The Shift of Digital Habits: How Can We Better Understand What Elderly People Are Saying Online?
It is no secret that if you want to stay connected, you must have a presence online, but what about the one group that seems to struggle most with technology, older people?
The COVID-19 pandemic saw a shift in how we connect with others, in particular, bringing rise to the use of digital platforms.
The older generation has experienced considerable changes in their digital habits and is now forced to engage in a broader range of online activities more frequently and across different devices.
Post-pandemic, there is a significant rise in the number of older Australians using the internet to do their banking, shop, watch a video, listen to audio, and access telehealth and other professional services.
Despite the increase in online activity, the attitudes of older Australians towards technology may not have shifted significantly. This suggests that the increased use of technology may have been out of necessity rather than choice as the digital environment continues to change.
So, with this shift in online activity, how can we tailor our understanding to recognise older people's issues specifically?
The government are also concerned about the current position of older people.
The Commissioner for Senior Victorians is currently running a state-wide survey to determine what matters most to older Victorians.
The Ageing Well Survey gives older Victorians a chance to raise important issues, share their experiences of ageing and highlight the support they need to age well.
Let us look at some of the challenges the older generation faces in Australia.
Using Sprinklr, we took the topic of 'Elderly Challenges' and filtered this to people over 65. As a result, we discovered that the elderly are suffering from the following six difficulties:
Transportation: The elderly experience barriers to transportation. They drive less frequently, might lack access to personal vehicles and have difficulties utilising public transportation services.
COVID-19 impacts: The elderly suffered heavily from COVID-19 with a higher risk of serious illness, higher rates of hospitalisation and death, a slower recovery and issues surrounding vaccination. They also suffered from COVID-19 isolation
Technology use: The elderly are less mentally and physically competent, thus causing difficulties in adapting to the latest technology. As the world becomes more digital, the elderly struggle to keep up with the change.
Lack of access: The elderly suffer from availability issues such as inadequate health care services, limited transportation, and lack of access and knowledge of technology.
Isolation/loneliness: The elderly have a high risk of social isolation and loneliness, which can be caused by low-quality or lack of social relationships, chronic health problems and changing family structures.
Health care costs: As the elderly get older, they experience more health care conditions, and thus, the health care costs also increase. This can be a struggle for those who find financial difficulties.
Online conversation monitoring can empower organisations to understand publicly accessible unstructured data and take action across communications, strategy, and service design.
This feature also can make it possible to understand, respond to, and build upon what citizens need. This capability amplifies citizens' stories and voices during policy negotiations and legislation creation.
This real-time sentiment analysis can be powerfully expanded to include images. With visual analysis tools, content can easily be explored for this sentiment as it pertains to a specific brand, mention or individual.
This can be seamlessly integrated, alongside the sentiment timelines and visual insights, amongst an organisation's digital strategy.
For everything from communications to engagement to evolving policies, check out some of the real-time analytics surrounding elderly challenges: https://external.sprinklr.com/research/insights/listening/dashboard/63240b369c2950629e2e1e69/tab/0?id=DASHBOARD_63240b369c2950629e2e1e69