A few hundred thousand inhabitants of the Northern Netherlands are digitally vulnerable. They cannot easily find their way on the digital highway and are therefore at risk of falling behind.
Northerners who have few digital skills have difficulty finding information on the internet. They often cannot properly interpret information found. They have problems looking for work online and doing business with the government and other organizations. Getting care can also be difficult at times.
This has emerged from a study by the Digital Transformation lectorate of Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, commissioned by the Digital Academy of the Northern Netherlands. According to researcher Arnout Ponsioen of the lectorate, more attention should be paid to this large group, which consists of an estimated 200,000 to over 400,000 adults in the northern provinces. Nationally, there are 2.5 to 5 million people who get stuck when using digital techniques in their daily lives.
There is, says Ponsioen, a clear relationship between low literacy and a lack of digital skills. “One fifth of the adult Dutch have difficulty with the language of our society. To some extent, these people manage, they can operate appliances and arrange simple things. But they cannot use the internet to organize their lives in this digital world. Think of all kinds of allowances, all of which have been digitized. This further isolates the most vulnerable people in society.”
Big problem in Groningen
The problem may be greater in Groningen than in other parts of the country, because relatively many elderly and low-literate people live here. “There are areas where it clumps together, in terms of age, education and background. We expect greater problems with digital skills in those areas,” says Ponsioen.
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just about seniors. Many people with low literacy, people with a migration background and even young people are also at risk of becoming homeless in the information society. There is even a group of people who, for reasons of principle, are not or hardly active on the internet. Out of distrust of the government and other organizations and for fear of misuse of their data.
“It runs right through society. The problem does not go away with time either. There will be new groups in the future that are also not digitally skilled. For example, students at MBO1 and MBO2 level, these are the future non-digitally literate people in our region.”
Issue is very complicated
Ponsioen does have a caveat. “Of course there are also older people who can keep up digitally. You lose the people who are really very old. They say: I can’t see it anymore, I can’t do it anymore. And in the group with a migration background you will just as well find people who know how to find their way on the internet. So there is a lot of diversity within those groups. That’s what makes this issue so complicated.”
According to the researchers, many people with digital disadvantages do have internet access. Most have a mobile phone and often use Whatsapp to keep in touch with family and friends. A few even have a tablet or a laptop, but they often do little more than edit and store photos and do some administration now and then.
“Some people can search for information on the internet, but they don’t do it strategically. They can’t really interpret the things found. So not just typing a word into Google and then finding something, but that you also understand how such a search engine works and that the results are ordered in a certain way. That you can see who the sender is,” says Ponsioen. “The question is whether they can find their way on the Internet to benefit their own lives.”
So there are countless people who hand in printed forms to work and benefit organizations. Or send videos of their nuisance-causing neighbor to the housing association via Whatsapp.
Shame about lack of skills
If you are struggling with your computer or telephone, for example because you have lost your password, an account has to be created or a program has crashed, seek help. Preferably in the vicinity, the research shows. With family, neighbors or friends. There is little enthusiasm for outside help, due to shame about their own lack of skills, concerns about privacy and a lack of trust.
There is a disadvantage to the digital care of grandchildren or the well-known ‘handy nephew’. Family and friends are often the worst possible teachers, warns Ponsioen. “They quickly tap something on the screen, so that your computer or mobile works again. You go home not knowing what happened. You learn nothing from it.”
Light coercion sometimes helps
Light coercion can sometimes help, the study shows. “If you enforce it, it stimulates people to become more alert and to say: yes, I should be able to do this. Take a housing corporation that organizes a digital portal for tenants and says: from now on you should preferably not submit a report by telephone, but via the app. You will then receive a group that will use the app anyway.”
To get the target group to a slightly higher digital level or at least to be able to help, people need to be updated in their own environment. For example, in a community center, by a teacher who speaks the language of the group. As long as the threshold is not too high. “The closer you can give that, the greater the confidence.”
A monster job, given the large numbers involved. Is that actually realistic? Or should we as a society accept that some of the Dutch can no longer keep up digitally?
Find alternative
No, says Ponsioen. “As a government you cannot say: this group has had bad luck. The research shows that there is a group that cannot do it independently, you have to find an alternative for that. Either you see if you can help them, or you develop a tool for them so that they can move forward.”
“Digitization continues, many organizations are investing in it. It is efficient, cheap but also aloof. But you see, for example, at housing associations that people also want to come by, they need contact. You shouldn’t close that channel, it’s just added for people who need it. You can’t solve everything with an app.”
“Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this problem. It is important that the many organizations that work for digitally vulnerable people know how to find each other better. And that their employees themselves become more skilled. We also need to talk more with each other about what we want in the North with digitization and what we don’t. So where are the boundaries. We really don’t do that enough.”