Digitality is something that affects all citizens in some way, and we are also part of the digital society without our will. As citizens, we use and utilize digitality in different ways, for some digitization is easy and for others it is insurmountably difficult. In Europe and in our society, there has been a desire to promote digitalization for a long time, and there is a desire to digitize public services more. In this section, I consider digital from a citizen’s point of view.
Tasks
Kela, or Kansaneläkelaitos, administers the social security of Finns living in Finland and abroad, and offers support and help in various life situations. Kela offers support for citizens’ basic security, sickness, studies, unemployment, disability, rehabilitation, and international affairs. I have received support for many situations through Kela, and currently Kela reimburses part of the costs of prescription drugs. In addition, when I get sick, I can receive sickness allowance and when I’m a student, I get a cheaper lunch because Kela pays a meal subsidy to the restaurant for students. In my family, we still receive child allowance for one child, and the other child receives a travel allowance through Kela, with which he can get a bus ticket for school trips. I travel often for my free time, and I have already acquired Kela’s European healthcare card, which helps if necessary if I get sick while abroad.
Omakanta is an electronic online service where you can view your own social and healthcare information. It is possible for me to see my health information, my valid medications, and prescriptions, save my will to receive treatment, and see my social care information as a new service. I can also give permission for my data to be used, set prohibitions, and do business on behalf of my minor child in the service. The use of the Omakanta service requires electronic identification through the Suomi.fi service, which helps citizens to identify themselves securely in various digital environments. Electronic identification is a central part of our electronic identity. Logging in to the OmaKanta online service is done using online banking credentials, a mobile certificate, or an ID card with a chip. Personally, I use the Omakanta service weekly and always log in using my online banking credentials.
Keva is Finland’s largest occupational pension insurer, which is responsible for the pension security of public sector employees. I logged into Keva’s online service and found out my own retirement age. My lowest retirement age is 66 years 7 months, and my target retirement age is 68 years 5 months. Your retirement age has not yet been confirmed and this may still change during my working career. If I retired according to my lowest retirement age at the age of 66, I would receive a pension of 2,230 euros per month according to the estimate, and if I worked until I was 70, then I would receive a pension of about 400 euros more per month.
Online stores:
I use online stores a lot and make constant price comparisons between products. As a rule, I use well-known and reliable online stores, such as the Amazon, Zalando or Booking online stores. I buy clothes and sports equipment from online stores the most, and I also make 100% of my travel reservations online. I am a particular customer and I want to know about the product or travel destination comprehensively before I make a purchase decision. Based on comprehensive information, it is easier to compare prices and make a purchase decision accordingly. There are differences in the content of product information in online stores, and I consider the functionality of the online store, comprehensiveness of product information and clear instructions for orders to be important. I think these increase the reliability of online shopping. Reliability is also increased by the clear instructions for using the service, clear terms of sale and the use of well-known payment brokers on the website of the online store. In the case of online stores, it is also important to consider your own information security and think about the security of the online store before giving your information to the online store. In Europe, the GDPR protects EU citizens, but outside the EU there are varying practices regarding the processing of personal data. I don’t like to order from Chinese online stores (Temu, Aliexpress), even though their products are very affordable. Many of the products on sale are copies or the products are of lower quality. I try to consider sustainable development in my purchases and support the circular economy.
Healthcare digital service:
Sähköinen perhekeskus (The electronic family center) is a digital transaction channel aimed at families with children and young people. It provides relevant information, support, and services regardless of time and place. The electronic family center brings together scattered information and directs to regional and municipal services. The electronic family center is a regional service, the use of which is the responsibility of the welfare district. In the digitalization of social and health care, one key goal is to increase customers’ self-directed transactions and self-care in digital services, the problem is often that information and services have not been centralized in one place either. The electronic family center offers information compiled in one place and directs the customer to regional services as well. Of the three services of the electronic family center, I got to know the Omaperhe service, which is aimed at families with children or those about to start a family. The service had clearly compiled information on key issues and regional services with contact information were easy to find. In my opinion, the electronic family center is a modern, necessary social and healthcare service and certainly welcome by many families with children or young people. So, all the necessary information was found in one place 👍.
