Last Monday was published the Digital Barometer, which reports on the evolution of the uses of the French and draws the contours of their future needs. Digital users who are increasingly better equipped and satisfied with services on the networks, but also “more people [qui] encounter obstacles to the full use of digital technology”. “48% of French people experience at least one form of difficulty that prevents them from fully using digital tools and the internet (+13 points compared to 2020). More than equipment or internet access, it is the complete mastery of digital tools that remains the main obstacle to the full use of digital (25%, + 7 points compared to 2020)”, indicates the barometer, which underlines that the inequalities in digital skills are accentuated.
“The successive periods of confinement since 2020 and the start of the Covid crisis have made digital tools essential in many daily procedures and activities. If the feeling of having better appropriated digital tools with the pandemic is marked among executives and higher intellectual professions (71%), conversely, the French among the most vulnerable (unqualified and aged 70 and over) , meanwhile, are a majority not to have the impression of gaining control over the past two years (respectively 53% and 56%).
4,000 digital advisors distributed in communities
Consequently, the gap is widening on the feeling of increasing skills among the French, ”explains the barometer. And to continue “the dematerialization of public services has been deployed for two decades with a recent strong acceleration. This seems to create some difficulties. There is indeed an increase in the proportion of people who at least sometimes have difficulty carrying out administrative procedures online (54%, + 16 points compared to 2020). Faced with these difficulties, the most popular solution is to ask for explanations to succeed in carrying out the process alone (40%, + 16 points compared to 2020). »
The Minister Delegate for the Digital Transition and Telecommunications, Jean-Noël Barrot is aware of the problem. “As of last summer, the Prime Minister wanted to perpetuate the action of the 4,000 digital advisers distributed in communities, associations, France services houses and whose mission is to support the rise in autonomy of people in difficulty with digital, in particular via training workshops. A major consultation on digital inclusion is also underway within the framework of the National Council for Digital Refoundation.
(Article originally published in La Dépêche du Midi on Saturday February 4, 2023)
