Security concerns hold tech-savvy seniors back

Maintaining social connections at every stage of life is vital for wellbeing. Digital technology has provided new, effective ways for people to engage with others and maintain independence, even when family and friends live far away. However, potential barriers such as a lack of access to technology, low digital literacy and cyber safety concerns can hold people back.

Understanding the experiences of older Australians is key to advocating on their behalf and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to live their best life.

To this end, our research team recently surveyed just over 1,000 Australians aged 65-plus via an online panel to generate insights and inform a future pilot training program we will run.

One of our key learnings was that technology use is widespread and a key to older people keeping connected. Despite what popular culture would have us believe, mobile phones (94 per cent), emails (98 per cent), texts (93 per cent) and the internet (85 per cent) are used by the overwhelming majority of senior Australians.

One in two older Australians are using social media every day and use of videos calls (48 per cent) is now more common than use of landlines (45 per cent).

Far less positive is that 80 per cent of Australians aged 65-plus are concerned about the security of their personal information when using online services. Privacy and security concerns are the most common limitation to using technology, well above physical, financial, or language-related limitations.

Concerningly, 17 per cent reported that they have been the victim of an online, email or text message scam where they lost money and only 10 per cent are very confident in their ability to stay safe online. In fact, 34 per cent of older Australians have never booked a holiday or restaurant online, and 19 per cent have never shopped online.

We can do something about this. One in two older Australians would like to improve their knowledge further so they can do more things online. There is strong interest, in particular, in learning more about avoiding online scams, recognising phishing emails or texts, safe online banking practices and password security.

Technology has the power to revolutionise the way we deliver care

These are actionable insights that Benetas is pleased to share so that the needs of older Australians are more clearly understood and can therefore be addressed. For our part, we are using this evidence to develop a cyber safety training program that caters to the needs of older Victorians.

As our sector looks at how we can evolve to meet the changing needs of older Australians, there’s no doubt that we need to think differently about how we engage and deliver services.?

From helping to educate people on how to navigate the complexities of the aged care system, promoting wellbeing initiatives that help people to age well, to leveraging assistive technology to support people to live in their home safely and independently, we know that technology has the power to revolutionise the way we deliver care.?

But in order to realise this opportunity we must ensure that we are investing in programs that can support older Australians to safely and confidently use technology, so that they can stay connected to their community and have greater choices available to them as they age.?

This article was published in the Australian Ageing Agenda dated 16 July 2024 and was written by Sandra Hills OAM, Chief Executive Officer at Benetas.