DIGI CITIZEN
The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela)
In my work as an occupational health nurse, I have used following Kela’s pages
- the search page to find rehabilitation courses for my customers (https://asiointi.kela.fi/kz_app/KZInternetApplication/YleiskyselyHakuUseCase).
- the benefits related to sickness with my customers (https://www.kela.fi/sickness)
- the pages for occupational healthcare (https://www.kela.fi/yhteistyokumppanit-terveydenhuolto-tyoterveyshuolto)
In my personal life, I have used the family and student benefits. As a student in the early 2000s, i used the student’s allowance and students housing benefit. When we had our children in 2008 and 2010, we used parental allowances and had the maternity packages for both our children. When our children started at day care, I also used the partial parental allowance. Nowadays we use the child benefits for both our children. When I got sick with corona a year ago my employer got the allowance on account of an infectious disease. During these sudies I have payed the healthcare fee for Finnish Student Health Service (Finnish abbreviation YTHS) to Kela.
European health care card
I have had a European health care card for years. We also got the cards for our children. It is convenient, that they send a new card from Kela, when the old one expires.
OmaKanta
I use OmaKanta via my smartphone. It is easy with your bank credentials. It is handy to find information about your vaccinations and laboratory result there. Though, it can sometimes be difficult to find the exact thing you are looking for.
Keva
According to Keva’s pension calculator my age of pension is 66 years and 11 months. If I retire at the age of 69 years and 2 months my pension will be 290 € higher and if I retire at the age of 70 years my pension will be 483 € higher.
The calculator will not let me calculate the pension at the age of 63 years.
Visiting digital shops
Buying headphones
I visited eBay and Amazon and evaluated the prices with local HalpaHalli. I evaluated the price of wireless bluetooth headphones JBL Tune 130NC TWS.
- In eBay the lowest price for new headphones without shipping cost were 52,48€. It was mentioned that they may not be able to send the item to Finland. The second lowest price with shipping to Finland was 60,57 €. The estimated delivery up to 1½ months from ordering.
- In Amazon the lowest price for new headphones with shipping costs to Finland was 77.34 €. Delivery between 1-2 months. In addition, the headphones were pre-owned and then inspected, tested and cleaned by Amazon.
- In the HalpaHalli website the same product was 99,95 €. The product was available near my home at Siilinjärvi store.
From these options I would choose to buy the headphones from HalpaHalli though it was the most expensive. Firstly, I would be too inpatient to wait for 1-2 months. Secondly, it would take too much time to find out about the warranty conditions. The HalpaHalli website was also the easiest to use, maybe because the logic of the website is more familiar to me. I got the information needed much faster that from ebay or Amazon. Both Amazon and ebay asked me to subscribe quite early on the process, and that makes me feel a bit uncertain. I feel that I should have all the information of the product, delivery and warranty easily and without subscribing.
Booking a room at a hotel
In the second part of the assignment, I compared Trivago and Booking.com with the hotel’s own price on their website.
I chose one weekend in October 2023. I searched the price for a standard room for two at Sokos hotel Puijonsarvi Kuopio. Trivago directed me to the Hotels.com page. The price of the room in Hotels.com and Booking.com was 230€ and at the hotel’s own website the price was only 208 €.
I would book a room from the hotel’s own website. Even the price is lower. I have often used services like booking.com or ebookers because via them you see a wider view of the hotels available at the area. I have even done the booking via their website and I have been pleased with the service. After this assignment I will definitely also check the hotels own price.
Service/application from my own field
I chose Liikkumisen aloittaminen -selfcare servivce from Terveyskylä, which is a service for people who aims to start exercise. The online course has 15 sessions in four-week time. The service is free, and you can use it by subscribing to the website.
I chose this service because the Terveyskylä -page is made in cooperation with all the university hospitals in Finland and the information presented on the page is consedered to be reliable and based on researched information.
I signed into the program-site, and it had lots of information shared in smaller dozes during the four-week program. You need your bank credentials and basic skills on information technology to sign in and use the service. If you are motivated enough and you can find time to do the exercise, you can find new ideas and ways to add exercise to your everyday life.
