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DIGI CITIZEN

KELA

After full-time studies, I or my family members have not used Kela’s services. Now, while completing my master’s degree, I pay Kela a health care fee, which is mandatory, even though I as a full-time worker don’t need student health care. I have had a European health insurance card for several years – just this week a new card arrived in the mail!

OmaKanta

I logged into OmaKanta with my online banking credentials. I’ve been lucky that I haven’t really needed healthcare services, so the OmaKanta service hasn’t become very familiar to me yet. Actually, for the first time I needed to log in to OmaKanta to get a corona vaccination certificate.

Pension

According to KEVA’s calculator, the lowest age at which I can fully retire is 66 years and 2 months. I have now been working full-time and nonstop for 25 years and it seems shocking to think that I should continue working still 18 years! Working until the age of 68 would increase my pension very little, so that idea seems even less attractive. Free time has always meant more than money to me, so I try by all means to organize my finances so that at the age of 63 I can stay on a partially early retirement pension and draw half the pension and maybe work part-time. My dream is that I could leave working life or at least shorten the working week by the age of 55 at the latest, but that would require winning the lottery!

Digital shops

I may be a little old fashioned, but I do shop online very seldom. Only in the event that the product or service is not available in a physical store within a reasonable distance, I resort to online shopping and even then I try to choose a domestic service provider. Often the price of the product is cheaper in the online store, but despite that, I prefer to get the product from a nearby store. I think that if all shopping was done online, physical stores would disappear and the entire cityscape would fall away. I also want to support employment in the surrounding area.

Most experience with online shopping I have had when planning abroadtravels. Online services are convenient for making both ready-made trips and hotel and flight reservations, and really the only way to compare options. I feel that at least the most well-known websites are reliable, as long as the user is careful and reads all the messages and descriptions available.

A digital service that helps me in my work

As the municipality’s welfare coordinator, I coordinate the preparation of the municipality’s welfare report. The welfare report compiles comprehensive statistical information about the municipality’s residents and services. The Association of Municipalities (Kuntaliitto) offers a service for the creation of this extensive document. The Electronic Welfare Report (Sähköinen Hyvinvointikertomus) brings automatically the desired statistical data into the report. The prepared report template and the application’s connection to statistical data significantly speed up the preparation of the welfare report compared to the fact that the report author would have to collect and write the same information.

In addition, the municipality’s extensive welfare report is usually produced by more than one person, so it is convenient when everyone can operate the same document while viewing others’ outputs online. Through the application, the document can also be sent to, for example, the municipality’s management team or decision-makers for reading and commenting. The finished application also makes the reports of different municipalities externally consistent and facilitates comparison.

Digital fallout

There are many people living in our society for whom digital services are not everyday life. Sometimes it feels that in the rapidly digitising world they have been forgotten or want to be forgotten. There are many obstacles to using digital services. Sometimes the obstacle is skills or unwillingness, sometimes lack of equipment. Some may have deficiencies in physical or mental functioning that make it difficult or prevent the use of digital services.

At best, digital services support independent survival. For example, if movement becomes difficult, electronic services can still enable many things to be handled independently. On the other hand, if the use of digital services is difficult or impossible, an otherwise well-functioning person can become dependent on others and vulnerable.

In society, it must be ensured that everyone has the opportunity to take care of matters related to their own rights and obligations in a way that suits them best. In the worst case, a person can be left without health care or social support if the information is in such a form or place that the person does not have access to. And although grandma can be taught to use the computer to book a doctor’s appointment or take care of banking matters, it can be important for her quality of life to be able to chat with the right person when making an appointment or to meet a familiar and reliable bank clerk.

Self-evaluation

I belong to the generation that went to school before the computer age. My digital skills are mainly based on the skills needed at work, which is why the understanding of certain basic things has remained weak. I have learned only what is mandatory for the performance of the work. The devices and software have been taken care of by the workplace’s experts, who also have solved all problem situations. I think this background is well reflected in the Digital Competence Test.

On the other hand, I have received a good orientation from the workplaces and always up-to-date information, e.g. in matters related to data protection. I’m sure that without workplace training and information, I wouldn’t be sufficiently aware of the risks of the digital world and the means of preparation when dealing with civil affairs as well.

Since my work is mostly computer work, I try to minimize the use of the computer in my free time. I’m not against digital services, but I really only use them to do things that are necessary. The Digital Competence Test also shows well that I don’t use social media or participate in online discussions. On the other hand, I have gladly accepted the video conferences and virtual trainings that make work easier.

The assignments in this study section made me think about how much different digital solutions have already made managing everyday things easier. But also, how conscious you have to be constantly online to keep your information safe. I am grateful that my workplace constantly reinforces my digital skills. But what about those who do not have workplace experts helping them? They have to put in a lot of effort to get the necessary knowledge and skills to survive safely in the digital world.

I commented on these three blogs:

Katariina Hemming DIGI CITIZEN – People change the world (savonia.fi

Sanna Toivanen DIGI CITIZEN | Sanna´s site (savonia.fi)

Maarit Koskenperä Digi Citizen – Maarit`s Blog (savonia.fi)

2 thoughts on “DIGI CITIZEN

  1. Eveliina Saikkonen

    Hello! I felt that especially your chapter about the digital division was very relatable to my own. It is probably true that unfortunately in some ways service providers might also want to forget some user groups when designing digital services. Maybe service providers care most for the user groups that can offer them most advantage or more money. I thought your last chapter was interesting, that while we have an increasing amount of digital services helping us, on the other hand we are going to have to be all the time more conscious about the safety aspects when using these services. Cyber threats and identity thefts have increased alarmingly.
    Thank you for your interesting insights! Here is a link to my blog, https://blogi.savonia.fi/eveliinasaikkonen/

  2. Mia

    Hello Paula,

    when accomondation sites are mentioned in the assignment, i feel the need to book the next trip 😎🏝️
    I barely ever find clothes in stores, and that’s why i prefer online shopping. The reason to visit malls from time to time, is to spend some time away from home, and not much for shopping. Btw Lohi mall is great 🛍️
    Happy to hear you’ve got good orientations in your workplaces. When entering a new job, everything is new, even the way of using the system, even though the system would be familiar from previous organizations. Constant learning is important!

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