W5-8 My Final Project Concept
As I have mentioned, I want to combine my undergraduate major with inequality, so I have been looking for the relationship between data and inequality.
As I was looking for information on it, I realised that older people left behind by the digital wave were also well worthy of our attention. Today’s societies in China and around the world are evolving rapidly in terms of digitalization and information technology, which is enhancing their level of intelligence in daily life. However, older individuals are also at a disadvantage in terms of information consumption since they lack technological information literacy, creating a digital conundrum for them. How to help disadvantaged elderly groups to have equal access to and use advanced digital technology and ensure the realisation of digital human rights is an issue we need to discuss. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, governments all over the world issued home-based orders, which forced individuals to make their livings through teleworking, online medical treatment, online classes, online shopping, and more. During the pandemic, the development of health codes in China has resulted in health codes and the presentation of big data records of journeys becoming a fundamental necessity in many public areas. The fact that older people either do not own cellphones or do not have the necessary skills to operate them effectively makes it difficult for them to take advantage of the various digital applications that are available. The same time, the occasional home orders issued by the government have made it necessary to rely increasingly on telemedicine to manage health conditions. This, in turn, creates a great challenge for older people and makes their lives more difficult.
In the Interdisciplinary Future course, our group selected the three key words “data, parents, hospital”. This brings me to the current problems in the world: with the increasing ageing of the world’s population, the need for chronic disease management and home recuperation is becoming more and more intense. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide issued stay-at-home orders that established lockdowns, restrictions, and quarantines. Therefore, elderly people urgently need remote access to medical and health services from home. At the same time, healthcare providers increasingly relied upon telemedicine to manage chronic and acute health conditions. How to carry out telemedicine health management for patients to solve the problem that patients cannot go to offline hospitals; How to meet the needs of patients to the greatest extent without increasing the workload of primary medical institutions is very need to consider.
Next, I will continue to discuss and find the inequality of the elderly in the current ageing and COVID-19 environment. Thank you very much for JB’s help in the process.
I think this is a great area to explore, Jiayi. As medical advances continue to extend life expectancy and technology continues to evolve more rapidly the divide between younger and older people will likely grow. When I think about tech literacy now, it seems like there are many levels of digital literacy tied to generation – and not just old/elderly people. Three or four generations of a family can be living with completely different access to the world under one roof.
Thank you for your encouragement. With the aging society becoming more and more serious, the elderly will become the group we need to pay attention to. I will continue to study this. Happy holidays!
This sounds a very interesting and important topic! I am very interested in how you aim to discuss it further in your final project. What methods do you plan to use? I look forward to seeing more discussions on this project in you blog for the next week;). Have a nice week!
Thank you so much for your comments! To be honest, I haven’t thought too clearly. Recently, I have read a lot of relevant literature, and I will further consider how to conduct research. Merry Christmas!