Seniors Embrace Smartphones in Japan

0:00On April 17th, older folks in Tokyo are hitting the books on smartphones, and it's all because Japan just shut down its 3G network for good. At the end of March, NCT DOKOMO flipped the switch as the last major carrier, forcing about half a million people, mostly seniors glued to flip. Phones, to upgrade or get left behind. These Garake phones, Japan's unique old-school mobiles, can handle 4G or 5G without losing calls and emails. Carriers like DOKOMO, O, and Softbank have been phasing out older networks for years, 2G gone by 2012, 3G, mostly by 20, 22. The shutdown saves energy by ditching inefficient towers, but it hits more than phones, early car naves, vending machines for cashless pay, and remote. Parking lots all-guy disrupted. In the Nareema Community Center, folks in their 70s are tackling the basics with a retired programmer guide. They gripe about confusing apps, ending calls right, and too many icons popping up.

1:03Still, they're determined to ditch analog isolation, swapping three iPhones and two androids for their old flip phones. Classes cover turning devices on and off. Volume control, scrolling, pinching to zoom, cashless payments, QR codes, health trackers, and weather apps. Next sessions dive into fun stuff like social media, photos, videos, and entertainment to keep it from getting boring. These seniors are mirroring the young booking tickets, joining chats, planning trips, even learning languages. It's a push into hyper connectivity, turning intimidation into everyday tools for staying linked.