Kela
I haven’t had to visit Kela for a long time. Today, there seems to have its OmaKela (MyKela) service. The page shows that I have a valid right to reimbursement for chronic bronchial asthma. There you can also see that I have paid the health care fees of a higher education student for 2023.
For several years now I have had a European health care card. OmaKela seems like an easy-to-use and comprehensive service.
I have used Kela’s services more during my studies and when the children were small. At that time, there were no online services in use, all transactions took place at the counter and the same papers could be delivered several times. It seems that the service has gone much better since those days.
OmaKanta
OmaKanta is a service that I’m familiar with and that I use a lot. Even now I seem to have been there just over a week earlier.
For logging in and identification OmaKanta and OmaKela, I use OP’s ID and verify with mobile.
In OmaKanta I can see my prescriptions, their validity period and also some recipes can be asked to be renewed through OmaKanta. In OmaKanta I can also see my health information: diagnoses, results, measures, etc.
I have made a will to donate organs and will to treat in OmaKanta.
Keva
I have never applied for my pension information before. Thus, I had to complete my contact information after logging in to the system.
My lowest retirement age is according to the calculator (not confirmed) 66 year 5 month, which I will achieve in January 2043. My pension would then be about 3 000 € per month.
My target retirement age is 68 year 5 month. According to this calculation, I would receive a pension at that time about 3 500 € per month.
And if I worked until the age of 70, I would receive a pension according to the calculation about 3 900 € per month.
This is very interesting, but I’m not very confident about how much I will actually receive in due course if I live even that long.
Digital shops
I use online stores a lot because buying from them is easy and hassle-free. I also like that I get to know the product in peace and quiet. However, I usually use domestic online stores because I find them more reliable. And if there are problems with purchases, I believe that it’s easier to solve the problems with a Finnish online stores.
I chose an electric toothbrush Oral-B iO Serie 9 as a comparison product.
In Amazon.com store this toothbrush costs 299,94 $ (275,79 €) + shipping & import fees deposit to Finland 103,12 $ (94,82 €), total 403,06 $ (370,61 €). I can’t really understand why the fee is so big.
I only chose brand new products on eBay. I was still left wondering how I can be sure that the product is new. However, the cheapest brand new toothbrush paid 138,49 € + shipping 40,65 €, total 179,14 €. Seller has sold 40 items and feedback (22 pieces) is 100 % positive. Perhaps with this information I would dare to trust the seller.
In Gigantti.fi this toothbrush costs 279,95 € + delivery 4,90 €, total 284,85 €.
In Proshop.fi this toothbrush costs 299,00 €, free delivery.
And in Clasohlson.com this toothbrush costs 319,00 €, free delivery.
Based on this comparison and acquaintance, I would buy this toothbrush on eBay, although I doubted the use of eBay and wondered if the products are new even though they say so.
Hopoti.com
I enjoy riding and I have my own horse. The stable where I ride and where my horse lives uses Hopoti.com, so I chose that application.
Login to Hopoti is done either with Facebook or Google credentials or by email. I used a Google account to log in.
Hopoti shows all the riding lessons I have booked, and Hopoti is marked with which horse I will participate in the lesson. Of course I will go with my own, but if I were to go wit a stable horse, I would check the horse selection here. In Hopoti, I can cancel a riding lesson and book new lesson.
Hopoti shows all the information and announcement of your own stable. You can buy free lessons, riding cards or other services for sale in the Hopoti online store on your own stable. The online store is otherwise good, but each purchased product must be paid for individually, and in addition, only “Paitrail Oyj” is shown as the recipient of the payment in the account statement, which makes it difficult to recognize the payment afterwards.
Hopoti has a “Horsecare” section, where you enter your own horse’s information and measures, e.g. footwear and medication. Nowadays, when the horse’s whereabouts must always be reported to “Ruokavirasto” (Finnish Food Authority), this whereabouts information must also appear in the Hopoti.
Digitalization and digital gap
Almost everything can be handled online these days and it’s often easy and convenient.
But operating online can also have many problems and challenges. If you don’t have online banking credentials or don’t know how to use them, you won’t be able to do any official business online.
There may also be other types of problems when using virtual services. Poor language skills, disability or physical dysfunction, as well as age-related problems can prevent the use of virtual services. If you don’t have someone to help you at that time, I can believe that the problems are big.
