Online banking, digital meetings and meetings, online corona certificate and QR code at restaurant and café. It has become part of our new everyday life – but for Anne Lise Ausland (84) and Ellen Strømme (80), the new schemes offer more challenges than solutions.
– I can not stand and can not, and I get nervous when I try, Ausland tells TV 2.
She describes an everyday life where things that used to be easy, such as ordering a bus ticket, have become almost impossible.
– QR-CODE: Ellen (left) and Anne Lise (right) find it difficult to order with the new QR-code solution at restaurants Photo: Ellen Kessel / TV 2
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– You get a feeling of loss and you feel stupid. It is not good that we older people should feel so stupid, says Strømme.
Anne Lise and Ellen are active pensioners with different digital skills. Ellen uses digital applications more than Anne Lise, but both think it’s a shame that so many are lagging behind or not making it happen.
– There are people who have poor eyesight, little energy and impaired hearing. They are afraid of making mistakes, says Ausland.
Not alone
Around 600,000 people aged 16 and up are non-digital, one shows new report from Competence Norway. Jan Davidsen, who is the leader of the Pensioners’ Association, is concerned about the elderly who are left out.
– AFRAID: Jan Davidsen thinks the elderly are afraid of looking stupid. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix
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– They are desperate, afraid to stand up and appear stupid. Therefore, it is important to remind them that development has happened very quickly, and that they are not alone, says Davidsen.
He believes that a comprehensive training plan is required to lower digital exclusion.
Will focus on analog solutions
Prime Minister candidate and party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) believes that more analogous solutions should be pursued.
– SERVICE OFFICE: Trygve Slagsvold Vedum believes that we must strengthen the municipal service offices. Photo: Sofie Prestegård / TV 2
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– It must be possible for the older lady or man to meet one person. Digital solutions are absolutely perfect for people like me, but it can be a little more difficult for my father, says Vedum.
Vedum believes that the digitalisation during the pandemic has led to many being forgotten.
– We must have a society that is just as good for me and my father. I think we have forgotten that during the digitalisation promise. That not everyone is equally used to digital platforms, says Vedum.
Good training
– HELPFUL: At the restaurant Sumo in Bjørvika in Oslo, the ladies get help to order with a QR code. Photo: Ellen Kessel / TV 2
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For the ladies, the most important thing is to have room to try and fail.
– We should get proper training, without large groups, so we can ask again and again, the pensioners say.
But Anne Lise says that it is not always easy to learn new things.
– You have to have the resources and courage to start learning new things when you are as old as I am, says Ausland.
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