Digitization and digital exclusion
Digitalization affects almost every citizen, and citizens use digitality in very different ways and live in different digital environments. Some can make better use of digital services and for some these services are impossible. This depends on individual digital skills; how different individuals are able to utilize digital services. Digitization is also associated with the threat of digital marginalization, because not all citizens can keep up with the speed of digitization for various reasons. Different reasons can be lack of language skills, illness or disability, digital skills, lack of necessary tools or ID. In digitization, it is important to note that not all citizens have the desire, skills or understanding to use digital services. When developing digital services, it is important to secure traditionally produced services for those citizens for whom digital services are not possible. Organizations offering services in various industries must ensure that citizens are guided in the use of digital services and that support for the use of digital services is arranged for them.
Digital competence test
I like to use digital services and I also work with digitization every day. I am interested in the latest digital solutions, and I am happy to try new things. I also want to give digitality a chance in matters for which digitality has not been used before.
I went to take a digital proficiency test, which was very interesting to do. My digital skills profile was not a surprise and describes my skills relatively well. Overall, the level of competence corresponded to the classification advanced, in which users can perform tasks and find the most suitable solution for solving most problems. They are also able to adapt solutions for others in a complex context. My recommendations for improving digital skills were more active participation in digital networks, increasing the use of automation and producing and sharing different types of documents.
Self-assessment
In this part, there were a lot of familiar things to me, which I have already familiarized myself with and used the services as a citizen. The skills test was interesting and very accurate for me. I was left to think about my own way of doing things digitally. I try to handle almost all my business through a digital channel, and I find this easy for me. However, I am aware that as citizens we are different when it comes to digital, and I belong to that group of citizens who can use digital a lot. In my own circle, there are big differences in digital skills between different generations, and the elderly do not trust digital services very much. They are most worried about the information security of digital services, and they are not very brave when using digital services. Digitality enables flexibility in services, and I like that digitalization enables the handling of things independent of time and place. Although I consider digitization important, I have noticed that doing business outside of digital services is difficult and slow. A good example of this is renewing an identity card or passport. Doing business through a digital channel is fast and easy, while doing business on-site is slow and cumbersome. At best, you can get a passport several weeks faster through the digital channel than by doing business at the police station. In my opinion, increasing digitality would require a wider discussion and support for the use of services to get different age groups to make more use of digitality. However, the rapid development of digitalization often increases the discussion around emerging trends, and the discussion that is more beneficial to the average citizen may remain less. An example of this is, for example, the public debate around artificial intelligence, which takes place on many discussion forums.
Blogs i comment on:
https://blogi.savonia.fi/pauliinaspage/digi-citizen/
Hi Paulina
You brought up the challenges of the elderly in using digital services and strong identification. I agree with you that in digitization it is important to take into account the ability and limitations of the elderly to use digital services. Support and guidance for the use of digital services and the use of digital identification must be available for the elderly. You also brought up the Omaolo service, which makes it possible to make independent symptom assessments when considering seeking treatment. I agree with you that digital symptom assessments are useful and will certainly increase in healthcare digital services. In the case of these too, it is important that customers are taught and guided in the use of digital symptom assessments.
https://blogi.savonia.fi/jaanapaavola/digi-citizen/
Hi Jaana
It was interesting to read your thoughts. Terveykylä is also a service I am familiar with, and I actively use it every week. I think it is also important that there is one digital environment for citizens, where reliable information and instructions for self-care are gathered. Through many self-care programs, it is possible to prevent the onset of diseases, or, in the case of long-term illnesses, it is possible to improve the treatment balance of the disease. In addition, the fact that the service you mentioned is free of charge and the absence of advertisements is an excellent thing for customers.
I also agree with you that in digitization it is very important to both take care of citizens’ digital support and offer traditional local services to those citizens for whom digital services are not possible.
https://fascinating-kiiravalta.wordpress.com/digi-citizen
Hi Kiira
It was interesting to read your thoughts on your blog and I agree with you on several points. Suomi.fi -identification service is very convenient, and the service is useful when it works widely in different services as a means of digital identification. The absence or lack of digital support you highlighted is a very important issue that I think should be invested more in as society becomes digital. I work in social and health care in the development of digital services, and one of the challenges is the variability of citizens’ digital skills. Citizens under the age of 65 have good digital skills, but they do not need digital healthcare services very often. Correspondingly, in the older age groups, digital competence weakens for various reasons and their need to use healthcare services is greater in various situations. However, the digital skills of the elderly are variable and the uncertainty of using digital services is greater. For this very reason, many elderly people prefer to use traditional healthcare services rather than try digital services. The availability of digital support must therefore be given a lot of attention everywhere and the elderly should be guided to use digital services more widely.
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