In recent years, Japan is confronted with the aging society
problem, which is one of the most serious problems in Japan. The
reason is that it will damage not only economy of Japan, but also
our lives. On this problem, Japanese government, experts, and
institutions are trying to find effective countermeasure. There
are mainly two serious problems in aging society that have to be
considered; one is enrichment of medical care and welfare
service, as the number of elderly people increases. The other is
that how to pay for these programs, because there is happening
not only increase of elderly people, but also decrease of
children, so there will be less people who pay for the programs.
Two possible measures are, to create new welfare service and to
construct new information system about it so that people can
actually use these services. Additionally, it would be effective
to increase the number of workers who will bear the cost. For
that, it is necessary to encourage especially elderly people to
work and to participate in society. To accomplish them, there is
a possible tool; the Internet. The Internet will be one of the
effective tools to cope with the aging society, because the
Internet offers opportunities to participate in society.
Specifically, my paper will answer the following questions.
- What is the aging society? What are the problems?
- What are the specific uses and their characteristics of the Internet?
How can the Internet help to solve the problems
of the aging society?
- Are there any potential problems with using the Internet?
(1) What is the aging society? What are the
problems?
Before referring to the relationship between the aging society
and Internet, it is necessary to define the aging society, and
discuss what will be needed. According to the definition of
"aging society" by United Nations, when the percentage of
population of people over 65 years old is more than seven
percent, that society will be called "aging society". In Japan,
in 1970, the percentage of elderly people became 7.1 percent, and
in 1994, it became 14. 1 percent, so Japan is clearly an aging
society (Kaneko, 1995). According to the research by National
Institute of Population Social Security Research (1998), in 2025,
it is expected that the percentage of population of people over
65 years old would be over 27 percent.
Therefore, as the number of the elderly people increase, the
demand for medical care and welfare services will increase, and
it will be necessary to provide those services properly. For
that, the government has to make an effort to improve these
services, for example, increase the number of doctors and social
workers, and provide more efficiently. At the same time, they
have to provide welfare services which people can lead their
lives with relief, and can support each other. However, as
Morimoto (1998) claims, even if the government or other
volunteers provide the services, it will not work unless those
who need the services have information; that is, unless they know
how and where to take the services. Therefore, it is necessary to
construct the information system so that those people can get
information about the welfare services they need.
At the same time, cost for the welfare and medical services
will be much bigger than now, and the government and nations have
to manage the cost. Then, here is the data of cost and nation's
charge. According to Executive Office of Advisory Council on
Social Security (1998), the rate of insurance for the welfare
pension is 19.5 percent in 2000, but in 2025, it will rise to
34.5 percent. Also, the amount of insurance per month for the
national pension is yen 14,200 in 2000, however, in 2025 it will
rise to yen 24,300. Consequently, both the rate and the amount of
insurance for the pension will almost double. To manage the cost,
there are two possible measures; increase the number of worker,
that is, the number of people who pay the cost, and also,
encourage elderly people to participate in society. Also, the
government and nations have to make an effort to reduce the cost
for medical and welfare services. For that, to try to prevent
people from being illness, with constant health management. Then,
there is the means to support these two problems of providing
services and of managing the cost; the Internet, and let's take a
look at the Internet in next section.
(2) What are the specific uses and characteristics of the
Internet?
How can the Internet help to solve the problems
of the aging
society?
The Internet has four main uses that could help these two
problems in the aging society; improvement of welfare and medical
services, and management on the cost of services. First, e-mail
is one of the most popular and common uses of the Internet. As
Giffords(1998) notes, "one advantage of e-mail over what is
commonly referred to as 'snail-mail' by many Internet users is
that it allows a person to send or receive mail quickly and at
any time"(p224). Also, e-mail can be sent one-to-one, one-to
many, many-to many (Lindlof & Shatzer, 1998). E-mail is sent
to recipients through a network, so it does not matter where the
recipients live, and people can easily contact with others
anywhere in the world.
Second, there are Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). BBS are also
called "message board", and the participants can leave or read
messages about a specific topic. "One advantage of BBS is that
members do not have to be online simultaneously to communicate.
On AOL (America OnLine) there is a social work forum containing
numerous BBS where several discussions take place at once.
Message boards are also a terrific source for self-help. Members
give and receive information and offer support to one another.
These message boards are typically the initial meeting place for
people who often develop important friendships continued through
e-mail and public and private online support group chats"
(Giffords, 1998, p.247).
