Digital literacy of the elderly is increasingly becoming a necessity, a gerontologist said at an awareness programme in the city on Wednesday. The lack of it is snapping the connection of elderly people with the larger community, she said.
Many elderly people are unable to use some of the most commonly used features of WhatsApp, like video calls, she said. As financial transactions are also transforming into the digital mode in many places, the elderly are facing challenges.
The lack of digital literacy leads to a sense of alienation. The elderly often feel ashamed to engage with the young, especially those who are extremely tech savvy, said Indrani Chakravarty, director of the Calcutta Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (CMIG).
She was speaking at a panel discussion on the future of the elderly population in India.
“Digital literacy is very important. It became more important during the Covid pandemic. That is when the challenges faced by the elderly who are not digitally literate came to the fore,” said Chakravarty.
“Many elderly people cannot share photos or do a video call through WhatsApp that can help them remain connected with a wider community. The lack of digital literacy is snapping the connection with the community.”
Several households face this problem where the elderly complain about not being able to use digital tools.
A south Calcutta resident said his father complains that he is unable to buy groceries online or recharge his mobile phone through an app.
“I showed my father how to do this a few times but he said I do it very fast and he cannot follow,” said the son.
Chakravarty pointed out how during the pandemic, or even now, during intense heat, many elderly persons have to visit banks to do their work when most of the work can be done through net banking.
“They are unlikely to ask their own children because children often say their parents are slow to learn. They ask outsiders for help,” said Chakravarty.
Gradually, a feeling of shame grows in them. They feel after doing so many things in their life, they are now becoming redundant and have to depend on others for their own work. This dents the self-esteem and self-confidence of the elderly, she said.
“When they hear people around them buying groceries online or procuring food through mobile apps, they feel very helpless and alienated. A sense of shame grows from here,” she said.
CMIG has conducted digital literacy sessions for the elderly where they have been taught to use various features on a phone or some important mobile applications, said Chakravarty.
Chitrankana Bandyopadhyay, a consultant clinical psychologist, highlighted the rise in health-related anxieties among the elderly. As people grow older, they start losing their functionality and that hurts their self-esteem, she said.
She later told The Telegraph about a couple who contracted Covid at a time when the vaccines had not been introduced. “Months later, when Covid infections declined in numbers, they used to become very anxious even for very simple ailments,” Bandyopadhyay said.
She said she saw many elderly people had developed health-related anxieties post Covid.
