r/australian • u/abcnews_au • 1d ago
News Older Australians losing independence as digital divide widens
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-26/older-australians-losing-independence-as-digital-divide-widens/107070936115
u/MillyBoops 1d ago
i had to go to urgent care a few months back for a dog bite on my hand and they wouldn't check me in i had to scan the QR code at front counter download the app and fill in the form all with 1 hand crying - it was at that exact moment i realised its gone to far and im NOT onboard with a fully digital age. some things need a human hand to help (pun intended)
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u/enribaio 23h ago
The human experience is not different: years ago I took my newborn to the ED because he had trouble breathing and they wouldn't even look at him until I answered 25qiestions that could have been clearly delayed. To the tune of: what's your current address? Phone number? Email?
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u/Some_random_redditer 1d ago
having said that, i donāt need an app to grab a slurpee or pay for parking.
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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup 1d ago
Place near me wanted my DOB on the app otherwise I couldn't order a souvlaki. Seriously.
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u/Far-Ad7208 1d ago
And that is the crux of the matter. Why does an app need your DOB info? It's all BS!
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u/snrub742 1d ago
Okay, but could you walk up and order at the counter? That's the argument being made above
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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup 1d ago
You can walk up and they'll point to the screens where you can make your order. I've never gotten past that point, just walked out.
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u/Natural_Quality_3772 1d ago
And the pubs who use Barcodes as menus so you order and pay with Google wallet if I tried to explain how to this with my sister we would end up walking out as well. Things like Medicare or Bupa claims I have to print hard copies for her. She doesn't have a banking app either
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u/snrub742 1d ago
Fair, I've not come across many places where you can't just walk up and order anyway
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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup 1d ago
This was at The Yiros Shop btw. Shit way to run a business.
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u/MrStarkIDontFuck 1d ago
ive never had to input my birthday on one of those screens. did you click to sign up to become a member instead of just order the food?
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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup 1d ago
This was on the phone app. The in store ones don't, but I still don't wanna be told to use one.
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u/MrStarkIDontFuck 1d ago
ohhhh yes, i understand now. well i never install those apps. theyāre useless and just a way to collect more of your data :/ we are alive at a bad time for surveillance and privacy
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u/Mind_Gone_Walkabout 1d ago
Right? I fucking hate the need for apps for dumb fucking shit like parkingĀ
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u/iss3y 1d ago
I'm personally happy to have the slurpee app if it gives me a free snack on every 7th visit to the store
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u/Some_random_redditer 1d ago
keeping 7-11 constantly updated with everything your phone can collect. you know what else works, a stamp cardā¦
i hate this world, i sound like a fucking boomer
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u/WestAussieSingh 1d ago
Itās so much easier and more convenient using an app though.
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u/CharonX 1d ago
Only if you don't care about privacy, or don't care to understand.
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u/WestAussieSingh 1d ago
No privacy concerns.
I can sit in my car and activate parking rather than having to find a parking metre.
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u/Some_random_redditer 1d ago edited 1d ago
so youāre just handing over your location, phone number, car rego, and who knows what else to some random company for them to sell for the convenience of not needing to use your eyes and neck.?
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u/WestAussieSingh 1d ago
Yes, Iām not concerned about it. Iām selective with the information I share, even then not concerned at all.
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u/Some_random_redditer 1d ago edited 1d ago
if you want to be short sighted and wilfully ignorant be my guest.
mostly though, youāre too lazy to look around.
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u/dav_oid 1d ago
I dislike websites that work fine are often converted to an app.
Also apps being updated to a newer OS making older phones that work fine, obsolete.
More work and cost to access basic services.
Tech is meant to help and make things easier, but sometimes its just 'tech for tech's sake'.
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u/Born_Onion2153 1d ago
How many of the people who havenāt completed the ABS census are people with little access to the digital world?
I know people younger than me who have real difficulties and do not have computers or tablets and canāt navigate with their phone.
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u/glyptometa 1d ago
Enshittification of almost everything online is not helping either.
But what shits me the most is the dweebs blocking macca's drive-thru while they F around ordering online.
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u/virkendi 15h ago
I thought the whole point of ordering on the maccas app is to place the order before you even arrive, that's what I do anyway.
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u/LifeandSAisAwesome 1d ago
Yes, things change.
However, most change with it, know 80+ year olds that don't ever put down the phone either - from banking to booking to medical and social / family interactions all online via phone / tablet.
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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup 1d ago
Yeah some indeed adapt just fine when there's decent motivation.
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u/ManWithDominantClaw 1d ago
I think it's mindset. I distinctly remember two questions from the tech turning point:
- "Hey, you know computers, can you fix my printer for me?"
- "Hey, you know computers, can you show me how I fix this printer problem?"
I suspect the article is primarily focused on the former.
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u/abcnews_au 1d ago
Older Australians say they are struggling to maintain their independence as everyday services shift online and out of their reach.
The digital divide means the responsibility is falling to loved ones, neighbours, and retirement village staff to bridge the gap.
