 suggestions.” He Xuebin said , First, strengthen policy propaganda. Make full use of convenient information dissemination channels such as web pages, WeChat, and self-media to widely publicize the "Notice on the Implementation Plan for Effectively Solving the Difficulties in Using Smart Technology for the Elderly" to the whole society; in addition, we must promote banners, put up slogans, make phone calls, and visit doors. Promote favorable policies to the elderly through traditional publicity channels such as promotion. Create a good atmosphere in the whole society that pays attention to the special difficulties of the elderly;

The second is to improve policy implementation. All provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country should establish a work promotion mechanism as soon as possible to "solve the difficulties of the elderly in using intelligent technology." Grassroots party committees and governments and departments at all levels must strengthen work coordination and information sharing to form a work pattern of overall planning and promotion, division of labor and responsibility, and linkage between upper and lower levels;

The third is to strengthen policy supervision. All regions and departments, especially medical, civil affairs, industry and commerce, telecommunications, transportation and other functional departments related to people's livelihood, must timely track and analyze the implementation of relevant policies and measures involving their regions and departments, and regularly review the implementation of policies by all sectors of society. Carry out follow-up supervision according to the situation;

The fourth is to improve the policy system according to local conditions. All provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country should use the "Notice on Implementation Plans to Effectively Solve the Difficulties in Using Intelligent Technology for the Elderly" as a blueprint to focus on the basic necessities of life for the elderly such as transportation, medical consultation, shopping and daily business, and adapt measures to local conditions. Develop specific and feasible operating rules and implementation methods. For example, policies have been introduced in the field of medical services, stipulating that all medical service venues must retain manual services and cash payment functions; incentive policies have been introduced for smartphone manufacturing companies to encourage companies to make aging-friendly modifications to smartphones so that the elderly can have better and better health. Operate your smartphone more conveniently and enjoy intelligent services.

The last suggestion is to explore expanding policy coverage.

He Xuebin said that based on the facilitation of intelligent services for the elderly, we will further explore and study favorable policies to adapt to the new era and new situations, and extend the beneficiary groups to special groups such as disabled people, left-behind children, and low-educated groups, and gradually realize intelligentization. Serve the whole society and enjoy it.