Everyone’s been bamboozled by technology at some point in their lives. But for the older generations who didn’t have the advantage of growing up surrounded by technology, the sudden explosion of tech everywhere in life can be overwhelming. It is important for older people to get to grips with this new digital age, however, as digital contract specialists Maplewave explains…

Approaching the digital gap

Many factors can contribute to the ‘digital gap’ beyond simply age. Although once it was due to financial inequalities disabling the access to technology, it has now shifted towards a knowledge gap. Once connected to their devices, the information presented to them instantly becomes a barrier.

Technology is moving ahead faster than people are becoming skilled enough to fill professional roles. Thus, this creates the digital gap, where the demand for digital skills has outstripped the supply. With predictions that within 20 years, 90% of all jobs will require an element of digital skills to a sufficient degree, so the efforts to bridge that gap is gaining pace.

The younger generation’s tech head-start

The younger generations certainly got a head-start when it came to navigating technology. So, for those that didn’t go through childhood and adolescence whilst the digital boom was underway, learning about what the latest technology has to offer can be an intimidating experience. Generation X would’ve felt intimidated by the thought of learning how to use Microsoft Excel or getting to grips with printing, now, it’s more virtual reality, voice activated domestic robots and wireless charging.

How can this gap be addressed? One idea is to build on the persons existing tech knowledge. If the senior is already familiar with an aspect, use analogies like referring links to webpages to roads to other cities or web addresses to street addresses.

Speaking the online language

Jargon is closely linked with technology and is one of the areas that needs addressing in order to close the digital gap. Jargon exists to make the process of explaining things more concise, but it can have the opposite effect, confusing and alienating the listener and hindering the learning process. Implementing technologically-orientated words such as selfie or emoji may have reluctantly made their way into the Oxford Dictionaries at the displeasure of traditionalists, but that’s an indication of how much influence the internet has had on our lexicon contemporarily. As digital natives, we have adopted this as if it were a second skin, so when it comes to communicating with the elderly on the topic of technology, be sure to use simplified language.

According to studies, as many as one in five people over 50 feel they have been left behind in terms of technological advancement. It goes beyond just the financial aspects too, elements of loneliness and feeling out-of-sync with family members can often occur if the older generation hasn’t yet made the switch to the likes of Skype, Facetime or even WhatsApp. This demographic makes up a huge chunk of our population, and we must help them come to terms with the world of technology. All of which being visual or verbal communicative apps where users can video or message each other from anywhere in the world providing they have a stable internet connection. It’s especially great for family times like Christmas or birthday’s if one of the family members is away travelling for leisure or work.