Digital technology penalizes the elderly who are left alone in a technological world within the reach of only the new generations
Digital offers multiple opportunities for everyone but can become a great deficit if you don't know how to use it. This is the case of what happens to the majority of elderly people in Italy, who for some time now have been increasing in number among the new generations. Let's talk about range 65-80 people who have to navigate a world they no longer consider theirs because the speed of technology, instead of helping them, relegates them to a state of weakness. According to the 2023 Istat report, despite the high number of deaths linked to Covid in the last three years (equal to 2 million 150 thousand people), those over 65 represent almost a quarter of the total population.
Furthermore, today, with the demographic crisis, the traditional family of the past has become very limited and many elderly people find themselves without even the assistance of their younger family members, remaining on the margins of a world that they do not recognise, not having the tools to understand it, and to which they no longer feel they belong. A technological progress that has made giant strides in the last twenty years but more than a few have been left behind. Our parents, our grandparents. But the choices, at the organizational level of society, go in the direction of mass digitalisation. The Pnrr's digital sustainability objectives themselves provide for continuous updates such as that of the portfolio digital which should replace the Spid, i.e. the public digital identity system, for goodness sake, useful for streamlining bureaucracy but almost incomprehensible for those who are not familiar with digital.
Our elderly, and no one points this out at a political level, are affected on a practical and even psychological level by this digitalized society. The technology boom has canceled out the wise resource of our elderly who are now perceived as a burden on society which deprives them, not helping them to bridge the generational technological gap and, in fact, relegating them to the margins. Many of them are not familiar with the tools and are unable to clearly perceive the information conveyed. For example, they are unable to extricate themselves from misleading advertisements, they do not trust online financial services and prefer to queue at post office or bank counters to pay a current account, provided that those banks have not yet replaced the direct service with the customer, as is happening with the closure of many agencies that prefer to save money at the counter and activate only the digital service. How much discomfort for those who, due to age, are unable to deal with a computer or a smartphone. Which then, they almost don't even warn you. One day your trusted bank is there, the next day you go to withdraw and find your agency dismantled.
Simpler and more accessible communication would be needed. Even those who try to get closer and understand when they are unable to find adequate answers often have a total rejection of technology, with the consequence of experiencing a state of resignation towards the novelties of digital services which leads them to think of being part of another world , what once was no longer there.
From the point of view of relationships, the elderly do not understand all this exhibitionism proposed by social media, which is too far removed from the good manners of the past of presenting oneself and presenting oneself in any context with respect and good taste. This aspect has further widened the existential gap in human relationships between children and the elderly who are now as distant as two different worlds even with those who, to be honest, are not so elderly.
There politics this situation, which is becoming alarming, should be adequately addressed and considered.
For each digital service, there should be a tutor trained specifically for the clearest possible communication and with a predisposition for the patience necessary to help those in difficulty in order to avoid the gap of misunderstanding digital and social marginalization grows more and more. We cannot be indifferent to this social discomfort in the name of technological capitalism that advances exponentially from all fronts. Innovations must be managed gradually so that the development of society is coordinated without leaving anyone behind. And then we should all ask ourselves: does all this digitalisation really help the community or is it a way to relegate to the margins those who are no longer considered necessary by this model of pseudo futuristic society?
#damage #digital #technology #elderly #left
