NTU students launch a campaign to help illiterate elderly learn to use smartphones
Shin Min Daily News, 18 Mar, page 9
NTU students initiated a campaign to help illiterate and low-income seniors learn to use smartphones. There was even an uncle who learned to use video call so that his daughter in Johor Bahru can “visit” her hospitalised mother and save $100 in phone bills. The team of four final-year communication students observed that although there are many campaigns aimed at promoting digital literacy to the elderly, they are mainly for elderly who are literate. Team member Lee Jia Qian (transliteration) said that in the team's survey of 118 senior citizens in Singapore, there is a gap between low-income seniors and middle-income and high-income seniors in terms of digital literacy. Elderly people living in one- or two-room HDB flats have a 52.5% lower digital skill score using video calls than elderly living in four-room HDB flats. In view of this, the team launched the #CanOneLah! campaign, which focuses on teaching seniors to use voice messaging and voice search functions, so that even illiterate seniors can learn to use smartphones.