This is the link to the selfcare program:
https://www.terveyskyla.fi/kuntoutumistalo/palvelut/omahoito-ohjelmat/liikkumisen-aloittaminen
Digitalization and digital gap
I think that the digital gap is also a gap between generations. I am sure that there are people interested in information technology in all age groups, but the young have better skills because they have grown with the technology. They also use the applications in school. For older people the skills depend more on your own interest. Therefore, there can be older people with very poor skills.
Getting things done can be difficult if you don’t have for example bank credentials. Your options are narrower, and you must choose the service that does not require information technology. For example, the bank that still offers face to face services.
The Digital Competence Test
Here is my result of the test. I think the result is quite close to the reality. I prefer booking appointments and tickets etc. on the internet. On the other hand, I am very reserved in social media and rarely comment on anything.
Self-reflection
The assignment about Kela made me realize how Kela has been involved through my life. Kela is often criticized for its bureaucracy. When you think about the number of decisions they make, I guess the information has to be in a certain form.
It was also interesting to compare the online shops with each other and with local ones. To be honest, I often choose the local one just because the delivery is faster and does not take that much time to find all the information I need (for example the total price or the details of delivery and warranty)
blogs I’ve commented on:
DIGI CITIZEN | Titta’s site (savonia.fi)
8.5.2023 at 11:23
Hi,
You had a good price comparison about headphones. I think i would do the same and buy the headphones from the local shop, but my excuse is that i’m little afraid buying from internet electronics. I can buy clothes easily but electronics 😀 I think it’s good that you have te option for all those places in a second, how convenient.
https://blogi.savonia.fi/taijabrand/
8.5.2023 at 12:05
Hi Outi,
thanks for your blog. It was interesting to read how you had compared the prices of the same product in different online stores. I myself would have also chosen the HalpaHalli option because of the speed and guarantee.
When comparing the prices of staying at a hotel, I myself have often noticed that the cheapest option can be found directly through the hotel.
As you wrote, there are differences in the management of digital skills in different age groups. For older people, the digitalization of society has brought many challenges, as well as for people who need special support for everyday life.
27.5.2023 at 19:10
Hi
Your digital shop comparison was very interesting! these online shops had very long delivery time, and it is still just an estimation not promised delivery time. You had a very good points about the warranty as well. And how many bothers to complain about for example headphones which have been ordered from a foreign online shop. Unfortunately, I think that many just leaves it and buys a new set.
I have noticed the similar fact that it’s often cheaper to book directly from the hotel’s own website that via booking sites. And then the hotel does not need to pay commissions to the third party. Nowadays I might use the booking sites to compare and choose the hotel, but in the end I normally end up booking the hotel directly from their own website.
And thank you for a very interesting tip about Terveyskylä! This looked motivating and I will definitely learn more about this and maybe try 😊
20.7.2023 at 11:26
Hi Outi!
Thank you for the interesting link and the introduction to Terveyskylä. It’s great that such sites have been developed and are easy to use. I was already familiar with Terveyskylä, but I hadn’t visited the sites that encouraging exercise. I really enjoyed it. I work with foreign people and I would always hope that this kind of services were also accessible to people who speak different languages. Let’s hope that we will see more such developments in the future.
21.8.2023 at 17:10
Hi Out! All the most important things are clearly presented, and you have made the same observations about those online stores as I have.
17.10.2023 at 16:59
Hi Outi,
Thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts!
It’s interesting to hear about your comparison of online shops for buying headphones and booking a hotel room is insightful.
The importance of digital skills and the challenges faced by different age groups in the digital world are valid points.
Best wishes for your future digital experiences!
17.12.2023 at 20:42
Hello there!
I have had similar experiences with online bookings. It is usually cheaper to make the booking directly from the establishment. However, I still prefer to use the Hotels.com application especially when travelling. To me it is far easier to handle everything in one app. I can see all of the hotels in the area, I can search the location directly from their map interface an they have all my information ready. Also by focusing all my bookings under the same app I get certain bonuses after a feew bookings. I guess it mostly comes down to me being too lazy to take the effort and go directly to the hotels own website.