Singaporeans Help the elderly with e-payments
The editorial in The Sunday Times raises the question if older Singaporeans are ready for an increasingly cashless society (Educate to ease e-payment concerns, May 5).

Currently, some older people don't even use older forms of payment such as credit cards due to difficulties and concerns about spending control. So how are we to convince them to migrate to a cashless system?

Similarly, some older people are uncomfortable using ATMs due to poor eyesight and an aversion to dealing with the screen.

Singapore must design solutions to help these older people adapt, otherwise they could face exclusion from the economy if cash were to be used by only a tiny minority, if stores stop accepting bank notes and coins, or if ATMs disappear because they cost too much to maintain.

It doesn't help that the recent SingHealth data breach could have made many people worry that the same could happen with their money.

Older people are hesitant to trust something that they cannot physically see or touch. They fear they will be unable to buy anything should the system crash, and continue to believe cash is still king.

They fear that going cashless could increase their risk of being cheated by those who are more tech-savvy.

Some elderly folk are not literate. App developers must use visuals rather than text and with bigger fonts to help those with poor eyesight.

Some seniors do not own smartphones. For this group, it is important to teach them to use a multipurpose ez-link card or silver PAssion card with multipurpose functions.

It is the duty of the younger generation to teach the older folk and walk the journey with them in this transition.

Cheng Choon Fei

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/help-the-elderly-with-e-payments

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