A volunteer teaches an elderly woman how to use a smartphone in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. (CHINA NEWS SERVICE)

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According to China Internet Network Information Center, the number of Chinese internet users over the age of 50 grew steadily from 2000 to June 2017, with the group accounting for 10.6 percent of internet users in 2017. The gap between the young and the elderly in terms of hardware is narrowing, but seniors still lag behind in internet use, forming a distinct online culture that is different from that of the younger generation.

 

Research methodology
The study mixed quantitative and qualitative research, using online and offline methods, such as focus group interviews, surveys and data mining, to better understand the online life of seniors.

The qualitative component of the study involved a field investigation in Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin and Taicang, from August to October in 2017 that took the form of focus group interviews. A total of 17 groups of seniors were interviewed, with each group consisting of six to seven older adults who use WeChat in their daily lives. The sample was selected to include seniors from different communities, genders, ages, occupations and educational backgrounds.

The study’s quantitative approach consisted of a questionnaire survey of middle-aged and older adults who use WeChat, obtaining 800 samples in eight major Chinese cities in November 2017.
 

This report also analyzed big data resources from Tencent, mainly the Tencent Browsing Index (BTI), which offers insight into hot mobile internet trends and mobile internet browsing behavior. The study collected approximately 36 million samples in the defined age group from July 27 to Oct. 27 in 2017.

 

Older adults online
Smartphones are the main hardware that seniors use to access the internet. Our survey found that most of them consider a big screen to be the most important quality of a mobile device while more than one-third of the elderly also value large storage capacity, cost-effectiveness and speed.

As we can see, older adults have more than basic communication needs, as speed and storage are closely associated with internet use, such as surfing the web, saving photos and shooting videos. In addition, around a quarter of the elderly respondents said that sound effects and cameras are also vital features they look for in mobile devices.

Though the elderly often use the internet for communication and to find information, many of the functions that are trendy among younger users have also entered the seniors’ lives, such as watching short videos, mobile payment, mobile navigation and car-hailing services. About 75.8 percent of the elderly read online news and information, 56.6 percent look for information using search engines, while 45.9 percent browse WeChat public accounts.

According to the analysis of focus group interviews, the middle-aged and older adults often read national and social news but pay little attention to entertainment news. Meanwhile, they like to search for recipes, travel tips and other tourism information on the internet. The popular public account articles that they read are mainly about positive energy, healthcare, sports, fitness and life tips.

The vast majority of the seniors surveyed—as high as 98.5 percent—use WeChat, more than 80 percent know how to post emojis, photos, likes and receive or send a red envelope, and nearly 70 percent shoot and forward short videos.

According to focus group interviews, the types of short videos that the middle-aged and elderly create and share mainly center on tourism, fitness and updates about their grandchildren while they also favor humorous and entertaining video clips. To some extent, WeChat is not only used for instant communication but also functions as an interactive platform for expressing emotions and maintaining social interaction.

The elderly are less likely to use online apps to deal with daily life matters. Only 40 percent of the elderly pay mobile phone fees online, about 30 percent can shop online and use mobile navigation, and about 25 percent use car-hailing services or pay water, electricity and gas bills online. Relatively few seniors use online booking for hospitals, train and plane tickets, and hotels.

In addition, according to the TBI, the browsing histories of seniors and middle-aged internet users mostly consist of content related to spiritual comfort and emotional adjustment, which account for 76.5 percent and 72 percent respectively. It was followed by current social news, 67 percent. Healthcare and love themes are also widely favored by older adults, with 66.9 percent and 60.7 percent respectively.

 

Mobile payment
According to the survey, 46.3 percent respondents have never used mobile payment, 36.4 percent use it occasionally, and 17.4 percent use it regularly. Whether the elderly would use mobile payment is closely associated with whether they have tied their bank cards to certain apps. Among those who linked their bank cards, up to 92.4 percent use mobile payment, with 41.5 percent using it quite often and 50.9 percent using it on occasion. As for those who have not tied their bank cards, 28.5 percent use mobile payment, with only 1.7 percent using it regularly and 26.9 percent seldom use it.

