Reconnect with younger generation

 At what age do you consider yourself   “old”? 60 ? 70 ? According to the definition by The Free Dictionary, a senior citizen is anyone over the age of 60, or in some cases, over the age of 65. By this definition, China has more than 214 million elderly people  .  Old age may mean flaccid muscles and sluggish movements . . . However, what worries some elderly Chinese most is the growing distance between themselves and the young.

Nearly every week, volunteers from SEE YOUNG, an non-profit organization based in Beijing ,share some of their Internet-related knowledge with the elders ,such as how to use WeChat ( an all-in-one message app in  China ),how to shop online, etc.  Like the name of the group, SEE YOUNG, every member of the group is YOUNG, mostly college students. They provide one-to-one teaching services for Beijing seniors who are eager to learn to use their smartphones and Internet knowledge.

In this era of Internet, the way of communication have been completely transformed. Instead of phone call or short messages, various social media have become the main means of communication. The constantly updated applications are keep reminding people that  the fast pace of the Internet age, and all of those changes are somewhat too much to digest for the elders.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics' 2016 data, the size of elderly Internet users in China is 80 million, and 60% of elderly Internet users do not live with their children.  Communication is also one of the most important needs for many senior netizen.

When all the connections in the world are minimized to a small screen of a mobile phone, the digital divide between elderly and millennial is growing. More and more Chinese elderly are trying to bridge the gap with younger  generation by learning the knowledge of the Internet, and actively try to understand the world of young people.