Elderly & ICT: a need and urgency for an effective info-inclusion

Abstract

It is a fact that the world is aging and the developed countries are the most affected by this reality. In consequence, the majority of the population comprehends elderly people. The present knowledge society is characterized by technologies, digital devices and by the so called ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and most present-day activities uses those devices. Recently, several expressions and services have introduced the ‘e’ and it is common to talk about e-commerce, e-learning, e-banking, e-government, e-Health… it means that citizens must be digitally literate to deal with and use those services as a routine of their everyday life. However there are a large number of people who have not the necessary digital skills and consequently they become info-excluded. The group of the info-excluded is represented by women, people with a low level of literacy, the unemployed, and the elderly. Being sure that the elderly will constitute in the future (and in the present) the greater percentage of the citizens it is urgent to promote initiatives in order to train those citizens in ICT. The European Union already felt that need and therefore several action plans were launched (e.g. The Riga Declaration; i2010 e-Inclusion Initiative). It is consensual that ICT will promote a better quality of life so the elderly will benefit from it in order to promote an adequate active aging. It is the aim of this article to discuss the main initiatives carried on and present the main obstacles, advantages, and some clues for the near future for the use of ICT by elderly people.