Young people’s problems in using digital services are related to the accessibility, comprehensibility and usability of the services. The threshold for contacting support can be high if the young person is unfamiliar with the process or when he or she feels unable to communicate as expected. Support services that help people navigate different services may not be familiar to young people.
‘The term Digital Native refers to a person’s age. The fact that someone was born in the digital age does not guarantee that they have excellent digital skills. These things are learned, just like reading and writing, ‘he recalls Minna Piirainen, Digital Support Project Manager, Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
The survey now published shows that we are too confident that young people are skilled users of devices, and we easily forget to teach them basic digital skills and digital services. Young people may face challenges such as using word processing software, adding attachments, and changing the file format because they have never been taught these skills. In particular, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized that young people are expected to be familiar with the tools of the digital environment and that there is no presumption of any need for specific guidance on their use.
How do we train young people to use digital services independently?
In addition to skills related to the use of digital tools, the survey highlights young peopleโs challenges in managing different life situations. We do not have the capacity to give young people enough guidance on how to use digital services, fill out forms, apply for jobs and manage other more formal service situations.
Young people believe that education should give them better opportunities to use and understand the services provided and to face the challenges of the digital world, such as cyberbullying. If skills are not taught in school, young people may never learn them.
The learning of many digital skills is currently based on the help of parents or close relatives, which in the future may become even greater inequality among young people.
What kind of digital services should we provide?
The survey also challenges digital service developers to consider what kind of services they are developing.
We need to question the idea that young people should learn administrative language and digital services that are difficult to understand. A solution that serves everyone better would be for digital services to be easily accessible and understandable and for user logic to be easy enough to use.
โWhen commercial applications and services change and change usage patterns, public services need to follow suit. If young people are used to intuitive interfaces that work with a certain logic, it may seem impossible to seek help or support if the user has to learn a completely different way to find the information they need, ” Piirainen says.
Digital Support Week challenges people to learn and teach everyday digital skills
The Digital Support Week, held from August 30 to September 3, 2021, aims to increase the debate on day-to-day digital skills. The week is divided into theme days, the first of which deals with providing digital support from a support providerโs perspective, and later in the week students will learn about future digital skills, media and digital content literacy, different user perspectives and the quality of digital services. In addition to the national program, regional digital support providers organize local hands-on programs that provide tips on e-services, for example.
” The purpose of digital support is to help ensure that no one is excluded from the digital society. When it comes to digitalisation, this is a permanent change, not just a temporary phenomenon. Therefore, digital skills are todayโs civic skills. Extensive development of these skills will help us to cope better in the community, ” says Piirainen, Digital Support Project Manager.
Source: Digital and Population Data Services Agency
Source: The Nordic Page