My experiences with digitalization so far are very diverse. When I was a child, computers were not, so to speak, devices in every home. Our first computer was black and white and the only game was pacman. We have come a long way since those days!

Traditional pencil and paper were used in studies after elementary school. The books were also books, not e-books. In the early days of my working career, pen and paper were used. Children arriving at the daycare center were marked as having arrived on a paper/booklet, as well as being acknowledged as having gone home. Today, the receipt works with a phone application and papers are hardly used, because almost everything works through a computer.

Today’s digitalization makes a lot possible. If I think about what it makes possible, we are talking about several things. I live in Lappeenranta and study in Kuopio. I have a family and children at home, so constantly being away from home is not possible. I work in foster care for child protection in three shifts and I also work long hours. After long working days there are long days off, when I study. Digitization has made my studies possible, because I can study completely remotely.

How does digitization show up at work today? Everything is on the computer. Daily entries and other reporting, e.g. e-mails, are on the computer. We employees are often trained via computer in Teams. We hold meetings in Teams. Working is easier and faster thanks to digitalization.

I believe that digitization will be used even more in the future. During and after Covid, people are braver to keep in touch through Teams, for example.

GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, is an EU regulation that entered into force in May 2018. GDPR regulates the processing of personal data in the European Union. In Finland, this regulation is supplemented by e.g. The Data Protection Act and the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life.

After the 2010s, when the quantitatively increased processing of personal data and new technologies in data processing posed a threat to people’s privacy and the protection of personal data, data protection legislation was significantly reformed in Europe. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has replaced the previous data protection directive. Among other changes, the GDPR has introduced the obligation to demonstrate that personal data is processed in accordance with the requirements of the legislation.

Today, with the development of digitalization, people are very aware of their own personal data and the related risks and rights. Digitization has increased awareness and understanding of the number of risks. Data protection issues are a really important matter, also according to the law. In my own work in child protection, the children’s personal matters and information are all on the computer and thus also online. If the organization and the employees did not handle data protection matters properly, it would cause serious risks and damage.

The employees are each responsible for their part in ensuring that the personal information and matters of children and families remain private and safe. The risks brought by digitization at work are big. For example, e-mails containing important information should be sent encrypted so that it is not possible for an outsider to obtain their information.

According to the legislation, matters related to the processing of personal data include: which personal data is processed in different functions and systems?, Where is the personal data located?, How long can personal data be processed?, How are people’s rights to their own personal data properly taken care of?, How is personal data properly protected? I selected these points mentioned above as examples, which are strongly related to my own work as things to consider.