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Barriersto Internet usageFinancial barriers, range barri-

ers, hardware barriers, psycho-

logical barriers, auto-exclusion

rom the world o new tech-

nologies, no need to use the

Internet, lack o knowledge, lack

o skills enabling the usage o In-

ternet.

Digital exclusion of Polish seniorsToday, one in every three Poles is over 50 years old, but only one out o our seniors uses the Inter-net. Poland is at the very bottom o the list in the European Union when it comes to using networkresources. Lack o access to the Internet is not the only consideration, but also little engagement opublic institutions and organizations that could support occupational and social activity o seniorsis problematic.

This project has been unded with support rom theEuropean Commission. This publication reects theviews only o the author, and the Commission cannot beheld responsible or any use which may be made o theinormation contained therein.

Bulletin 10

September/October 2010

www.2mobility.eu

E-Bridge to mobility was created ater observing theEU labour market and analysing the needs o EasternEurope emigrants (especially those rom Bulgaria,Poland, Romania and Sl ovakia).They move rom one EU country to another (inparticular the U.K., Germany and Spain) oreducational, fnancial or social reasons.

In 2009 30 percent o Polish peopleaged between 55 and 64 declared

that at least once in their lie theyhave used the Internet. This is 18

percent less than an average in theEuropean Union. In a group o 65-74

year olds only 8% o Polish seniorshave made such declaration. In the

whole European Union the ndingswere on the mark o 25%.

A research made or the Open-

ing Report o the M@turity on theNetwork Coalition shows how im-

portant it is to promote using theInternet. A majority o the over 50s

in Poland who have so ar had nocontact with the network, does not

envisage accessing the Internet inthe coming six months. Only 6% o

them declare that in the next ewmonths they will start using the net-

work and only 1% o seniors con-rmed that.

Factors inuencing access to thenetwork, are not only social and

economic but also location. Thesmallest percentage o people using

the Internet is noticed in the East-

ern regions o Poland and usually

among the inhabitants o villagesand towns. For example, in Warsaw

as many as 42% o people over 50use the network, in Pozna it is 41%,

while in d only 31%. The level oeducation is also a signicant ac-

tor. Almost 60% o Internet users arepeople having higher education,

32% are seniors with secondaryeducation, while 2% are Poles with

vocational education.

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The E-bridge partners:

According to Polish seniors the rea-

son why they do not use the Inter-net are not nancial, but the act

that they eel no need to use theInternet and are not interested in itat all. This type o declaration was

made by nearly two-thirds o Polesover 60. This thesis is conrmed by

the act that nearly a hal o Polishpeople aged over 50 have a com-

puter and 40% o them have accessto the Internet as well. At the same

time less than a hal o them cur-rently use the opportunities oered

by these technologies. There is alsoa large group o people who do not

have access to the Internet, but thishas nothing to do with technologi-

cal barriers, as they could access iti they wanted, as their neighbours

have it. Among people aged 50 orover , no more than 28% o those

who do not use the network do nothave it in their area (more than hal

o them does not know i there is ac-cess in their neighbourhood). In the

Report M@turity on the Networkonly 5% o respondents aged over

50 and not using the Internet indi-

cated high costs as a reason or notusing the Internet.

Research shows thereore, that thebiggest problem is a lack o aware-

ness in a society that knows littleor nothing about the Internet or

does not see the need to use it, orthat many people have only nega-

tive associations with the Internet.The lower the awareness o the us-

age and opportunities oered by

modern technologies, the greaterthe need to make everyone real-ize how important it is to develop

a communication society based onknowledge and modern technolo-

gies, including the Internet.

It is also worth emphasising whicho the opportunities oered by the

Internet are exploited by the 50+ generation o users. Most seniors use the

Internet mainly to search or inormation, check the weather orecast, con-tact their relatives or or entertainment.

What are Polish people lookingfor on the Internet?

Looking or the national and in-

ternational news (27%), check-

ing the prices o products (17%),

weather orecasts (13%), work-re-

lated inormation (12%), looking

or other people, e.g. on commu-

nity portals (12%), recipes (11%)

One o the reasons why the percentage o the Internet users in Poland isstill very low is the act that people, who are not using the Internet havea very limited knowledge about the applications, content and advantages

connected with the usage o this medium. Lack o knowledge may result inlow motivation to start using the web.

There is a great need to raise awareness in Polish society. Seniors are not

aware o the act that the Internet supports occupational, social and culturalactivity, increases mobility and creates new opportunities to satisy needs,

develop the areas o interest as well as participate in social lie. Thereore, themodel or an active retirement should be promoted in order to increase the

sel-realization and sel-esteem o elderly people. It is important to help theolder generation maintain its independence, so that the elderly do not have

to rely on the care o their relatives which may be a direct cause o digitalexclusion resulting also in social marginalization.

