Essay Draft [2]

As the 21st century began, the Internet has become an important tool in many major areas such as in politics, in business, or even in daily communication. The Internet has played a vital role in bringing people from all over the globe to be connected with each other on the Web through the social networking websites such as Facebook, and Twitter.  Singapore has also used the Internet as an opportunity to better deliver public services, and connect with citizens and businesses.  The Internet also enabled our government to connect with its citizens through online platforms and social media.  However, compared to the younger generation who have gone through the education significantly aided by technology, the older generation or population which was virtually bypassed by the electronic revolution, mainly retired or close to retirement, do feel that it is necessary to have computer skills. Due to the aging process, however, learning those computer skills is not an easy task for them. This essay seeks to point out the problem caused by the digital divide between generations, and the possible solution to it. As the technology keeps upgrading to better cater to the needs by many people, the ways to handle those products get increasingly complicated. The instructions found in the new application in the Internet such as Google Chrome, or Ping are using many technical words most of the time, and this makes older generation difficult to use it effectively. As mentioned earlier, a significant proportion of the older generation had gone through the education system with a relatively low level of aid by IT (if not, not at all for some) , so they often find these new upgrades of technology difficult to follow up. Therefore, this poses a problem, as older generation may not continue to use the perpetually-changing programmes in the long run, and eventually be left out of the social circle.  General Household survey revealed that the number of elderly living alone shot up from 15000 to 22000. Older generation might feel lonely as they do not have many people to talk with, and this problem can be even more worsen by current social problem in which older generation and younger generation do not live together. With Internet increasingly used in major activities including public services, older generation who do not have computer skills may be left out and deprived of participation due to their inability to use the Internet. The most effective way for older generation to interact with other people and get updated independently is through the Internet.  There is currently an attempt to promote IT literacy among senior citizens. According to RADM(NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Information, Communications and The Arts, and Ministry of Education, two new IT learning hubs termed as the Silver Infocomm Junctions (SIJ), have been established to help senior citizens to learn IT literacy (Amelia, 2014). Although I feel that this is a good attempt, it could be even better by changing the plan a little bit.  Instead of hiring the professionals, school students could be invited to teach the older generation (as part of Community Involvement Programme which is compulsory activity to be fulfilled)Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and Ministry of Education (MOE) could collaborate together to organise the activity to help the older generation to be able to master the skills of using the Internet, taught by students who have right computer knowledge. In this way, students can learn to communicate effectively with the older generation as they teach them, and understand the common problems that these group of older generation face when handling the Internet. This will in turn make students able to treat their own grandparents with better understanding. Older generation can also benefit greatly, as they learn the skills to bring themselves into the online social circle to be kept in touch with their friends, and family members for those who are not living with their children. This will yield a win-win situation for both students and older generation.  In conclusion, it would require a lot of effort to overcome the problem, 'digital divide'. The ministry of Social and Family Development and the ministry of education should work on integrating older generation into online community with our own students participating in the project. As the saying goes, 'it needs two hands to clap', the older generation should also take the initiative to learn as much as possible.   References http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/new-it-learning-centres-for-seniors-in-singapore http://www.touch.org.sg/files/news020806.pdf