DIGI CITIZEN
In this task, I will explore the websites of Kela, Keva, and Omakanta, and try to find out my own retirement age. Here we go!
(Source: image are from www.pixabay.com)
KELA AND OMAKANTA
Kela is a finnish Social Insurance Institution that’s provides citizens basic security for various life situations. For our current life situation, our family receives child benefit from three child. Also, we receive reimbursements for medicines through Kela. In Finland every finnish people get Kela-Card. We use the Kela-Card for example in social and healthcare services and in the pharmacy. The European Health Insurance Card valid in EU-countries and also ETA-countries. We have already acquired a European Health Insurance Card`s for our whole family. Luckily, we haven´t had to use them yet.
It`s easy to log in to Omakanta. You only need your own banking credentials to log in. There you can found prescriptions and laboratory results. I use OmaKanta less frequently, as my occupational health care is provided by a private clinic. My occupational health care is provided by Mehiläinen, and they have a convenient app. The app includes, for example, a digital clinic where you can chat with a healthcare professional around the clock. In my opinion, this has been flexible and convenient from the customer’s perspective. For instance, I was able to renew an expired prescription in less than an hour. This wouldn’t be possible as quickly through OmaKanta.
KEVA/ILMARINEN
I try to log in to Keva-website and there say that I have to log in Ilmarinen, website because in Ilmarinen are handled by my pension things. I`m working in early childhood education and there the salaries are not very high. So in the future the retire pension will not be very good. Also I have been at home with my three children for several years, which has also affected the accrued pension. Hopefully, I can enjoy life without financial worries when I’m retired, but before that, there’s still a lot of work to do. My target retirement age is 69 years and 1 month, if I understood correctly
DIGITAL SHOPS
I used to order clothes, shoes, and other items online, but nowadays, I don’t order much from online stores anymore . I prefer a brick-and-mortar stores where I can try on clothes or shoes directly. I also consider the fact that buying products directly from the store helps preserve as many jobs as possible. However, I’m aware that many stores have introduced self-checkout machines, which in turn reduces the need for staff. Especially during my trip to Spain this summer, I noticed how many clothing stores also had self-checkout options available.
I compared online store prices with those of brick-and-mortar stores, and I understand that many people are tempted to order products online because of the price. I visited a brick-and-mortar store in Spain, which was an outlet store. There, sports products were half the price compared to, for example, Zalando online shop. When you ordering from online stores, i think you have to be very careful about where and how you order. In general, online stores like Zalando are considered reliable.
APPLICATION KIDPLAN
I work in early childhood education. We use the Kidplan app to communicate with families. For employees, the Kidplan app serves as an important tool for internal reporting in the daycare, making everyday work easier. We can send and save photos of the children’s group activities, such as trips, celebrations, and crafts, to the parents. The app is very easy to use. It allows us to reliably send announcements to families and report children’s care hours or holiday times. According to Kidplan, it is a secure IT platform that meets GDPR requirements. Similar applications are especially available in the private sector. (source www.norlandiapaivakodit.fi)
DIGITAL GAP
The digital gap refers to inequality in access to and use of digital devices and services. It especially affects the elderly, low-income individuals, immigrants, and people lacking digital skills or tools.
In our society, almost all services are digital, and it would be difficult to manage everyday situations without them. A lack of digital skills can hinder communication, for example with official services, and it may also affect employment opportunities. In our society, especially elderly people may face challenges in using digital services, so it is important that, in the future as well, it remains possible to book a doctor’s appointment by phone.
DIGITAL COMPETENCES
Here are the results of the digital competence test. This test was interesting and useful to complete. The results did not come as a surprise to me, as I already knew that production is challenging for me. My highest scores were information and safety areas.
SELF-REFLECTION
This task was interesting and also enjoyable to complete. Even though retirement is still a long way off, it was interesting to check my own retirement age. It made me wonder what kind of physical and mental condition one might be in when approaching 70 and still working, especially in early childhood education. The work is there physically demanding and also mentally exhausting.
For the first time in a while, I visited Kela’s website to fill out a school transport subsidy application for an upcoming high school student. I couldn’t find it at first, but after logging into OmaKela, I was able to locate the application. Fortunately, filling it out was easy this time. Kela’s applications are usually worded in a complicated way, and filling them out can be quite stressful. I completely understand how some people might decide not to apply for benefits they are entitled to, simply because of how complex the applications are. Fortunately, Kela staff have always been helpful, but even in these cases, electronic applications are preferred
I also started to think about how the world has changed with digitalization. Digital skills are almost as important as writing and reading. These skills are practiced at an age-appropriate level already in early childhood education and continue to be developed throughout basic education. I am very cautious about using my credit card in online. I worry about becoming a victim of misuse or fraud. Fortunately, banks have good security practices and are quick to block a card if any suspicious activity is detected. We were traveling abroad, and my friend’s bank card was blocked because the bank suspected possible misuse. In situations like this, it can be challenging while traveling—if you don’t have a backup card or enough cash, you could end up in trouble
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