In 2020, in the midst of the health contingency, vulnerable elderly people emerged as one of the groups hardest hit by the pandemic. Isolation and mobility restrictions caused many of them to be away from their families, isolated, making their digital integration even more urgent.
However, a significant portion of this segment did not have access to technology or did not possess the digital skills to use it. To address this reality, the Fundación Conecta Mayor UC organized a campaign that, in coordination with 336 municipalities, allowed the delivery of cell phones with a specially adapted interface to 80,000 vulnerable elderly people from the north to the south of the country. Within this framework, Entel donated 80,000 cell phone plans for the beneficiaries.
“From the UC we are committed to the inclusion of the elderly in all areas. Thanks to a virtuous ecosystem, made up of academia, the State through the Servicio Nacional del Adulto Mayor, local governments, Entel and thousands of Chilean men and women, National we were able to gather resources to develop 80 thousand devices specially designed for the elderly. In addition, this project, which arose in the midst of a pandemic, confirms the importance for the country when all of us in this society unite to seek and implement solutions to the major problems we face today in Chile", explained the rector Ignacio Sanchez.
With this, Conecta Mayor UC, in alliance with the technology and telecommunications company, was able to study the use that this segment of people give to their cell phones. For 31% of the beneficiaries, the donated device was their first cell phone, while for 61% it was their first smartphone. Likewise, 97% stated that they used their cell phone to communicate and, of this percentage, 25% said they did so to talk only with their families. Among the 72% who claimed to use their cell phone to communicate also with non-family members, mainly with public institutions, friends, neighbors, other networks and the Conecta Mayor Accompaniment Central. In fact, the permanent telephone accompaniment service for conversation, assistance, guidance and training is used by about 30% of the foundation’s users, and about a third of the calls received by this Central are at night and on weekends, when there are no other assistance services. In the last quarter, a total of 5,240 effective hours of conversation were recorded, equivalent to 218 continuous days of conversation in a 90-day period. This explains, among other things, why 91% provided for feeling safer since receiving the device.
“We have already digitally integrated almost 80 thousand elderly people, all over 70, belonging to 40% of the most vulnerable population. An achievement that makes us proud, but from which we can draw lessons: we have understood the urgency of digitally integrating this group. Because society today is digital. If we leave them out of technological progress, we isolate them, failing to take advantage of all they have to give to the country. We understand that this is just the beginning", explains Eduardo Toro, executive director of Conecta Mayor UC.
Regarding data traffic, it was observed that users who traffic more data talk less minutes and, on the contrary, those who talk more traffic less data. Likewise, in relation to calls, beneficiaries went from consuming 66% of the total minutes contemplated in the plan, in January 2021, to 42% in April 2022, which shows how, in a few months, the use that seniors give to their cell phones changed and they started to receive more calls than they make.
“At Entel, we have witnessed the important role that technology has played in this health crisis, whether to perform our usual tasks at home, work and education, as well as to carry out procedures that we used to do in person. These years of working together have allowed us to break down prejudices, such as older people not being interested in exploring and using technology. We have seen how their habits have been changing and how they use their devices, showing that they have the same need as anyone else to get on board with digitalization", explained Entel’s CEO, Antonio Büchi.
“With the experience of Conecta Mayor, a type of public policy that will be essential for the times to come has become visible: it was born in a difficult context of a pandemic to keep the elderly in communication, in particular. I would like to emphasize that a virtuous ecosystem of different actors has been built here, to be able to advance in the issues of digitalization, to close the digital gap that affects, with greater force, the most isolated territories, as well as the elderly, and especially older women. As president of the Senate’s Transport and Telecommunications Commission, I value this initiative tremendously and we will certainly seek to support it strongly as part of the Chile 2035 Digital Transformation Strategy", added Senator Ximena Órdenes.
Applications and interface
In that line, in relation to the applications most used by the beneficiaries of Conecta Mayor UC, it was evidenced that the most used is Facebook with 14.4%, followed by YouTube with 12.1%, Netflix with 9.3% and TikTok with 8.9%. These figures reflect that, like the rest of the users, people over 70 also interact in the digital ecosystem, making use of social networks and streaming platforms.
Considering that, for most of these people, the cell phone to receive would be their first smartphone, the Conecta Mayor UC team worked with Entel Ocean, Entel’s digital unit, in the design of a special interface for them. This allows the equipment to have a different usability, considering their needs and uses. This interface has three screens, larger buttons and specific predefined functionalities that allow them to easily call priority contacts, connect with the Conecta Mayor Support Center, emergency services, the municipality or the Cesfam that corresponds to them. It also has WhatsApp, camera and radio.
The ideation and prototyping process was carried out by an interdisciplinary team that included designers, developers, sociologists, engineers, anthropologists and social workers, among others, in order to have a comprehensive view of the specific needs of the users.