Access to appropriate help is a barrier to the process o acquiring knowledge

linked to Internet use. The courses are oten expensive and instructions di-cult to ollow. The use o English terms does not make the adventure with

modern technologies easier. Unortunately, the desire to develop skills tobenet rom Internet use is also limited. According to the Central Ofce o

Statistics in 2007 only 11% o Poles aged 50+ have taken advantage o theopportunity to ollow courses. In spite o these statistics, seniors identiy

courses and training as being the main way to acquire a sufcient level ocompetence in the use o modern technologies.

Compared to seniors rom other EU countries, the Polish 50+ generation

seldom takes up the opportunity to participate in courses: in the 55-64 agegroup, the take-up rate is only only 3% in Poland, the EU average being 10%.

The take-up rate is no higher or courses organized by employers. Only 7% oPolish seniors beneted rom IT training, while the average in the Union was

17%. The take-up rate o the 65+ generation is even lower: none o the Polish

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The E-bridge partners:

respondents took advantage o theopportunity, whereas in the rest o

the EU seniors have been acquiringIT skills.

A social diagnosis prepared In 2009shows that the main reason or us-

ing the Internet is to search or na-tional and international news as well

as viewing the WWW pages. Seniorsuse the opportunity to communi-

cate with other people o their ageless requently, on-line banking,

shopping or job seeking. The pos-sibilities or proessional develop-

ment via the Internet are hardly everconsidered by the 50+ generation.

It is also interesting to note that

more than hal o seniors are look-ing or inormation connected withpublic administration on the Net.

Some seniors would like to use on-line orms to deal with ofcial mat-

ters without leaving their homes.

The ndings o the Opening Reporto the M@turity on the Network Col-

lision indicates that Polish seniors,who are use the network regularly

maintain their proessional activity

or a longer time and oten receivehigher salaries. It Is important topoint out that Internet users have a

greater chance o promotion. More-over, contrary to the stereotypes,

instead o weakening interpersonalrelationships, the Internet reinorces

them, having a positive inuence onthe sel-esteem and well-being o

people aged 50+. Social Diagnosisshows a very positive inuence o

the use o this modern medium, us-ing the Internet increases older peo-

ples desire to get involved in lie.

The main economic priority o theCommunity is e-integration and the

development o the communica-tion society in an ageing Europe.Modern technologies are expected

to support longer proessional activ-ity o elderly people and lower the

costs o care or dependent ones. The plan assumes mobilization o

the society or proessional and so-cial activity in order to improve the

quality o lie and economic situa-tion o the EU countries.

Poland has a lot o work to do in thiseld. The activity o many social or-

ganizations, public administrationinstitutions and business-related or-

ganizations preventing digital exclu-sion is based on wide-scale promo-

tion o modern technologies. First oall it is necessary to inorm seniors

about the advantages or the whole

o society that Internet use bringsabout as well as to educate the 50+generation in the eld o modern

technologies, starting by encourag-ing seniors to communicate with

their amilies or search or interest-ing and important inormation con-

nected with everyday lie.

E-integration o the 50+ generationis just beginning to get going. The E-

bridge to mobility project is one o

the ew resources where seniors cannd out about modern technolo-gies. E-bridge to mobility helps ght

the ear o Internet resources andoers an opportunity to increase

proessional competences, e.g. lin-guistic skills. The project aims at in-

creased activity o users and promo-tion o their mobility as they grow

older. Both the project web pageand the language teaching applica-

tions have been prepared in such away that every user can use them in-

tuitively. Seniors oten give up usingthe Internet because the websites

are too complicated or them.

The E-bridge web page is straight-orward and user-riendly. On theone hand the project products are

independent elements supportinglanguage learning, while at the same

time they complement one another.E-bridge is trying to break down the

stereotypes o thinking about mod-ern technologies as complicated

scientic solutions. Learn more atwww.2mobility.eu

The basic assumptions of a plan

to minimize digital exclusion:

enabling unrestricted activity

o seniors on the labour market.

New technologies are expected to

support the activity and produc-

tivity on the labour market, as wellas the process o acquiring new

skills, mainly through e-learning

enabling seniors to unction

comortably in society. The op-

portunities o establishing new

relationships as well as staying

in touch with amily thanks to ICT

, especially in rural areas, as well

as in towns. Modern technologies

minimize social marginalization

enabling seniors to unction

comortably at home. Sustaining

everyday activity, the will to live

a longer lie, improving their men-

tal health and well-being and giv-

ing them a greater opportunity

o sel-realization

The above text was based on the Open-ing Report of the M@turity on the Net-

work Coalition prepared by a team lead

by Dominik Batorski Ph.D., on the initia-

tive and with support from UPC Poland

From alienation to adaptation

Poles aged 50+ and the Internet