Though the power of technology is immense in terms of impact and reach, its utility is unfortunately not appropriately extended to the elderly and other technologically naive people.
The biggest reason for this predicament is that a significant chunk of our population was past it’s prime when the IT revolution cascaded down our lives. The young generation was quick to catch up and imbibe these changes, but not everyone. People had become so used to and comfortable with the old ways, that they avoided getting on the IT bandwagon unless it became imperative.
As we have recently experienced, how web connectivity is encroaching the thresholds of our day to day lives, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the elderly to find their way around these newfound developments. The IT sector needs to focus on an essential aspect of development, and that is, “accessibility”. If everybody cannot enjoy the endowments of the web, then the scale of its impact gets severely compromised.
All over the world, due to enhanced medical technology, the average age has been significantly pushed ahead. A large part of the global population is not working or is remotely working and has no real means for learning to access the internet. There is a whole world out there which is aloof from them. This section of our population needs to be onboarded too.
As we know, the web world is slowly panning out to be like a giant table of dominoes, where each thing is dependent and leaning on the other. Unless a person has a valid email id or a Facebook account, they cannot quickly enter and use other applications or websites. And a lot of people do not use social media in any capacity. To facilitate a smooth experience for them, ease of connectivity and usage is very important.
The tech sector needs to keep into consideration the naiveness of a significant part of the global population and design applications that cater to their demand too.
We are heading towards a world which might become entirely web-oriented in a matter of time. To ensure the ubiquity of this development, widespread accessibility is a must.
Sticking Together like Chalk and Cheese
