DIGITAL LITERACY AMONG ELDERLY IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DISTRICT

ABSTRACT

The word literacy alone generally refers to reading and writing skills, when you talk
on the word “digital” before it the term encompasses much more digital literacy
can be defined as the ability to use technology, information and communication. E-
literacy or digital literacy is described as the ability to ingress, examine, asses and
produces media or digital gadgets in diverse of methods. Simply it can be said that
how to use the electronic gadgets. The objectives of the study are to identify the
socioeconomic status then to understand the knowledge of elderly among the
electronic gadgets and also to identify the attitude of elderly towards the social
media.
The significance of the study is that digital literacy is one of the most inevitable part
in this modern world. Most of the functions in the day to day life are happened
through online or digitally. The need of the study about digital literacy is very
relevant. Through this study it can be understand that what is the efficiency of
elderly to assess the digital world and how far they are familiar with these
electronic gadgets. This study also aims that to understand or to identify the
attitude of elderly towards the social Medias. Are they aware about how to use
that? Are they active in social medias are that harmful or not? How the social
Medias help to make more contact during the eve of their life stage. Are they
satisfied?
The methodologies used for this study are: -
Area of the study is at Thiruvananthapuram district. Study was planned to conduct
with in a number of hundred samples. Interview or questionnaire method will be
used for the data collection.
The expected outcome of the study is to get a clear picture on the participation of
elderly in this digital world
Keywords: Elderly, Digital literacy
INTRODUCTION

Elderly or old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human
beings, and is thus the end of human life cycle. It is the eve of the life. Elderly is the
later part of life i.e., the period of life after youth and middle age. Old age
comprises "the later part of life; the period of life after youth and middle age . . .,
usually with reference to deterioration”. At what age old age begins cannot be
universally defined because it differs according to the context. The United Nations
has agreed that 65+ years may be usually denoted as old age and this is the first
attempt at an international definition of old age., the World Health Organization
(WHO) set 55 as the beginning of old age. At the same time, the WHO recognized
that the developing world often defines old age, not by years, but by new roles,
loss of previous roles, or inability to make active contributions to society.
Gerontologists have recognized the very different conditions that people
experience as they grow older within the years defined as old age. In developed
countries, most people in their 60s and early 70s are still fit, active, and able to care
for themselves. According to a 2016 report by the ministry of statistics and program
implementation, India has 103.9 million elderly people above age 60 about 8.5
percent of the population.
Literacy is the ability to reading and writing skills. In modern world, it reflects as the
ability to use the technology. Digital literacy is the ability to use information and
communication technologies to find, evaluate, create and communicate
information requiring both cognitive and technical skills. Digital literacy refers to
the knowledge about electronic gadgets, social medias, content creation etc. This
includes writing in digital formats, Emails, blogs, WhatsApp, messenger, Facebook,
Instagram, mobile, internet, television etc. Digital literacy is a channel to sharing
and communicating ideas and opinions. Nowadays Digital literacy is one important
component in a person. Now the citizens are changed to digital citizen – A person
who is responsible for how they utilize technology to interact with the world
around them. Digital technology allows people to interact and communicate with
family and friends on a regular basis due to the busy constrains of today’s life.
Nowadays every individual life in a digital world. Here the study mainly focusses on
the literacy of elderly people about the digital world through mobile, computer,
television. As per the present-day situation it seems that Digital literacy is a boon
to elderly people as it helps them to access all the facilities in their fingertip. As far
as the elderly people are concerned, digital literacy helps them to have an easy
communication with the outside world without depending on other individuals.
Most older persons are keen to learn basics of smart phones, computers, laptops,
and other modern gadgets, they hardly get support from their younger family
members, relatives or society due to hectic lifestyle of younger generations. This
use of digital world not only makes their life smooth, comfortable and easier but
also keeps them in the main stream of society.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of the study is that digital literacy is one of the most inevitable part
in this modern world. Most of the functions in the day to day life are happened
through online or digitally. The need of the study about digital literacy is very
relevant. Through this study it can be understand that what is the efficiency of
elderly to assess the digital world and how far they are familiar with these
electronic gadgets. This study also aims that to understand or to identify the
attitude of elderly towards the social Medias
OBJECTIVES:
1. To identify the socio-economic status.
2. To understand the knowledge of elderly among the electronic gadgets.
3. To identify the attitude of elderly towards social medias.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

