The digital divide leaving older Australians behind

Such is the pace of change in this digital world, I am concerned that some will be left behind, writes Bernard Salt. Picture: istock

In the last decade of the last century, the job of petrol pump attendant disappeared as self-service facilities emerged. Here is a job that reached its zenith in the 1980s, and is today regarded as a curio of a bygone era. All kinds of jobs rise and fall over time.

In the 1990s a new job emerged: call centre operator. And yet barely 30 years later this job, too, has peaked. I’m not sure that call centres will exist by 2030, at least not in their current form; they will have been replaced by AI chatbots dealing online with customers.

Also well past their peak, I think, are checkout operators. Is there any big-box retailer who hasn’t worked out the cost-saving of switching from rows of staffed checkouts to a bank of self-service kiosks overseen by a single staff member?

Carparks have been automated, and at airports there’s no need for a physical ticket when boarding a plane. Baggage is now self-checked. Even passport control is managed by facial recognition. Generally there is a helpful staff member in the vicinity, ready to assist.

Cinema tickets are bought online and checked at the door by phone. Medical appointments are booked online via an app; Medicare rebates are synced to bank accounts. Prescriptions can be emailed direct to pharmacists, who then text patients to advise that their script has been filled. Payment can be Tap & Go. Pick-up can be Click & Collect.

But surely the place where customer service has transitioned farthest and fastest is the unique realm of today’s social media platforms. If there are problems with security or access or things just not working as they should, the solution is never to actually speak with a representative of the company. The solution is always to manage the situation yourself. And if you don’t have the skills or the time to work through to a solution, well, that’s your problem. Here is the brutal, clinical frontier of where the digital world wants to take us.

The biggest US-based social media companies deal with billions of customers globally. The only way this business model can exist, let alone prosper, is if this customer base manages its own problems. Hence the rise of the FAQ wasteland where the questions are never quite en pointe.

However did we learn to navigate all of today’s technology? The answer is that we learnt from each other, and from helpful staff; we learnt by accessing and tapping into the collective skills of our community. Many of modern life’s essential skills have been picked up along the way. But where do you learn about technology requirements such as multi-factor authentication if you’re not in the workforce and don’t have in-the-moment access to colleagues or friends who are knowledgeable about such matters?

We are being drawn further into a technology-enriched world. But this world only works if you have access to the skills required to navigate problems that arise.

Such is the pace of change in this digital world, I am concerned that some will be left behind – including the elderly and those not in a workforce surrounded by accessible skillsets. What will emerge from this trajectory is a divide that shapes the quality of life for the digital haves and the digital have-nots.