Research on Legal Strategies for Eliminating “Technical Barriers to Benefits” of the Elderly Group under the Perspective of Chinese Digital Divide Governance

Abstract

In the digital age, while intelligent technologies have significantly boosted productivity and convenience, the rapidly growing elderly population faces a significant “digital divide” in adopting digital tools due to various subjective and objective limitations. Addressing how to help seniors bridge this divide and ensure they benefit from social progress has become a critical challenge in the digital era. Against this backdrop, safeguarding elderly digital rights has become imperative, with the concept of “benefiting through technology exclusion” gaining prominence. By analyzing power imbalances in the “technology-rights-society” triad that drive digital exclusion among seniors, we analyze the technical, institutional, and developmental adaptation risks faced by legal strategies for “eliminating technological barriers” among the elderly population. We can refine the “benefit exclusion mechanism” within existing legal frameworks for elderly digital rights protection. Through multi-dimensional strategies—including clarifying “digital exclusion benefits,” strengthening “digital empowerment programs,” and advancing age-friendly adaptations of smart devices—these measures will bridge the digital divide, enhance social harmony, and ultimately contribute to realizing the vision of a modern socialist the whole body of mankind societal where all citizens thrive.