Of many agencies, e.g. the opening hours of banks nowadays are minimal, and you can’t do business without an appointment, and in the worst case, bank credentials are needed to identify the appointment.
In order to secure services and equality, it would be important that face-to-face service be available sufficiently and easily.
The Digital Competence Wheel
This is my digital competence wheel.
The result is not exactly a surprise. I know that I’m an avid user of self service and I look for a lot of information on the internet. And I feel that I have a lot to improve in the area of internet security.
I’m careful to rate myself as a top specialist, so that’s why the average is so low.
Self-reflection
This section has been fun because it has made me visit a lot of websites and learn about things that I have not been familiar with before.
I am also excited about this whole course, even though I was most afraid beforehand of this course in English, how will I cope with it with my poor language skills. My language skills have never been good and now that I haven’t even been able to travel many years, I haven’t been able to use English anywhere. I feel that with this course my language skills have already developed in better direction.
And other student’s blog posts are nice to read.
Maybe in the future I could use foreign online stores more boldly and at least make price comparisons from them.
Hey! It was interesting to read your price comparison. I have never ridden a horse myself and it was very interesting to read about the Hopoti.com app! I’ve never heard of such a thing!
https://blogi.savonia.fi/jane/
Hi Titta, thank you for an interesting read. Your price comparison was very interesting to read and I’m also baffled by the import fees from Amazon. I find it cool that there is such a large variety of apps for different purposes such as the Hopoti-app that enables you to stay connected to your stables.
Hi,
It was interesting to read about your thuoghts about the online services. I have had my doubts about foreign digital shops, too. So far I have had only positive experiences. Perhaps this is because my precautions. Hopoti.com seems to be a very versatile and handy app. By the way, your english seem very fluent, in my oppinion.
https://blogi.savonia.fi/outimetsaranta/
Hi there!
You have a very good reflection on the threats posed by digitalisation. You have considered the impact of digitalisation on groups of people with disabilities, for example. If a person does not keep up with the digitalization of time, he will have problems in daily life in the future .
https://blogi.savonia.fi/samispage/
Hellou,
I was really keen on of the digital competence wheel -test. You had really good result, your overall score may be in advanced level, i think it is good enough for a normal Digi citizen 😀 And I think that many of us have to improve digital security more. I have had never heard from Hopoti application, but that’s just a sign for how endless world of different services it is.
https://blogi.savonia.fi/taijabrand/
Thank you Titta for your post!
Hopoti.com sounds like a useful tool for managing your horse riding lessons. It’s good to know that there is an online store where you can buy lessons, riding cards, and other services. However, I can understand how it might be inconvenient to have to pay for each purchased product individually, and the lack of clear recipient information on account statements could make it difficult to keep track of payments.
https://nahlstrand.wordpress.com/
Hi, thanks for your blog.
I completely agree that as much as there is a benefit to digitizing services, there is also concern for those who are not reached by digital services. Of course, from a cost-effective perspective, it is challenging to maintain physical services, the service fees do not cover the salary and other costs. But what would be the golden mean in this matter as well? It could be that when we move forward a decade, the cap will be much smaller or a new way of providing services has been invented.
Have a nice summer 2023!
Kaisu
https://blogi.savonia.fi/auvinen/
Thank you a lot for the calculation related to pricing. I always feel hesitated when buying good on eBay as there is too much information seems unreliable. But your tips really helps to check with the shop.
Definitely will do a same math for some goods, therefore I can have some comparison for myself as well as be smarter when shopping online
Hey Titta,
and thanks for your writings. I also own a small part of two horses but they are race horses. It could be nice if our stable would have some kind of digital system too where you could check for example when your horses are being trained. There is also a digital service system for all operators in the horse field called OmaTalli. Is it familiar to you?
Best regards,
Ann-Marie (https://blogi.savonia.fi/annmarieviitamaki/)
Hi Ann-Marie,
Thanks your comments. No, OmaTalli is not familiar to me.
BR, Titta
Thanks for an interesting article especially the price comparison, I have had second thoughts about ordering something from Amazon because of the high import fees plus also being unsure if the product is actually as advertised so doing some research when making any purchases is always a good idea.
https://miavuorimyblog.wordpress.com/