According to WHO (2014), the prevalence of over 60 years aged population is

increasing faster than any other aged population. Because the life expectancy rate
elderly is rising up and the fertility rate is decreasing. Although this condition is a
challenge for society to maximize health and functional capacity of older people as
well as their social participation and security. Plank etal (2011) describe the same
phenomena about the elderly that 65 years old population in all over the world,
especially in developed world, because the prevalence of old people is increasing
and the prevalence of children being born is decreasing.
Ageing is an inevitable development phenomenon about number of
changes in the physical, psychological, hormonal and social conditions. The
definition of elderly or aged is varied from society to society. There is no fixed age
at which a person being to be aged. It varies widely from one individual to another.
In general ageing is defined as those who have completed 60 years of age. 8% of
the population was recorded 60 years and above in 2011 census, it expected to
increase its share to 12.5% and by 2026 and 2050 respectively. According to
population census 2011, there are nearly 104 million elderly persons (aged 60 years
or above) in India; 53 million females and 51 million males. With the onset of the
21 st, the growing security of the older person in India is very visible. Older people
are living together, causing stress in joint and extended families. Even where they
are co-residing marginalization, isolation and insecurity is felt among older person
due to generation gap and change in life styles.
Ageing in Kerala is in its bad track record of social development indicators when
compared to the standard of living of elderly in foreign countries. Among this
elderly population only small group of people were literate. Only the literate people
are more feasible to use the electronic gadgets.
In the study “active aging – enhancing digital literacies in elderly citizens.” (2018)
Being digital and information literate is so crucial nowadays society, although not
every citizen has the necessary means and resources to achieve these skills
especially the older ones. Therefore, it is necessary to develop ways to help them
to enhance their digital and information competency. A digital literate society is a
precursor to a knowledge-based society requiring specific skills from their citizens
including elderly citizens to facilitate an active aging. The digitally literate involves:
Know how to access information and know how to collect it from virtual and digital
environments.
Manage and organize information to be able to use it in the future.
Evaluate, integrate, interpret, and compare information from multiple sources.
Create and generate knowledge by adapting applying and recreating new
information.
Communicate and information to different and varied audience through
appropriate means.
The feeling of loneliness appears associated with a reduced social work, being
associated with social isolation, which triggers some disturbances in self-esteem
and quality of life for the elderly. Social loneliness occurs when a person feels a lack
of belonging to the community or to establish social ties leaving a mixture of
feelings of rejection and non-acceptance. In fact, loneliness is a subjective feeling
associated with the quality of social interaction not with the quality of social
contact and may due to the emotional pain of losing someone very special or
marginalization of social ties. Digital literacy has been an asset to the dissemination
of information and knowledge through various digital tools ensuring forms of
socialization that will benefit elderly on the fight of the loneliness and social
isolation.
In the study “The Digital Literacy of Seniors” (2016) gives the empirical results for
the media use and media behavior. Besides gender professional position and
education qualification, age and affiliation to a generation are in terms of our
country origin or culture the most significant predicators of whether someone is
familiar with the computer and the internet, whether they used in the personal life
or in the professional life. This article focuses principally on the German situation
because the relative increase in the proportion of elderly people in that country
has advanced the furthest in comparison with the rest of the world. On another
study named “Uses of Digital Tools Among Elderly” gives the relation of the elderly
to information and communication technologies and approach two discovered
objectives are; to discover the technological resources they use and to objectively
describe the types of usage that senior citizen’s male the use of information and
communication technology. This study was concluded that the resources are most
widely used by the elderly are computers and the internet and the type of usage is
divided into four groups. Education information, communication and
entertainment.
In the study “The Capacity of Elderly Citizens to Access Digital Media” gives the idea
that about 60% of the population uses internet daily. However, among the elderly
the percentage is drastically lower. This study describes about the new initiatives
that followed in the European countries that with respect to the frequency of
access to new media and the use citizens make of them. This study refers to when
there is a source of opportunity for the information and communication
technologies to improve quality of life and as a medium for more active social
participation.
METHODOLOGY:
The methodology adopted for the study entitled " Digital Literacy among Elderly in
Thiruvananthapuram" is discussed under the following heads:
3.1. Locale of the study:
Thiruvananthapuram being the capital city of Kerala was selected as the locale for
the study. The samples were randomly collected from urban areas of the
Trivandrum district.
3.2. Study population
Samples belonging to the age group of 60+ were selected for the study. population
was categorized to younger old, middle old older old (60-70), (70-80) & (80+)
respectively. For the present study 50 aged people from each gender is selected as
the sample.
3.3. Study Design:
The selection of tool is very important for the success of the study. For every type
of research, we need certain tools to gather information. The design of the study
be as follows:

(1) Interview schedule

 Data regarding baseline information of the samples be collected using
Interview schedule, it comprising personal socio- economic status, knowledge of
elderly among the electronic gadgets and the attitude of elderly towards the social
media.

3.4. Pilot Study

In order to check the feasibility of the study and tools prepared, a pilot study is
conducted among 10 aged populations which includes 5 females and 5 male
samples. Necessary modification made on light of the result of the study and the
tools is finalized accordingly.

3.5. Collection of data

Both primary and secondary data is collected for the present study.
3.6. Statistical Analysis
The collected data is statistically analyzed and interpreted using appropriate
statistical techniques.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

In this study it can found that now a days around most of the peoples were used
the android phones/ smart phones. In this survey only around 20% of the people
were used the base mobile phones or the keypad phones.100% of the samples
were completely aware about the television operations but at the same time about
60% of the samples were able to use the computer. The group who have the smart
phones are well knowned about the social medias like Facebook, watsup, twitter,
Instagram etc.…. Around all the population were studied from their grandchildren
or children that how to operate this phone and how to use these applications. By
the usage of this smart phones to avoid the loneliness, to avoid the boredom etc.
the purposive action of social medias among the elderly was like entertainment,
chatting, reading, watching pictures and videos, social updates and online
shopping. From this study it was very clear that digital literacy has a significant role
in the elderly group

CONCLUSION
From the study it was revealed that, even though social media is an inevitable
factor in the old age. Commonly old age is considered as evening period of life. But
this study clearly shows that old age is not a barrier to access the digital world. Most
of the elderly people were so active in the social medias like Instagram, Facebook,
watsup, twitter etc. not only this social media but also in they use various
applications to avoid the boredom of their life. In this study it can be concluded
that the digital literacy among elderly people is in wide range.

REFERENCES: -
1. Levintan J Daniel (2017) Successful ageing
2. Glister Paul (2018) Digital literacy
3. Johnson L Malcolm – Age and Ageing
4. Active aging – enhancing digital literacies in elderly citizens
5. The Digital Literacy of Seniors