France: the Covid-19 crisis accentuates "illiteracy" among seniors
Illectronism today affects 13 million people in France.
© Damian Dovarganes / AP
Text by: Dominique Desaunay Follow
4 min
“Illectronism” is the transposition of the concept of illiteracy in the digital field, today affecting 13 million people in France.
The Covid-19 health crisis has greatly accentuated this digital divide within the senior population.
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The many studies devoted to the subject of "
illiteracy
" do not offer us, as it stands, enough to push any cocorico in the backyard of our national internet. While France boasts that 90% of its citizens have at least one computer, smartphone or tablet, nearly 13 million of them gave up in 2020 to connect. The phenomenon of "
dropouts
", that is to say all those who
completely abandon the Web
, is gaining ground with the Covid-19 crisis, when nearly one in five adults does not use a digital tool or is declining the arms in case of difficulty.
This silent digital divide seems to particularly affect seniors.
More than 53% of people aged 75 or over are not equipped with connected equipment and they are also more than 64% to have never used the Internet during the past year, corroborate the studies carried out by associations, personal or government-sponsored service companies.
A need for more support with regard to electronic tools
It is within this part of the population, already weakened by the health crisis that the digital divide has become most visible, explains Laurent Levasseur, director of Bluelinea, a company specializing in
digital solutions
for seniors.
"
The illectronism from which most of our elders suffer is also a mirror of what we can experience in the real world, namely the isolation of the elderly, whether within their families, but also more simply geographically when they find themselves alone at their home. Many departments, large companies, institutes and foundations, have made available thousands of tablets for the elderly to be connected. These devices worked very well in the EHPAD, because you had staff who provided these digital connections on site, on the other hand, for people at home, it was more complicated. Currently, we can consider that in France the subject of illectronism is taken much more seriously compared to other European countries,but we can also see that it is not enough to provide equipment and an internet connection to the elderly for them to know how to use them, support for digital tools is THE new challenge of illectronism
"
Age may not matter.
Young people can also be concerned by illectronism since 12% of them say they are uncomfortable with digital tools, reveal
most studies
.
They are either helpless as soon as the use of digital technology becomes less fun, or completely isolated when the connection is lacking, if only to follow, for example, online courses.
►Also read: In “forgotten France”: no 4G for the “beggars”
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