11 Ago, 2022
In 2020, in the midst of the health contingency, vulnerable elderly people emerged as one of the groups hardest hit by the pandemic. Isolation and mobility restrictions caused many of them to be away from their families, isolated, making their digital integration even more urgent.
However, a significant portion of this segment did not have access to technology or did not possess the digital skills to use it. To address this reality, the Fundación Conecta Mayor UC organized a campaign that, in coordination with 336 municipalities, allowed the delivery of cell phones with a specially adapted interface to 80,000 vulnerable elderly people from the north to the south of the country. Within this framework, Entel donated 80,000 cell phone plans for the beneficiaries.
“From the UC we are committed to the inclusion of the elderly in all areas. Thanks to a virtuous ecosystem, made up of academia, the State through the Servicio Nacional del Adulto Mayor, local governments, Entel and thousands of Chilean men and women, National we were able to gather resources to develop 80 thousand devices specially designed for the elderly. In addition, this project, which arose in the midst of a pandemic, confirms the importance for the country when all of us in this society unite to seek and implement solutions to the major problems we face today in Chile", explained the rector Ignacio Sanchez.
With this, Conecta Mayor UC, in alliance with the technology and telecommunications company, was able to study the use that this segment of people give to their cell phones. For 31% of the beneficiaries, the donated device was their first cell phone, while for 61% it was their first smartphone. Likewise, 97% stated that they used their cell phone to communicate and, of this percentage, 25% said they did so to talk only with their families. Among the 72% who claimed to use their cell phone to communicate also with non-family members, mainly with public institutions, friends, neighbors, other networks and the Conecta Mayor Accompaniment Central. In fact, the permanent telephone accompaniment service for conversation, assistance, guidance and training is used by about 30% of the foundation’s users, and about a third of the calls received by this Central are at night and on weekends, when there are no other assistance services. In the last quarter, a total of 5,240 effective hours of conversation were recorded, equivalent to 218 continuous days of conversation in a 90-day period. This explains, among other things, why 91% provided for feeling safer since receiving the device.
“We have already digitally integrated almost 80 thousand elderly people, all over 70, belonging to 40% of the most vulnerable population. An achievement that makes us proud, but from which we can draw lessons: we have understood the urgency of digitally integrating this group. Because society today is digital. If we leave them out of technological progress, we isolate them, failing to take advantage of all they have to give to the country. We understand that this is just the beginning", explains Eduardo Toro, executive director of Conecta Mayor UC.
Regarding data traffic, it was observed that users who traffic more data talk less minutes and, on the contrary, those who talk more traffic less data. Likewise, in relation to calls, beneficiaries went from consuming 66% of the total minutes contemplated in the plan, in January 2021, to 42% in April 2022, which shows how, in a few months, the use that seniors give to their cell phones changed and they started to receive more calls than they make.
“At Entel, we have witnessed the important role that technology has played in this health crisis, whether to perform our usual tasks at home, work and education, as well as to carry out procedures that we used to do in person. These years of working together have allowed us to break down prejudices, such as older people not being interested in exploring and using technology. We have seen how their habits have been changing and how they use their devices, showing that they have the same need as anyone else to get on board with digitalization", explained Entel’s CEO, Antonio Büchi.
“With the experience of Conecta Mayor, a type of public policy that will be essential for the times to come has become visible: it was born in a difficult context of a pandemic to keep the elderly in communication, in particular. I would like to emphasize that a virtuous ecosystem of different actors has been built here, to be able to advance in the issues of digitalization, to close the digital gap that affects, with greater force, the most isolated territories, as well as the elderly, and especially older women. As president of the Senate’s Transport and Telecommunications Commission, I value this initiative tremendously and we will certainly seek to support it strongly as part of the Chile 2035 Digital Transformation Strategy", added Senator Ximena Órdenes.
Applications and interface
In that line, in relation to the applications most used by the beneficiaries of Conecta Mayor UC, it was evidenced that the most used is Facebook with 14.4%, followed by YouTube with 12.1%, Netflix with 9.3% and TikTok with 8.9%. These figures reflect that, like the rest of the users, people over 70 also interact in the digital ecosystem, making use of social networks and streaming platforms.
Considering that, for most of these people, the cell phone to receive would be their first smartphone, the Conecta Mayor UC team worked with Entel Ocean, Entel’s digital unit, in the design of a special interface for them. This allows the equipment to have a different usability, considering their needs and uses. This interface has three screens, larger buttons and specific predefined functionalities that allow them to easily call priority contacts, connect with the Conecta Mayor Support Center, emergency services, the municipality or the Cesfam that corresponds to them. It also has WhatsApp, camera and radio.
The ideation and prototyping process was carried out by an interdisciplinary team that included designers, developers, sociologists, engineers, anthropologists and social workers, among others, in order to have a comprehensive view of the specific needs of the users.
