My thoughts about digitalization…

I was born in the late ’80s. In my childhood, there was already some technology. When I was a kid, we had a TV that showed 3 channels. The VCR made it possible to watch movies, I still remember that sound when we rewinded the tapes at the beginning. In addition, the cousin had a game console. My sister and I often went to play it. We had a landline phone with very limited calls and it was only available for important things. I got my first mobile phone when I was about 16 years old. It was a much-desired Christmas present. It was a great thing; you could use your mobile phone to call and send messages and play a few games. You could order a black and white pixel wallpaper from a magazine on your mobile phone, how awesome!

Technology was evolving all the time, I remember when my father bought us the first computer, one of those big ones.  The internet worked through a modem, and we had well-established internet usage limits. At school, we had computer lessons where we mainly played “brush mirroring” and drew with Paint. There was also a printer in the classroom that was used to print the drawings. I think we also practiced writing on a computer. In my youth, I spent time in the IRC Gallery and various Chat services. It was incredible to talk to people online and even to the other side of Finland. My parents were very careful about using the Internet, because it was new and wonderful for them too.

Looking back on that time compared to today, the change is big. I wouldn’t have believed then what kind of world awaits me as an adult. Now I have a smartphone to send messages, make a video call, pay bills easily and quickly. Services are produced digitally and in recent years it has increased dramatically.

I work as a nurse on the substance abuse side. When I graduated as a public health nurse just over 10 years ago, the recording of patient data was partly done by hand, after which it was transferred to the patient information system. I couldn’t imagine writing on paper anymore. Today, versatile patient information systems are in use. For us, the biggest digital leap happened in a short time a couple of years ago. Nowadays, doctor’s appointments are carried out partly remotely. Most customer meetings are also held remotely. In my work, encounters are important and cannot be done entirely digitally, but robotics and other emerging technologies could be used for the distribution of medicines, for example. We still have few digital solutions, but I could believe that in the future technology can be used for many things in my work.

The COVID-19 outbreak brought changes to several work units. Teleworking increased and probably in many places there will be no return to what was before the epidemic. Personally, I use digital doctor and nurse services nearly every month. It is good that when you or your children are ill, you do not have to go to the health services, but you can get the service digitally directly to home. If I would heard this when I was a kid, I wouldn’t have believed my ears.

Opportunities for digitalization

The increase in digitalization brings many opportunities to the social and health care sector. It makes the work easier, faster and safer. Services can be implemented more widely. Customers can become more involved in their own care by bringing information about smartwatches and rings to their own data, for example. In addition, in the future, robots and artificial intelligence will bring a lot of changes to the industry that we do not even know about yet. I look forward to being involved in the development of digitalization.

Risks of a digital society

Digitalization brings opportunities, but also risks. You can never be too careful about security and data protection. The emerging technology provides hackers and criminals with great tools and platform functions. It is a good idea to keep your own it- skills up to date. Everyone must take care of data protection and privacy. When it comes to sharing your own data, you have to be specific. For us who work with digital methods it is easier, but how is it for an ageing generation for whom these methods are even stranger?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is present in my work every day. It helps protect personal data, what kind of data can be collected and how it is stored. Confidentiality is important, especially in our area. In my job every new employee undergoes data protection training, which is updated regularly.

Self evaluation

I started my studies in January 2022. I thought I knew a lot about digitalization, but how wrong I was. I’ve learned so much in the last six months. I’m so excited about my studies! The material of this course has been interesting, and it has been nice to read other people’s thoughts on different blogs. Making a blog is new to me, but I got very excited about this. I think the English language is a challenge, which is a bit tricky for me. But I think as this course progresses, I’ll learn more of it.

I recommend you read these articles also:

DIGI SOCIETY – Tiina´s blog (savonia.fi)

DIGI SOCIETY | AMiinius (savonia.fi)