DIGI CITIZEN
KELA
www.kela.fi
KELA takes care of basic insurance for Finns in different life situations. KELA actively develops social security.
I am currently on maternity leave and receive parental allowance from Kela. Soon we will receive child benefit for our newborn. Earlier during my studies, I received study support and a housing allowance.
I have had a European health insurance card for several years. I got it about ten years ago when I was traveling more in Europe.
OmaKanta
www.kanta.fi
OmaKanta is an online service for citizens that displays information recorded by social services and healthcare about the customer and the customer’s medication.
OmaKanta service is very familiar to me, and I use it regularly to check my health information. I identify myself to the service with my online banking credentials. Through the online service conveniently also conveniently and look at the service not up to date. I also monitor the service’s records that healthcare professionals have written about me.
OmaKanta has made it easier to monitor your own health information. I would like to have all the necessary health information and prescriptions without an electronic server. I also think it’s good that healthcare professionals can find health information in the same place.
KEVA
Etusivu – Keva
You can check the accumulation of your own occupational pension from the earnings pension statement. From the pension statement, you can see where the pension has been accumulated and how much.
It was interesting to find out my current pension and the things that affect the size of the pension. Since people of my age still have many working years left, my pension is not very big yet. By calculation, I could retire at the age of 68. It was interesting to notice how much influence the last working years have on the size of the pension. This will certainly encourage you to continue working for another year after the retirement age, if it is otherwise possible. Although people’s life expectancy has increased, the retirement age is already several years higher compared to, for example, the retirement age of my own parents.
Digital shops
When I’m going to buy a product, I almost always compare products beforehand online. If the price is the same or almost the same, I prefer local shops and small entrepreneurs. However, if there is a big difference in the prices and I can get the product significantly cheaper by ordering it from an online store, I will get the product there.
When I travel, I often use the Booking website. Through that, I have often found better booking conditions and prices for a certain hotel than directly through the hotel’s own website. The Booking-site also often describes the room options in more detail with the help of pictures.
I am aware that various brokerage services bring additional costs to the company. Because of this, when I order food from a restaurant that I pick up myself, I order it directly from the restaurant’s website or by phone, even though it might be easier to order the food via Wolt or Foodora, for example.
In recent years, I have also started paying more attention to my online shopping and thinking about the environmental harm associated with it. I think it’s good that more and more companies are using paid delivery and return costs. I believe that the payments guide the consumer to think more carefully about their purchases and there will be fewer impulse purchases.
Social and health digital applications
The social and health sector has self-care programs intended for people’s own use. You don’t need professional support or a customer relationship to use them. However, various wellness and life management applications can also be used as part of the customer relationship. Self-care programs and applications can be used, for example, to support the client between appointments or as a basis for conversation. The applications don’t store information about the social care customer, so there is no data security risk.
There are a lot of free digital sites and applications related to human well-being and health for different ages and different life situations. Many services are maintained by an organization in the social and health sector. Such sites and applications are, for example:
- Chillaa-appi is an application developed by Helsinki University Hospital for young people, which helps with anxiety, tension and stress. The application contains relaxation and mindfulness exercises, tips for difficult situations and encouragement from other young people.
- Kaksi kotia application is an application maintained by the Union of First and Shelter Homes, which connects children from two homes and their parents. The application contains tools for managing everyday life when the children live in two homes.
- Ylitse MentorApp is a service operated by SOS-lapsikyla, which offers peer support for young people and adults who want to discuss matters related to child protection, childhood and mental health in a reliable manner. Through the application, it is also possible to ask for advice and help from professionals in the social sector.
- Sekasin-chat is a national discussion platform for 12-29 year olds. In the Sekasin-chat, you can discuss questions or topics that concern you anonymously and confidentially. The Sekasin Collective is responsible for maintaining and coordinating the operation of the Sekasin chat, which works to promote the mental well-being of young people and help in crises. The Sekas Collective includes the Finnish Mental Health Association, the Finnish Red Cross, Settlement Association and SOS-Lapsikylä.
Digitalization and digital gap
Digital divide is a concept born at the beginning of the 21st century, which originally meant the division of society between those who have access to a computer and especially an Internet connection, and those who do not. The digital divide can exist between different age groups, residential areas, cultures, educations, social classes and people’s characteristics. The digital divide is more social and political in nature. The lack of a computer and Internet connection is not necessarily the main reason for the digital divide, but how the technology is applied in practice.
The digital divide affects, for example, people’s access to information, education, participation in decision-making and disease prevention and treatment. In the long term, the narrowing of the global digital divide depends primarily on the development of education in developing countries. For people in a generally disadvantaged position in society to really benefit from the opportunities that information technology brings, they should receive sufficient and sufficiently high-quality support related to digitalization.
Digital competence test
I took the Digital Competences test and got to know my own strengths and development areas related to digital. It was interesting to stop and think about different questions. Answering them was not always easy. Communication seemed to be my strongest and security was the weakest. I would have expected the difference between them to be even greater. However, I can improve in each section.
Self-reflection
I use digital services every day in my personal life. I started the studies of my current degree in January 2022 and the studies have been carried out completely online. The students in our education are from all over Finland and from outside Finland, so online collaboration and the use of various online platforms is essential. I find the use of electronic materials meaningful and practical. In my studies, I have only used e-materials from libraries and online platforms.
I have partly been able to combine my work and studies. For example, I have written an expert article related to my work as part of my studies, which was published as an online publication. In my paid work, I also do a large part of the work on a computer online, so this kind of work is natural and meaningful to me. Due to the nature of my current work, I don’t have individual clients with whom I would utilize the web applications I previously presented in my work. However, I feel it is very important to know what kind of online services are available, so that I can direct people I meet at work to those services if necessary.
In my free time, I search for information daily on my smartphone. Sometimes it’s even amusing to notice how simple things I find myself googling. For example, I check the day’s weather on the weather app rather than going outside. Sometimes I purposely leave the phone in a different room, because I find that I fill all the “extra time” by browsing the different online platforms on the phone.
I was born in the early 90s, and in my early childhood we didn’t have a computer or other information retrieval devices at home. As I remember, I was 17 years old when I got my first very basic smartphone. Before that, we already had a computer, which I used to keep in touch with my friends through the free Messenger. Even though it’s only been 10-15 years, digital has developed enormously.
Although I use several online services every day and am aware of the risks associated with them, I still need to improve when it comes to security. For example, I use passwords that are not strong enough or that may have occurred in connection with data security leaks. Related to this, the digitality test reminded me how important things related to information security are.
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