Resistance Matters: An Investigation of Readiness of the Elderly People for Digitalization
摘要
Now a day, every society is moving toward digitalization. In fact, after the break out of Covid-19, the importance of a sound digital system becomes an indispensable societal need. Although the entire society is upgrading the digital platforms with advanced technologies, there is little emphasis in the literature, on digital inclusion. To bridge this gap, our study attempts to understand the acceptance of digital methods by the elderly population. The objective of the study is to measure the extent of overall resistance and adoption of digital systems among people 60 years and above. The study uses a primary survey of 476 elderly people in Kerala. The findings suggest that resistance factors like short-term thinking and cognitive rigidity are more common among people than routine seeking and emotional conflict. The study also shows that the majority of the aged people do not have Internet access. Only a small fraction of older population can perform basic online activities by themselves and most of them are completely ignorant. The study concludes that both resistance to change and lack of knowledge impose a huge hindrance for elderly people to adopt the digital system to perform basic online tasks.