Despite the increase in the use of digital services by elderly people, an intergenerational gap in digital fluency still existed. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The outbreak of the coronavirus has brought South Koreans older than 50 years of age closer to Internet video services and online shopping.
The Lina Heyday Foundation, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) organization operated by Lina Life Insurance Korea, announced on Friday that it had conducted a survey of 500 people in their 50s or older.
In response to a question inquiring about the digital services they had started using first since the outbreak of the coronavirus, 38 percent (multiple answers available) picked Internet video services such as Netflix and YouTube.
Following Internet video services were Internet stores and shopping (32 percent), food delivery services (32 percent) and financial services (27 percent).
Internet video services (59 percent) were picked as the most used Internet services after the outbreak of the coronavirus, followed by shopping (36 percent), life convenience services such as food delivery and ride-hailing (28 percent), and home training and health information such as dieting (20 percent).
Despite the increase in the use of digital services by elderly people, an intergenerational gap in digital fluency still existed.
In response to a question asking if there were any digital services that they still could not use despite striving to learn how to use them, 48 percent of the respondents said no.
Nonetheless, 26 percent said they still had difficulty using health-related services such as hospital booking services, followed by 18 percent who said they had difficulty using online banking services.
In particular, among women in their 60s, 24 percent said they had difficulty learning how to use online banking services, while 21 percent said digital services were too difficult for them to use regardless of the type.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
