KELA
The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (KELA) offers various social security services and benefits to Finns. Its key services include family benefits, health insurance, housing benefits, basic social security, social assistance, housing allowance, study benefit, pensions, disability benefit, unemployment benefit and veteran benefits.
I use very little of Kela’s services. As I am studying for a university degree, I have the opportunity to use the services of Student Health Care (FSHS), so I pay the student’s health care fee every semester. I receive reimbursement for medication when the annual deductible has been met and reimbursement for treatment costs at private medical clinics and oral health care.
I already have a European Health Insurance Card and Kela will always send a new one before the last day of validity. Instead, I had lost my regular Kela card, so I ordered a new one. The ordering was very clear and the Kelan pages seemed understandable anyway.
OMAKANTA
OmaKanta is an electronic service used in Finland that offers citizens the opportunity to view their own health and prescription information online. It is administered by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) and is part of the national electronic patient information system. In My Kanta, you can see, for example, your own prescriptions and prescriptions, laboratory results, vaccination data, and entries recorded by health care professionals. Logging in to OmaKanta to view my own health care records requires strong verification with my bank credentials.
KEVA
Keva is an organisation related to the Finnish pension system and its name is abbreviated to Municipalities’ Pension Insurance. Its tasks include, for example, the granting and payment of pensions, the calculation of pensions, the development of pension provision, and the maintenance and management of pension information. Signing up to the Keva website requires strong verification with bank codes and you can visit the pension calculator to calculate how much pension you will receive. I can retire at the age of 65 at the earliest. If I stay longer in working life, the amount of pension to be paid will increase. I tried to calculate my pension at the age of 63, but it was not allowed because I cannot retire at that age.
DIGITAL STORES
I have used several digital stores and have been satisfied with the service I have received. For example, Trivago, Booking.com and Zalando have been used. Bookin.com app very good when comparing accommodation prices. It offers the most diverse options and the best price level. I was new to the eBay and Amazon digital stores mentioned in the assignment.
When comparing prices between brick-and-mortar stores and digital stores, I can’t say which direction to buy from. A lot has to be compared and different factors have to be taken into account, such as shipping costs and the use of time. When buying from a digital store, it is more difficult for the consumer to assess whether the product matches the given image. In that case, the return practices of the digital store must be taken into account. The new pages I visited got enough order-related information, but the initial effect was not very attractive and reliable.
THE APPLICATION OF THE OWN SECTOR
I downloaded the Pihlajalinna health app related to my field. Through this application I can book appointments for nurses or a doctor and view my own health information. Pihlajalinna currently offers occupational health services in our organization. This reform took occupational health services away from my home. It is important to me that the services are easily accessible for reasons related to my work. The application seems easy to use and competent.
DIGITAL DETECTION AND DIGITAL GAP
The lack of digital skills can lead to various challenges and risks for people who do not use digital services. These include social isolation and loneliness, economic disadvantages, employment and career development, access to important information, online risks, and equal opportunities in the information society. It is important to consider these challenges when it comes to reducing the digital divide. The aim is therefore to ensure equal opportunities for everyone to benefit from the benefits of digitalisation.
However, account must be taken of the growing social disparities, income inequality and an ageing population, which increase the risk of digital exclusion. Our digital services are growing rapidly, so we need to consider how services will be shaped in the future and what their accessibility will be for different user groups. Developing new services together and involving different user groups in service design can better meet individual needs in the future.
ICT competences
I took a digital competency test at https://digital-competence.eu/. It had very different questions from different sub-disciplines, which was very surprising. However, it was interesting to do and gave a lot of new information about my skills. Based on the results, I am a very careful user of electronic services, but there are many areas to develop. It is a good idea to pay attention to the areas to be developed in the future in order to make progress in my digital competence.
Self-reflection
With these tasks, I thought more thoroughly about everyday digitalization both at work and in my free time. Digitalization has greatly increased and become a very large part of my own life as well. The supply of services has increased greatly and their use has become easier. This is probably due to clear software based on user experiences, as well as to one’s own increased user experience. Yet I still miss traditional services and social customer encounters. It was interesting to get to test my own digital competence and read other students’ views on digitality.
I read and commented on three blogs:
https://blogi.savonia.fi/digiteri/
https://blogi.savonia.fi/johannakopra/
Hello Johanna,
You write a lot of good information about the digital world. You have highlighted the ease of using the online store and the low price level on some sites. It is really bad from an ecological point of view when selling fast fashion cheaply, which causes harm to the environment.
-Minna
https://yamkstudies.wordpress.com/
Hi Tiina,
You have written a lot of great ideas about digitalization. I have also noticed how well different organizations’ websites have evolved to be easier to use, so this will definitely increase their use.
-Minna
I can agree with a lot of the things you are dealing with. You have highlighted them very succinctly and clearly in your writing. It is very clear that for many students, these topics related to study assignments are already familiar. The prices and terms of use of online stores can indeed be compared and be careful with them to get what you want. That perspective that not all citizens can afford to buy and maintain a smart device is a very important consideration when planning a digital future.
-Minna