• What Happened↵
- With increased financial digitization, banks are shutting down their brick-and-mortar stores around the country.↵
- Throughout the pandemic, the elderly have struggled to access basic items such as masks using digital tools.↵
- More recently, their inability to quickly claim leftover vaccines through an online system left them at a disadvantage compared to the younger, tech-savvy population.↵
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• Implications: Digitization of service sector further isolates an already-vulnerable community: the elderly. The growth of contact less tools and financial transactions have reduced accessibility for the elderly despite the government's attempts to improve digital education and ownership of smart devices. For instance, the proportion of those in their 60s and 70s who rely on digital banking is significantly lower than the rest of the population. Correspondingly, the reduction in the number of physical bank branches and bank tellers has constrained the elderly community's access to these services. The national government is concerned that the digital gap between generations is continuing to widen, affecting the elderly's access to not only financial services but also health services or even basic goods.