South Korea launches massive training drive to bridge seniors' digital divide

In South Korea, officials are tackling a growing “grey digital divide” by delivering free tech-training workshops for people aged 60 and above. Sessions held in places like Suwon’s senior centre teach participants to navigate mobile devices, pay hospital bills on kiosks and interact with AI assistants. A recent state survey found 60 % of seniors have difficulty accessing public and commercial services digitally, versus just 6 % of those under 40.

The divide shows up in everyday life, from older baseball fans needing help to buy tickets to taxi-hailing apps that bypass senior riders. Scholars attribute the gap to the country’s rapid post-war industrialisation, which left many older Koreans without early exposure to electricity or phones. Since 2020, the government has deployed vans equipped with mock kiosks and robots, delivering more than 65,000 training sessions to roughly 650,000 seniors in 2025. Participants like Hwang say the classes boost confidence, though many still wish they had been born into the digital era.