Research About The Obstacles Of Use Of The Internet To The Elderly In China From The Perspective Of The Digital Divide

The number of Internet user of the elderly people in China is considerably less,whichcauses serious digital divide between the elderly people and the masses.Under thebackground of aging of population,the article researches and analyzes the obstacles of use ofthe Internet to the elderly people from the perspective of reducing digital divide.It is helpfulto the elderly pepole to share the information convenience and reintegrate themselves intosociety and paticipate in social life.In order to deepen the reasearch,the article will collect data though questionaire andinterview.The reasearch will make questionaire in relation to the obstacles of use of theInternet to the elderly people based on concerned theories such as the theories of DigitalDivide,Diffusion of Innovation,Balance between New media and Need,Spiral of Silence aswell as external and internal documents .Then choose proper amount of the elderly peopleconforming to the request.The reasearch classifies and analyzes the obstacles the elderly pepole usually meet.Theappearance of the obstacles are following points: many elderly pepole have no idea how touse the Internet;the lack of resouce hinders elderly pepole from accessing and use of theInternet;elderly pepole can’t adapt themselves to present Internet environment and havedifficuties searching for useful intelligence;lack of surpport from surroundings;lack of properattitude toward the Internrt and interest in using the Internet.These points keep many elderlypepole away from the Internet.In order to solve these obstacles,the article analyzes reseaons from perspective of thetheories of Digital Divide,Diffusion of Innovation,Balance between New media andNeed,The Spiral of Silence.The reasons are following points:no ability to master text inputmethod and have no idea how to search or screen the correct information;false informationspreading on Internet and the fear of high-tech product lead to that elderly pepole are notwilling to use the Internet;elderly pepole have little right of discourse on Internet;lack supportfrom society and family;decreasing of physical functions such as auditory and vision of theelderly hinder them from use of the Internet like the normal.The article puts forward someconcrete measures from the perspective of construction of right of discourse onInternet,network environment with information accessibility as well as social environmentthat supports the elderly to make contact with the Internet.