Nowadays, we are living in a highly advanced and convenient era of information technology. Along with the invention of smartphones back in the 1990s, people have become increasingly dependent on this tool of communication. Not surprisingly, as the smartphone becomes more and more developed and popularized, our living standard also starts to rely heavily on this technology. In recent days, we can do almost everything through the little device: we pay through the phone, we can apply for the credit card on the phone, we can open the door by the phone, etc. Moreover, phones seem to turn into an indispensable part of our daily lives. We can only produce our health code through the phone; we can only use the sharing bike through the phone and there are thousands of things that we can only do on phones. Apparently, technological products like phones do make our lives easier and more convenient, and indeed it almost functions like a master key and we can manage all sorts of things with that tool. However, while we are indulged in the Eden built through modern technologies, have you ever thought that there are still some groups of people suffering badly in the era of information technology?

Generally speaking, vulnerable groups are classified into three types: elders, handicapped, and the poor. Amongst the groups, people living in poverty comprise the largest proportion of the population with around 1.89 billion people which is nearly 36% of the world’s total population. On a global scale, 15% of the world’s population lives with certain forms of disability, in which 2-4% experience significant difficulties in physical functioning, and about 9.3% of the world’s population are elders aged 65 or above.

These statistics might be shocking at first glance, but what we should be more concerned about is the difficulties these groups are undergoing. Along with the developments of modern technologies, human life quality depends heavily on these rapidly developing equipment, and the “old ways” of living seem to be outdated. For instance, in order to cater to the fast growth of technologies, some shops refuse to accept cash payments, and during the COVID-19 pandemic people can only enter certain places freely with the health code scanned through phones. Vulnerable groups are naturally the victims of this situation. In this article, three main traits of these vulnerable groups are summarized in order to illustrate why they are less able to fit in with the ongoing information era: the ability to obtain information, to learn new technologies, and the inaccessibility to manipulating the machineries. Nevertheless, each of those vulnerable groups is lacking in certain characters in the age of information explosion.

The handicapped, for example, have various kinds of disabilities, such as visual impairments, mental retardation, physical impairments, etc. These physical or mental deficits can largely affect their ability to manipulate the technologies. Although some phones today have installed software like Screen Reader to help people with visual impairments to access the internet, the software still requires more improvements in order to be more effective for vulnerable groups such as the handicapped. Besides, electronic devices apart from phones may not be compatible with such software and loads of people with other deformities still suffer from this kind of inconvenience.

The main problems with the elders are that they could be a terribly slow learner to become technology savvy. According to statistics, there is 5-8% of the general population aged 60 or above experiencing dementia, and about 11.7% of the adults aged 60 or above are succumbing to a cognitive decline. Following the fall in cognitive competence, the elders can have a hard time learning a new technology, and the fast-paced society has far exceeded their receptivity regarding the use of technologies. Additionally, old people are relatively traditional, and they may hold an averse and scornful attitude towards modern technologies and refuse to use them at all. This further alienates them from the society at largo.

Poverty is the main factor accounting for the various sufferings of the vulnerable groups worldwide amidst the booming era f information technology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the schools around the world have adopted the method of online teaching. However, the children in the mountainous areas may have struggled since they do not have access to tools needed to take the online courses, or simply the internet in these regions is terrible. Therefore, these people must be forced to halt study with the teachers. Furthermore, the businessmen in places like Africa have found themselves difficult to set up companies because of their liabilities or simply because they are lacking in start-up funds, and the poor fraction of coverage on the internet is also a game-changing factor. In 2020, the internet penetration rate in Africa stands at about 39.3%, meaning that only roughly 4 out of 10 individuals continent-wide have access to the internet. Due to this, African businessmen have lost a huge edge in promoting and creating websites to sell goods online.

Moreover, all of the groups mentioned above are faced with a common challenge—they are susceptible to tricks or frauds. This frequently happens to vulnerable groups, especially in the information era. When these people lag much behind regarding the use of all these technological tools to serve the information age, it will be more likely for them to be exposed to and avail themselves of more effective information online than normal people. This will further increase the deception rate as these people have fewer chances of experiencing frauds or lies due to without exposure to the online world so that accordingly their awareness of preventing themselves from these gimmicks or traps. In the meantime, there is often a great deal of overlap among these groups, namely, many of them are old while the poor and the disabled at the same time and vice versa. Therefore, it is our duty to assist these vulnerable groups in accommodating to this information age.

There are myriad ways to support these people. Above all, we can try to establish a virtual community for them. This will require full understanding and support from people around us. With more people and government of all levels getting involved in providing service to these people, we can specifically set up programs like mobile phone training sessions, poverty alleviation projects, educational projects, public service projects, etc. to help these people become more tech savvy and more adaptive to the technological society. By doing so more and more people will be encouraged to partake in this endeavor to serve these vulnerable groups. Secondly, the government can designate laws and regulations to help these people who have difficulty using technologies better adapt to society. For example, on July 13, 2018, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued Notice No. 10 [2018] regarding the refusal of RMB cash in various regions, stipulating that no units or individuals shall refuse to accept payments in cash. However, despite the strict rectifying laws like this, a small proportion of merchants still refuse to charge goods or services in cash. Therefore, the implementation of the relevant policies still needs to be improved. Last but not least, we should call for collaboration from various industries such as mobile phone companies when it comes to inventing products specialized for these vulnerable groups.

Nevertheless, some utilitarians may argue that these vulnerable groups are not worth helping, since they are not as productive as normal people, and once they receive the assistance of any kinds from the public, they will cause an increase in expenditures which may sometimes exceed the total benefits or returns the whole society can enjoy, thus impeding social progress to some degree. However, this is actually not true. The efforts we are now putting into helping these people will not only serve the current vulnerable groups, but they are also in the interest of the next generations of future vulnerable groups. Indeed, everyone is doomed to become a part of the vulnerable groups someday as we are all getting older and older. As a result, all the work we are now doing is actually changing the entire picture of social welfare undertakings in the foreseeable future.

Reference

m.sohu.com/a/240959291_100110525

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worldvision.org/sponsorship-news-stories/global-poverty-facts

who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/sensory-functions-disability-and-rehabilitation/world-report-on-disability

un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2020/Sep/un_pop_2020_pf_ageing_10_key_messages.pdf

who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia

cdc.gov/aging/data/subjective-cognitive-decline-brief.html

statista.com/statistics/1176654/internet-penetration-rate-africa-compared-to-global-average/

zhidao.baidu.com/question/1929541660202508907.html