THE ELDERLY'S ADAPTABILITY TO DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY: A SOCIOLOGICAL SURVEY IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Abstract

Through a survey with 256 elderly people in Ho Chi Minh City, the article studies: (1). Level of adaptability of digital technology (DT) of the elderly in some aspects, (2). Their attitudes about the role of DT in daily life. The results from data analysis show that more than 81,0% of the elderly use DT devices and gradually decrease as they get older. However, they rarely access and use DT applications for health care, except for COVID-19 prevention and control applications. Elderly people adapt flexibly, love "reading online and electronic newspapers", "livestream public talks", "watching movies, listening to music online" and expanding their digital life, but also love being active in the real world, face-to-face social interaction. In particular, 86,6% of the elderly support the use of DT to improve quality of life and give positive comments on its role in their lives.