Social sciences could have helped ease tech issues for the elderly

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least two answers to the question “Whither social sciences grads in a tech-driven world?” (Aug 1).

First, sociology graduates, conscious of how society could be segmented by age, gender and education, might have advised caution in the SingPass two-factor authentication (2FA) exercise, which did not help Singaporeans in the oldest age group.

Many of them do not even own smartphones and would have to buy one to ensure that they can go online, which I doubt.

Social gerontologists would have suggested a rigorous cohort analysis and come up with appropriate solutions.

Older people of a certain profile usually rely on their children or grandchildren to help them transact official business. Forcing them to get 2FA was unnecessary and maybe even cruel.

Some might now need to turn to a non-relative — whose intentions might not always be altruistic — to log in to their SingPass, where a wealth of sensitive data is stored.

Second, as we do need to get older people online, an ethnographer might observe how technological terminology could mean different things to some older people (Feeling lost in a digital world, some elderly shun technology; July 28, online).

In my experience, I had to get older learners to unlearn terms such as “icon” (religious figures/art), “menu” (a food list) and task/scroll/side bars (a bar that offers alcoholic drinks) before I could teach them what these terms mean.

Technology is only as good as its designers and users. Wherever there are people, there is culture. Wherever there is culture, there is a need for specialists such as social anthropologists.