In the Form of Government, one of our constitutions states that "The general public shall work for all people to be able to achieve participation and equality in society […]"
Can we rightly say that society lives up to it when so many Swedes can not be fully involved?
The question is rhetorical and may not have an easy answer.
In any case, the fact is that development cannot be stopped and time cannot be washed back.
For many citizens today, the digital world is at least as "real" as the physical world.
The part of the population that has never lived a life without the internet is growing.
The question is whether digital exclusion is a temporary "problem"?
Or will each new generation constantly reproduce new exclusions in step with technological and social development?
At Karolinska Institutet, research is being done, among other things, into the use of technology by the elderly.
Researchers state that digital exclusion should have been taken seriously much earlier.
An exclusion that became even more apparent when the coronavirus spread in society.
Then he who lives in a digital exclusion became, also outside in a broader sense.
But what do the researchers then propose to remedy this?
- We do not believe that there is a general solution to exclusion, but we believe that many different societal actors need to work together to meet the problem, says Lousie Nygård, who is a professor of occupational therapy.
She mentions, among other things, an idea that technical support could be an aid-assessed service.
Much like cleaning or shopping today can be something that the home care service can help with.
The same applies to the importance of nursing homes actually having wifi and that they also have the opportunity to try out the new technology.
If you are never allowed to try a particular technology and see for yourself the benefits of it, there is an imminent risk that you will continue to think that it "works well as it is".