DIGI CITIZEN

The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (KELA)

The Social insurance Institution of Finland (KELA) and its services are very familiar to me. As a young student, I received study grant, student loan and housing allowance from Kela. When I got children, I received a maternity package, parental allowance and home care allowance. Everyone in our family has had a European health care card for several years. European health care card is useful to have, because it allows you to receive medically treatment when travelling in any EU or EEA countries.

My older child is retarded. While she was still living in her childhood home and was under 16-years old, I received also disability allowance and care allowance from her.  Nowadays my younger daughter is seventeen years old, and my older daughter moved to a residential unit for the disabled persons after she turned eighteen five years ago. At the moment I do not receive any benefits from KELA.

I have been the guardian of my elder daughter since she moved away, taking care of her finances and health on her behalf. So, even I do not receive any benefits to myself, I have very close contact with KELA because of my daughter. Previously, all benefits were applied for using paper forms. Nowadays it is so easy to apply all benefits by online services. Only exception is application for rehabilitation, which I must return to the KELA office personally.  You can see application processing time and payment days from KELA website. Decisions on the applications comes electrically and I think collaboration with Kela goes effortless after years of experience. Last week I received decision from my daughter’s intensive medical rehabilitation, physical therapy, for next three years. That is something new I have not experienced earlier. Earlier decisions have come only for a year.

Applied allowances which my daughter has are disability pension, guarantee pension, care allowance for pensioners and housing allowance for pensioners. She has also the disability card which makes her easier to indicate her disabled status or her need for an assistant.

OMAKANTA

You can log in to OmaKanta site with your online banking credentials by identifying yourself with the bank’s ID application. As a legal guardian, I also have access to my adult daughter’s OmaKanta and Maisa- and Health Village -sites (Terveyskylä). I use those sites several times a month. From OmaKanta, I review both my own and my children’s health information, for example medical reports, laboratory results and prescriptions. I have also renewed prescriptions through OmaKanta.  Health Village (Terveyskylä) is a service developed by five Finnish university hospitals.

KEVA

When I logged into KEVA-sites, I saw that for me it would be possible to retire in ten years’ time. I will be then 65 years old. If I continue to work until the target retirement age of 67, my pension will increase by approximately 120 € per month. If I continue working until the age of 70, my pension would be almost 400€ better than if I retired when it was first possible. My work is mentally and physically demanding. At the moment I think that I will retire part-time pension on age of 65.

Digital shopping

As an early childhood education teacher, I do not make any purchases. In my private life I mainly buy skincare and hair products or books online. I have only ordered clothes a few times. My first online purchase was an unpleasant experience. The clothes I ordered were nothing like what was shown in the pictures or described in the product details. Returning them would have been so expensive that it wasn’t worth it. That experience taught me, that an online shop that seems entirely Finnish and is written in good Finnish may operate from anywhere in the world. Nowadays if I need to order something online, I usually use the online shops I have used before, and I know those are reliable. For the payment I have used Klarna payment app.

Usually I prefer to visit brick-and-mortar stores and try on clothes before I buy them.

For this assignment, I looked at eBay, Temu and Amazon -sites. All these online stores offer a wide range of goods. On Temu the prices were strangely low which raises questions about the quality of products and reliability.

I am a member of the largest hotel chains and receive targeted direct marketing from discount campaigns to my email. I use Booking. com and Trivago-sites and hotels own websites to compare prices. I Usually book hotel accommodation directly from the hotels’ own websites even the price is a little bit higher than others. This habit comes from my background in the hotel and restaurant business.  I also have an Airbnb app on my mobile phone. Latest accommodations in Finland and to abroad I have booked through Airbnb-app.

Digital gaps

As I read other students’ blog posts, my concerns about digitalisation are very similar to theirs. Digital services have developed at a rapid pace in recent years, and they have not taken sufficient account of the abilities or skills of people with different ages or needs, to operate in electronic services. In the worst case, digitization can cause inequality between people, because some people do not know how or do not want to use digital services. 

My personal experience comes through my severely retarded daughter. I can believe that also many elderly have difficulty taking over banks and other e-services of agencies. What then, if you do not have your own digital support person in your family and support must be obtained from elsewhere? A big gap and financial cost for many organisations is the incompatibility of different digital information systems. Information systems do not communicate with each other which slows down the flow of information, increases manual work and complicates process management.

