[매경학생기자] Unripe Mandatory Kiosks

“We shouldn‘t go where there are machines. Let’s go where people take care of us. They say you need to press things, but it doesn‘t work as I wish. It hurts my pride. It feels like the world isn’t made for people like us.” This is the testimony of senior YouTuber Park Mak-rye in her video “Restaurants Mak-rye Wants to Visit but Can‘t.”e?

In a September 2020 observational survey of the Korea Consumer Agency, three out of five seniors aged 70 and above did not purchase tickets from kiosks at bus terminals. At fast-food restaurant chains, all five seniors were unable to order. Furthermore, 51.4% cited “complicated steps” as the most inconvenient aspect of using kiosks, followed by “feeling pressured by people behind” (49.0%) and “poor visibility of graphics/text” (44.1%). Kiosks are essentially “pride-testing machines” for older adults. While kiosks are ever more pervasive, they remain inaccessible to socially disadvantaged populations. Moreover, it requires significant costs to design accessibility-enhancing features.

Presently, kiosks have been adopted by approximately 50% of small businesses in Korea. The majority of kiosks are of fixed heights or use visual guidance for instinctive use. Such convenience, however, is at the cost of accessibility for the elderly and disabled. The government aims to make accessibility-friendly kiosks compulsory by 2026.

To include marginalized groups, the government aims to make accessibility-friendly kiosks compulsory by 2026. But small business owners claim that such actions are impractical and are demanding alternative approaches.

Kiosks have spread quickly since 2010, and they are now ubiquitous in most stores. The labor-saving system enables customers to place orders directly to the kitchen, cutting labor costs. But the convenience leaves behind socially vulnerable groups—elderly people, visually impaired people, and people in wheelchairs. Most elderly people are poor at dealing with unfamiliar interfaces, while low-vision people find displays difficult to read. For people in wheelchairs, fixed-height kiosks are hard to access without help. Consequently, convenience-oriented technology unintentionally reinforces social exclusion.

Despite these challenges, some efforts are underway to improve accessibility. The National Museum of Korea introduced a “smart kiosk” in March 2023 as part of its barrier-free exhibition. The kiosk provides height adjustment for wheelchair users, tactile keypads and voice guidance for the blind, and sign language for the deaf. These tailored solutions address different vulnerabilities.

Starting January 28, 2025, the government will require small businesses (with areas of over 50㎡ and fewer than 100 employees) to install barrier-free kiosks, with full enforcement by January 28, 2026. However, compliance remains uncertain.

For starters, customized services are expensive. Barrier-free kiosks cost three times more than normal ones, with additional expenses like wheelchair-friendly flooring. Small businesses, particularly, cannot afford this. To mitigate expenses, the government now subsidizes 70–80% of installation fees and recently approved an additional ₩9.2 billion in production subsidies. Critics argue, however, that investment remains insufficient compared to nationwide kiosk implementation rates.

Others condemn enforcement based on penalty, suggesting incentives as a less heavy-handed approach. A 2012 experiment in London, where households were entered into lotteries for being registered to vote, successfully increased turnout by 2%.

True technological development involves an equilibrium of innovation and social inclusion. For IT firm I-BRICKS, “Policies based on voluntary incentives—rather than penalties—are more effective in balancing technology and inclusion.” Thus, there is a need to respond to technological imbalances in social frameworks. To bridge the gap among stakeholders, decision-makers need to focus on incentives rather than penalties.

※ External contributions may not be consistent with our editorial direction.

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