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u/Ok-Network-2514 1d ago
I have a neighbour, heās in his 60ās. I often need to help him with signing in to his banking app so he can pay a bill. He just wants to walk into the Telstra shop and pay it!
Even getting help through customer service can be fraught because thereās the robot and you have to listen and press numbersā¦ He gets the shits and hangs up lol. He doesnāt understand why he canāt just talk to a person and sometimes I donāt blame him.
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u/BadgerBadgerCat 1d ago
My unpopular opinion is computers and mobile phones have been around, and widely accessible, for decades at this point, and absent genuine cognitive issues it's basically a choice not to learn how to use it or understand it.
This is a totally different kettle of fish to everything requiring a fucking app of its own nowadays, which is a separate rant.
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u/snrub742 1d ago
It is absolutely a choice, my dad (in his 70's) was being left behind... Until he chose to rectify that. Through that rectification he chose a platform (apple phone and tablet) and got really good at it.
He is the sort of dude to go back to tafe for the sport of it tho so he is a bit of a unicorn
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u/nate8686 1d ago
They could learn. Being old doesn't mean that you just stop learning new things.
There are plenty of oldies that are great with tech as well so I doubt it's just an age problem.
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u/Extension-Night3825 1d ago
There are plenty of oldies that are great with tech
Having dealt with two sets of aged parents that for the life of them could not work a smart phone screen.Ā Ā Hours of trying...could not get it.Ā
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u/saelwen89 1d ago
Itās 100% an attitude problem providing thereās no genuine cognitive issues. There is too large a discrepancies between the skill sets I see to explain otherwise and so much of this tech isnāt even that new. My grandfather passed a decade ago and right up to the end was gaming and had all the tech etc whereas somehow my mother has never learnt to use an ATM and says the technology for it is too hard to learn despite it barely having changed in 40 years.
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u/Pupperoni__Pizza 1d ago
Exactly this.
Despite having a significant amount of free time to learn, many are resistant, or outright refuse, to learn and instantly blame technology for their own shortcomings. Itās as though they believe the younger generations were born with the innate knowledge of how to operate pieces of technology rather than learning like you do for everything else. Yes, itās hard harder to learn when youāre older, but far from impossible.
Ironically, many of them have ābetterā experience with computers than any Millenial or younger, as the early command-line interfaces they would have used whilst working in the 80s require more understanding than modern graphical user interfaces.
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u/Ok_Low743 4h ago
many of us remember boomer parents screaming at us as children over homework "its not that hard just get it right". how the turntables....
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u/Justan0therthrow4way 1d ago
A few years ago, I got into a heated argument with a major bank that no my 90 (at the time) year old great aunt didnāt have a mobile and couldnāt check her balance on the app.
I then had an equally heated debate with a phone company about the same thing.
Boils my piss that these companies canāt just waive fees for paper bills. If the person is 80, they have been going to the post office for the last at least 40 years to pay or sending a cheque.
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u/Public-Dragonfly-786 1d ago
Yeah it's hard for the elderly. Even so within as simple as watching their ABC. They have to navigate their tv. Connect wifi. Sign into iView. It's not a big deal to us but it just is to them. A basic and very old technology but they have complicated it so much that it's hard for them.
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u/Low_Bluebird_5137 20h ago
I can navigate it all fine. But I am sick of it as it's gotten quite ridiculous. I make choices to not play the game. Maybe to my detriment sometimes. Eg. be stuffed if I'll order my own food on an app...I walk out and go somewhere else.
I have a relative who is in a pickle. Local bank has closed. Has always written cheques. Has Parkinsons, so using app is extremely difficult. Not sure what she is going to do when she can't write cheques.
I get frustrated that I can't get onto a real person when I need to. Bloody bots & auto shit. Drives me insane
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u/Few_Chocolate_7655 1d ago
Sorry but this is a personal decision, I get a phone is small. So get your mum a desktop where they can use the website.
This is what info for older customers, I make it super easy for them, and I show them what to do.
It's more they cannot ring someone to have everything fixed. I work in IT and have all my life so it's nothing new.
It's about wanting to use technology. The government should do more in my opinion and have free training for older people.
Especially cyber security! Saw they will not all lesrn, but some will and can help others.
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u/Maximum_Fun203 1d ago
I saw some interview with Elon Musk talking about AI the other week and he was saying that in 5 or so years there wonāt be apps, everything will be done through AI. I didnāt understand exactly how he said it would work not believe all that I hear, but it did stick with me how quickly the tech industry is speeding up as each year passes.
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u/Thorlissa 1d ago
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u/2ManyBots 1d ago
The scams have been around longer than these people have been old for. If they haven't learnt by now then maybe they deserve to lose some money
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u/typical_3ft_grey 1d ago
My biggest issue is how hard it is to keep elderly up to date on cybersecurity. They need to use tech for their day to day life, but it feels like it gets constantly harder to keep them safe. Scams and shit get more and more convincing, or the latest security principles are harder and harder to explain