People are the biggest risk factor when it comes to information security. Effort must be made to develop security skills, and they should be updated regularly. Due to changing security threats and risks continuous competence development plays a key role. Even if you continuously improve your skills, mistakes can still happen. It is important that mistakes made at work or at home can be discussed without shame or guilt, in order to prevent them from escalating or worsening.

Double authentication may sometimes feel cumbersome, but it is worth using. Digitalization makes it possible to provide services in a more equal way by levelling out regional differences, but true equality requires systems which are easy-to-use. There are many good things about digitalization. In Finland many things are handled efficiently in digital services. Digitalization speeds up and simplifies the availability of services in many cases. I am concerned about how services can be made available to all in equal and fair way. I have come across this several times while handling matters related to my daughter.

Self evaluation

It has been eye-opening to read other student’s blog posts and reflect on my own use of e-applications. I have to admit, that I have had sceptical attitude to digital services, and I have also been sceptical to my own skills to use digital applications. Now, doing this assignment I find out that I am very used to use different online services, specially handling mine and my children´s health data.  I don’t even notice how many applications I use in my private and work life daily. This course has given me faith in my own abilities.

It was interesting to make the Digital competence test. My strengths were communication skills: collaboration, ability to use technologies and media for teamwork, coordination and collaboration processes. Also, what comes for safety and information sections I manage quite well. The skills I need to practise most are configuration, automation, production and distribution. Solving technical problems are also difficult for me. I too easily ask for help from those (husband, younger colleagues) who are more skilled digital users than me

Digital services have exploded in recent years. I have also had challenges in keeping up with the development of digitalisation. This section gave me faith in my own abilities to learn and develope also in the future. After this assignment I understand the risks of digitalisation better and I know how to avoid them.  Digitalization does not only bring positive things, as I have also experienced myself. This course has been an eye-opening information package about the digital environment. It made me also thinking, how could I utilize more efficiently digital tools in my private life and work.

I commented on the blog posts of 

DIGI CITIZEN – Irina`s site (savonia.fi)

Hi Irina,
Thank you for your clear writing. I completely understand that living in the countryside with young children makes online shopping the most convenient option. Personally, I’m not a very active online shopper. I mostly order skincare products, shampoos, and books from domestic websites. I prefer to go into the shops to do my shopping there. Walking around the Porvoo old town and shopping in small brick-and-mortar boutiques and window shopping is a nice pastime.

It also surprised me how many different online apps I use daily. I agree with you that certain groups—like the elderly, immigrants, and, for example, my daughter with a developmental disability—are in a very unequal position and can face significant difficulties with using various digital services and managing related security issues.

Digi citizen – Minni´s site (savonia.fi)

Hi Minnie,

 Thank you for your interesting thoughts. I am also studying to become an early support specialist.  I have also become familiar with Kasvun tuki- site. Kasvun tuki and many other websites that support our work in the future have become familiar through our studies.

I agree with you that social services should take into account clients from different backgrounds by providing offering multichannel services, taking into account different needs of clients.

Digital services have exploded in recent years. I have also had challenges keeping up with the developments.  I noticed that we had the same areas to develop in the digital skills test. My own skills have developed little by little, sometimes by necessity, sometimes by the enthusiasm that comes from successes.  This course has given me more faith in my own abilities to develop further.

DIGI Citizen – Flow of thoughts – Laura’s Site (wordpress.com)

Ciao Laura,

Thank you for your blog post. It was interesting to read your comparison between Finland and Italy. It is certainly the case that Finland is one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of electronic services, largely due to its well-functioning and developed infrastructure. Over the past ten years, digital services in Finland have taken giant leaps forward.

I agree with you that sometimes-handling matters in Finland can be challenging. Even though I am a Finnish citizen, I have also had several occasions where it was difficult to get things moving, for example, with my younger daughter’s banking matters or issues related to my older daughter’s illness. My older daughter has a developmental disability, and I am her legal guardian. But in general, most things are handled very conveniently and quickly through digital services.

In response to your questions, I believe that we must agree to go with the flow, even though it can sometimes feel difficult to keep up with the fast pace of development.  Digitalization is part of today’s world, and I think that is a good thing. Your writing, as well as this whole course, has been a great wake-up call to reflect on my own online behavior. It is too easy to download new apps to my phone without really thinking or reading the whole information about the related privacy or security settings. Luckily, so far, I have been spared that I have not suffered any major damage.