Tag Archives: digital divide

Elderly couple in Japan, Source flickr.com, Author Jordi Sanchez, Teruel (CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic)

Developed countries are experiencing a significant population decline [1].  

The size of the workforce in developed countries is shrinking, while the proportion of older men and women is rising due to longer life expectancies, lower fertility rates, and lower birth rates (this last attributed in part to a rise in LGBTQ identification).  Reliance on social services by an aging population is meanwhile on the rise.

This is impacting national economies, defense, housing, education, and culture [2].  There is, also, a potential impact on child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, and elder abuse.

Japan

Japan’s population has been shrinking for the past 15 years [3][4].  The stress of urban life is taking a heavy toll.  Technology can only replace human beings in certain labor sectors. 

A growing number of businesses in Japan now cater to parties of one:  restaurants, bars, karaoke clubs…even wedding chapels.  So called “alternative romance” is highly in vogue among the young, with robots replacing human beings in relationships and marriage to inanimate objects seen as acceptable.  

Meanwhile, the elderly are being left behind in the digital revolution [5].  There is a widening rift between tech-savvy youth and digitally challenged seniors.  Only 54.2% of Japanese aged 65-74 use smartphones, compared with 85% of American seniors. Only 7.2% of Japanese over age 80 use the internet, compared with 44% of Americans of similar age. 

This is greatly increasing social isolation among the elderly, as well as a deepening the generational divide. Continue reading →