The Government’s online publication states, that Finland has the best digital skills among EU countries. Finland is also one of the leading countries in public electronic services, especially in the electronic information management of health and well-being.
According to Yle’s archive, in 1972 computer education was offered only to those applying to the field. However, Koulu-tv offered awareness of the new technology by showing the series Kaikkialle ATK. At that time were used landlines phones, fax and letters. The telephone modem made faxes sending possible. My first contact with the digitalization of that time was at the turn of the nineties, when information technology was taught in elementary school. Few years later of that the wonderful world of the internet opened up to me, very slow and clumsy compared to this era.
In the 21st century, I studied information technology as a data scientist. That’s when gprs mobile phones came along with ordinary mobile phones. Using the features of GPRS mobile phones, it was possible to create a connection to the Internet, although the operation was clumsy and slow. Today, information exchange is fast and effortless using technology. Physical location and time no longer matter in terms of the success of information exchange and communication.
I work as a surgical nurse at Kuopio University Hospital. In my work, we use several information systems and devices every day. Patient information system, surgical lists, e-mail, teams, smartphones, intranet, access control, computers, surgical robot, microscopes and other equipment and software used in surgery are part of everyday surgical operations. Since 2016, Kys has been using the Da Vinci surgical robot, which can be used to perform mini-invasive surgeries. In robotic surgery, the surgeon is not physically present next to the patient, but performs the surgery via a console a little further away from the patient. (https://www.intuitive.com/en-us/patients/da-vinci-robotic-surgery) In the future, technology will develop so that surgical robots will be available for a wider variety of surgeries.
With the growth and development of the digitalization of the world, the risks also increase. People may not always understand, for example, when using the Internet, what they are giving permission for when they visit some sites. Despite all protections, people’s personal data can be hacked, nothing is completely without holes. The purpose of GPRS (General Data Protection Regulation) is to improve the protection of people’s personal data and data protection rights in EU countries. In my own work, this can be seen in the way that the log of each patient papers contains information about who has processed their data and why. On the other hand, the patient can deny access to their own patient data from, for example, another hospital, which makes it difficult to treat the patient. Even if this personal data protection law is exists, how do we know for sure that someone is not maintaining an illegal personal data register somewhere. Information about us is collected constantly, no matter where you are. Security cameras, electronic payment systems and even gyms that can only be accessed using a fingerprint, card and picture. Dangerous? Everyone should think about that.
Self reflection
This task has made me study the environment more closely from the point of view of digitalization. We leave a trail of data wherever we go. At work, in hobbies, in the store and even when we walk down the street. The digitization of society makes people’s lives easier, but on the other hand, it also has its dangers if we use information technology carelessly.
I did commented Teija Ahonen blog https://blogi.savonia.fi/tepuntarinoita/digi-society
Hey
It was really nice to read your blog. I was born in the 70´s and saw the same development stages of digitalization. I remember our first wireless phone too, which was a box the size of several bricks. The development has moved forward at breakneck speed. When we used and managed correctly, it’s a good thing, but on the other hand, it also may causes a lot of bad things.
It is true that the development of technology in, for example, home care is a good thing, but as you wrote, it should not displace human contact and touch. I’ve also been thinking about how a smartphone listens to a conversation and in the next thing you see your phone shows ads about what you were talking about, this is something that sometimes makes me think about security.
Julia Lyytinen blog: https://blogi.savonia.fi/julialyytinen/digi-society
I agree with you that everyone should have equal opportunities to use digital services, regardless of their skills. I think that especially the elderly remain out of reach of access to digital services, because they do not have enough digital skills. I don’t know how nowadays they are taken into account in this matter.