Elderly internet addicts worth due care

There was a time when "internet addict" was a term used to describe youngsters who spent hours playing online games or watching videos. However, the increasing popularity of smartphones is luring even older people into the trap.

On social networking sites, many youngsters are complaining that their parents are hooked to short video clips on their smartphones. As one youngster put it, many senior citizens are busy with smartphones "almost every minute they are awake".

A girl wrote that her mother was so busy with the smartphone that she spilled an entire carton of milk on opening the fridge but did not bother cleaning the mess.

To be fair, it is good that elderly citizens are adapting to new technology by learning to use smartphones, which are so essential nowadays. After all, one needs to use smartphones to scan a code to make payments at supermarkets, or show the health code before going almost anywhere because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the government has been telling app developers to make their services convenient for senior citizens.

If elderly people are using smartphones conveniently, it also means the "digital gap" between people of different ages is shrinking. However, it becomes a problem if some people are overdoing it. Such as, when a 65-year-old suffered from dizziness after using the smartphone for almost 11 hours every day. Or, when the mother had no time to clean up spilt milk.

The fault lies also with some app developers who create online schemes to lure users into making money. Adult children should also be alert to their parents getting hooked on their smartphones because they live alone and their children don't care for them enough.