Sunday, March 7, 2021

Smart Phones for Seniors in Tokyo

I read an interesting item on SoraNews24 about older Tokyo residents and smart phones. 


In Shibuya Ward in Tokyo, the local government wants elderly residents to upgrade their flip phones to smart phones and is going to pay for the upgrade! The Shibuya government has a plan to provide 3,000 smartphones to senior citizens living in the ward by September. 


The local authorities found that senior citizens without smart phones had a hard time getting evacuation and shelter warnings during typhoons and disasters, including the current pandemic. If seniors could take care of things online with a smart phone, it would also cut down on standing in lines and being in contact with other people.  


The government will be covering all calling and date plan costs, but seniors receiving the new phones will be responsible for costs relating to mobile game purchases or adult video site memberships.

4 comments:

Queeniepatch said...

Amazing!
I searched for and read the article. It doesn't make clear though who will be selected, there are certainly more than 3000 senior citizens in Shibuya and!!! This might turn out to be extremely unfair. Will those who already have a smartphone have their pay plans paid by the municipality, too? If not, there will be uproar!

Jeanie said...

I wish they'd do that here and I'd switch my flip to a smart in a heartbeat!

Vireya said...

It sounds like a good idea in theory. But some people just don't want to use any sort of mobile phone, smart or not. I have never been able to persuade my parents that mobile phones are handy things to have.

Leonore Winterer said...

That's a pretty cool idea, actually. Not all older people are so set in their way that they can't learn something new - for instance, my grandma loves online shopping, and it's a great comfort to her since she couldn't leave her house much even before the pandemic!