For the elderly who have associated their bank cards with mobile payment apps, 91.8 percent registered their own bank cards, 6.6 percent use their children’s cards, and 1.6 percent use their spouse’s cards. More than half of the elderly put down a prepaid debit or credit card with a limit of 5,000 yuan, whereas only 7.9 percent use cards with a deposit or limit above 10,000 yuan.

The perception of mobile payment security determines if seniors choose to use it. For those who believe mobile payments are safe, 97.6 percent report using mobile payment in their daily lives, of which nearly 70 percent are frequent users and nearly 30 percent occasional users. Of the middle-aged and elderly people who believe that mobile phone payment are relatively safe, 80.9 percent choose to pay by mobile phone, of which nearly 30 percent use it regularly and more than half of them use it occasionally. As for those who believe mobile payment is not that secure, 74.8 percent never use it and 25.2 percent use it occasionally. Finally, those who believe that mobile payment is very unsafe prefer other means of payments.

 

Internet fraud
If we define internet fraud broadly to include cheating people out of money, manipulating emotions, spreading rumors and false advertising, more than 67.3 percent respondents said they have been victims or possible victims. The main channels of fraud were WeChat moments (69.1 percent), WeChat talking group (58.5 percent) and contacts on WeChat (45.6 percent). The types of information that lure them to the traps were mainly free red envelopes (60.3 percent), mobile phone traffic (52.3 percent) and preferential, discount or group purchases (48.6 percent).

Older adults are less likely to seek help after they have been cheated. About 68.3 percent of the elderly said “they do not seek help because they simply take it as a lesson,” 67.2 percent chose to “tell friends and family members to prevent similar events in the future,” 25.9 percent and 25.9 percent would turn to children and friends for help, while only 0.6 percent said they reported to the police. It can be seen that seniors’ awareness of protecting their own rights and interests needs to be further strengthened.

Our survey found that the middle-aged and elderly people with moderate incomes and economic autonomy are more likely to fall prey to internet fraud. Among those who had been cheated, 39.4 percent and 37.7 percent received middle school and high school education. Also, most of the elderly who have fallen victims earn middle and high income, accounting for 67.1 percent and 24.3 percent respectively.

From the perspective of economic autonomy, 41.1 percent of the middle-aged and elderly people who experienced internet fraud said they are in charge of the major spending in their household, 37.5 percent said family decisions are made through consultation, only 16 percent of the elderly said other family members, such as spouses, are in charge at home.

 

Improving elderly’s internet use
As China enters an aging society, it is crucial to improve the internet ecosystem, increase the capacity of seniors to use the internet, enhance their safety awareness and comprehensively raise their network literacy. To this end, the following suggestions are offered:

First, efforts are needed to build a senior-friendly internet ecosystem, such as the withdrawal mechanism on various internet platforms. Once fraud occurs, communities and families need to help the elderly pursue active remedies and adopt a self-protection strategy.

Next, we need to strengthen the provision of public services for the elderly and meet the needs of seniors in various aspects. Older adults are generally concerned about healthcare but are often misled by businesses or false advertising. The survey found that some doctors and local governments have shouldered the responsibility of disseminating scientific knowledge and providing healthcare information, which have effectively prevented middle-aged and elderly people from being caught in internet fraud. In addition, government policy promotion and implementation are also conducive to helping the elderly learn new skills and enrich their retirement life.

That said, we need to improve the elder care and healthcare system to inject confidence in their retirement lives. To some extent, the obsession of the elderly with healthcare products is related to the imperfect medical care system. According to the survey, a large number of elderly people are worried about their future life, especially those who live alone. In this regard, it is advisable to improve the pension and medical care system and provide adequate public services.

In addition, we need to strengthen supervision over media and internet security to improve the consumption and living environment of the elderly. The profit-seeking behaviors of some media and institutions encourage false propaganda and misinformation, causing economic losses to many middle-aged and senior consumers. These problems urgently need to be addressed by related government departments.

Finally, we need to establish a family support system to enhance the network security literacy of middle-aged and elderly people. The study found that family support, including that of children, is an effective guarantee for enhancing the internet capabilities of the elderly and preventing fraud.

 

Tian Feng is a research fellow from the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(edited by YANG XUE)