How will digitalisation affect people’s daily lives?
The work on a digitalisation policy for the administrative branch of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health was started in spring 2016. Senior Specialist Jukka Lähesmaa from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health explains in a YouTube video what the objectives of the digitalisation policy are, how digitalisation will affect people’s daily lives, and whether digitalisation has any downsides.
Link to video interview: https://youtu.be/sSZddjzIpSQ
Transcript of the interview
What is the objective of the digitalisation policy?
“The digitalisation policy aims to make the complex digitalisation development easier to understand and approach. Another objective is to make digitalisation easier to manage so that we will be able to reach our common goals and objectives. We have already an information strategy for healthcare and social services, and now the digitalisation policy brings a similar approach to other areas of the administrative branch as well, including healthy work, healthy living environment, and health and wellbeing promotion.
Another aspect of the policy is to examine digitalisation from the viewpoint of the administrative branch’s own work and research. We have also considered how digitalisation will affect permit and supervision activities in the field.”
How will digitalisation affect people’s daily lives?
“Digitalisation is an extremely wide-ranging issue, and thus it will affect everyone: individuals, communities, public officials, and people working in different kinds of companies and organisations. For ordinary people, for example, it is important how digitalisation will improve services and how it will make it easier to interact with the authorities or the professionals in healthcare and social services.
A good example is that in future we all can easily generate information about our own wellbeing. We can have a digital diary where we enter data about our diets, sleeping patterns, or lifestyles, or the devices we carry with us, such as mobile phones, smartphones and smartwatches, can tell us how active we have been during the day. Of course it all depends on how we can make use of this kind of information, either by ourselves or with the help of professionals.”
Are there any downsides to digitalisation?
“In general, digitalisation is a positive development that presents us with new opportunities, but there are of course some concerns. All big developments have them. Digital exclusion is a big concern. Naturally, the administrative branch of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health must pay special attention to ensuring that people are aware of digital exclusion and that there are means to tackle it and prevent it.”
Further information
Digitalisaatio terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin tukena - Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön digitalisaatiolinjaukset 2025: https://verkkojulkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/stm/zine/2/cover
Video: Kimmo Vainikainen