In 2020, in the midst of the health contingency, vulnerable elderly people emerged as one of the groups hardest hit by the pandemic. Isolation and mobility restrictions caused many of them to be away from their families, isolated, making their digital integration even more urgent.
However, a significant portion of this segment did not have access to technology or did not possess the digital skills to use it. To address this reality, the Fundación Conecta Mayor UC organized a campaign that, in coordination with 336 municipalities, allowed the delivery of cell phones with a specially adapted interface to 80,000 vulnerable elderly people from the north to the south of the country. Within this framework, Entel donated 80,000 cell phone plans for the beneficiaries.
“From the UC we are committed to the inclusion of the elderly in all areas. Thanks to a virtuous ecosystem, made up of academia, the State through the Servicio Nacional del Adulto Mayor, local governments, Entel and thousands of Chilean men and women, National we were able to gather resources to develop 80 thousand devices specially designed for the elderly. In addition, this project, which arose in the midst of a pandemic, confirms the importance for the country when all of us in this society unite to seek and implement solutions to the major problems we face today in Chile", explained the rector Ignacio Sanchez.
With this, Conecta Mayor UC, in alliance with the technology and telecommunications company, was able to study the use that this segment of people give to their cell phones. For 31% of the beneficiaries, the donated device was their first cell phone, while for 61% it was their first smartphone. Likewise, 97% stated that they used their cell phone to communicate and, of this percentage, 25% said they did so to talk only with their families. Among the 72% who claimed to use their cell phone to communicate also with non-family members, mainly with public institutions, friends, neighbors, other networks and the Conecta Mayor Accompaniment Central. In fact, the permanent telephone accompaniment service for conversation, assistance, guidance and training is used by about 30% of the foundation’s users, and about a third of the calls received by this Central are at night and on weekends, when there are no other assistance services. In the last quarter, a total of 5,240 effective hours of conversation were recorded, equivalent to 218 continuous days of conversation in a 90-day period. This explains, among other things, why 91% provided for feeling safer since receiving the device.
“We have already digitally integrated almost 80 thousand elderly people, all over 70, belonging to 40% of the most vulnerable population. An achievement that makes us proud, but from which we can draw lessons: we have understood the urgency of digitally integrating this group. Because society today is digital. If we leave them out of technological progress, we isolate them, failing to take advantage of all they have to give to the country. We understand that this is just the beginning", explains Eduardo Toro, executive director of Conecta Mayor UC.
Regarding data traffic, it was observed that users who traffic more data talk less minutes and, on the contrary, those who talk more traffic less data. Likewise, in relation to calls, beneficiaries went from consuming 66% of the total minutes contemplated in the plan, in January 2021, to 42% in April 2022, which shows how, in a few months, the use that seniors give to their cell phones changed and they started to receive more calls than they make.
“At Entel, we have witnessed the important role that technology has played in this health crisis, whether to perform our usual tasks at home, work and education, as well as to carry out procedures that we used to do in person. These years of working together have allowed us to break down prejudices, such as older people not being interested in exploring and using technology. We have seen how their habits have been changing and how they use their devices, showing that they have the same need as anyone else to get on board with digitalization", explained Entel’s CEO, Antonio Büchi.
“With the experience of Conecta Mayor, a type of public policy that will be essential for the times to come has become visible: it was born in a difficult context of a pandemic to keep the elderly in communication, in particular. I would like to emphasize that a virtuous ecosystem of different actors has been built here, to be able to advance in the issues of digitalization, to close the digital gap that affects, with greater force, the most isolated territories, as well as the elderly, and especially older women. As president of the Senate’s Transport and Telecommunications Commission, I value this initiative tremendously and we will certainly seek to support it strongly as part of the Chile 2035 Digital Transformation Strategy", added Senator Ximena Órdenes.
Applications and interface
In that line, in relation to the applications most used by the beneficiaries of Conecta Mayor UC, it was evidenced that the most used is Facebook with 14.4%, followed by YouTube with 12.1%, Netflix with 9.3% and TikTok with 8.9%. These figures reflect that, like the rest of the users, people over 70 also interact in the digital ecosystem, making use of social networks and streaming platforms.
Considering that, for most of these people, the cell phone to receive would be their first smartphone, the Conecta Mayor UC team worked with Entel Ocean, Entel’s digital unit, in the design of a special interface for them. This allows the equipment to have a different usability, considering their needs and uses. This interface has three screens, larger buttons and specific predefined functionalities that allow them to easily call priority contacts, connect with the Conecta Mayor Support Center, emergency services, the municipality or the Cesfam that corresponds to them. It also has WhatsApp, camera and radio.
The ideation and prototyping process was carried out by an interdisciplinary team that included designers, developers, sociologists, engineers, anthropologists and social workers, among others, in order to have a comprehensive view of the specific needs of the users.