Mobile digital divide and older people’s access to ‘Internet plus social work’: implications from the COVID-19 help-seeking cases

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for ‘Internet plus social work’ service delivery for older people. We analysed the China Family Panel Studies and the Resident Help-seeking Data and interviewed eight older people. We found that a growing age-based mobile digital divide of China in the last decade. In the pandemic, older people encountered difficulties when using mobile phones to access the internet to seek help, which highlighted the problem of the mobile digital divide. We propose that Interactive TV could be a way of enabling older people to access internet-based remote social work services.