Next, there are "Chats", and they include electronic
conferences, chats, and interrelay chats, and these live
conversations are all called "Chats". Giffords(1998) explains
that chats provide a place where people can "talk" lively with
others by typing what they want to say, and it is like real
meeting. There are global conferences which "knowledge is
discussed and debated", and those conversations are often
dynamic. The participants are very various, like politicians,
academicians, etc. Also, these live chats can provide
information. For example, on AOL there is a chat group which aims
at support people who are coping with serious diseases. They can
not only talk with others and share similar suffers, but also
they can find others who really understand each condition.
Therefore, it not only provides information and support, but also
encourages those people to participate in society.
Finally, there is World Wide Web (WWW). Giffords(1998) notes
that, "the Web is a small piece of the Internet that offers a
tremendous amount of resources and knowledge. By simply clicking
the mouse on these areas, the user is immediately connected to
another location. Consequently, by clicking on these
sophisticated graphics and text, users have instant access to
information of all kind from various locations, Web
sites"(p.246).
These uses of the Internet enable people, including elderly
people to participate in society by releasing people from
difficulties in action and making time. As a result of that,
those who couldn't have an opportunity to participate in society
so far will learn to be able to work as well, because they could
work at home or anywhere, and that form of work is called
"Tele-work"(Yoshizaki, 1997). Furthermore, the Internet will help
people to get information of services they need, and to support
each other. Additionally, Tsuda (1996) notes, through the
Internet people can consult doctors regardless of where the
doctors are, and it is called "Tele-medicine". Therefore, with
Tele-medicine people can consult doctors more constantly than
now, and it would be useful to prevent people from illness, and
it would help to reduce the cost for medical care. Consequently,
the Internet would be able to help to pay for the programs of
services, as well as to improve the medical and welfare services,
and for these aspects, the Internet will be help for the aging
society.
(3) Are there any potential problems with
using the Internet?
While there are many beneficial aspects of the Internet, there
are also potential problems, and one of them is accessibility to
the Internet. Even if the information system is constructed, and
the Internet becomes very common, it is not useful unless those
who need services can access to the information. To access to the
Internet, people have to use some appliances, like personal
computers, and now, other information appliances are appearing,
such as TVs, fax machines unlike personal computers, which are
simple and connected with the Internet (Burrows, 1999).
Furthermore, with even the mobile phones, which are very small
and convenient, people can use the Internet and get the
information they need (Elstrom, 1999). However, there are a lot
of elderly people who have difficulties in sight, hearing, and
moving their bodies. In fact, these appliances have been becoming
easy to use, for example, touch panel, hand-writing input, and
voice input, however, it is not enough for many elderly people to
use them (Okamoto, 1997). At the same time, cost for the Internet
could be problem. Actually, though the Internet fee is becoming
inexpensive, these appliances themselves still cost a lot of
money.
Another potential problem is privacy of individual. To search
and take medical and welfare services people need, they have to
tell others, doctors or social workers their conditions and what
they need. In fact, people do not want this personal information
to be known by others. As Okamoto (1997) points out, it depends
on the contents of the information whether the information needs
high privacy. For example, a substance abuse support group must
need high level of privacy, because it deals with very sensitive
information. Also, in fact quite a few conversations or messages
can be monitored yet (Lindlof & Shatzer, 1998). As Keohane
(1998) asserts, systems will be necessary to control the Internet
to protect users' privacy form being abused by criminal users.
Therefore, it is indispensable to secure individual's privacy,
and to prevent information from being monitored. For that, the
Internet needs security system with checking the visitors to the
Internet.
As we can see, there are several uses of the Internet, and
they are effecting on human life, especially ways of
communication. Meanwhile, there are potential problems, such as
accessibility to the Internet and individual's privacy. However,
in conclusion, though there are some tasks that have to be solved
in the Internet, the Internet will be one of the solutions for
the aging society. The reason is that the Internet enables people
to communicate with others anywhere in the world, and to seek
information they need, therefore people can get opportunities to
participate in society, and to receive services they need.
Furthermore, that can improve present medical and welfare
services, and can help to manage the cost for services.
Of course, there still remain problems of accessibility and
privacy, however, these problems are within the technical
aspects, so as the security system and the appliances make
progress and become accessible, these problems will be solved.
When these problems are solved, the anxiety to the Internet among
people will be taken away. When the anxiety is taken away, the
Internet would be great help for our lives. However, even if
there appear new technologies, the Internet, it is meaningless
unless people will use these technologies. After all, it is human
beings that use the Internet, so if people do not use it, the
Internet is just only one of the technologies. Consequently, it
is not enough that the Internet approach human beings by becoming
accessible and safe. That is, it is necessary for human beings to
be active and to try to learn the Internet. Therefore, it is
necessary to make the Internet really meaningful, both the
accessible and safe Internet and active attitude of human being
toward the Internet. When these two things are completed, the
Internet would be able to really help the problems in aging
society to be solved.
by Go Kimura
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