Digital Inclusion Competences for Senior Citizens: The Survival Basics

Abstract

The rapid pace of digitalisation provides many smarter and more efficient ways of interacting with the world, but may also lead to the exclusion of some groups. Senior citizens are one of these groups at risk. Taking the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens as a starting point, we investigate digital survival skills for the elderly. Data was collected from digital education workshops for senior citizens organized jointly between Telia, Swedish municipalities, and the researchers. We use content analysis to understand seniors’ perceptions of which competences they need to survive in an increasingly digital environment and provide a version of the Competence Framework targeted at senior citizen inclusion. Lessons for inclusion initiatives are drawn from the results.