An important message from Good Thinking
To everyone who uses Good Thinking, we regret to inform you that this service will be closing on 31 January 2026. This has been a difficult decision after eight years of supporting Londoners. If you’re struggling with your mental health, you can access our website until January or get help from the NHS and other support organisations.
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LAST REVIEWED 15 August 2024
Digital Inclusion Workshop III: Are Digital Skills key to better health?
In this workshop we will hear from experts in Digital Inequalities and Digital Skills, but also from those delivering Digital Inclusion Programmes.
If the challenge of Digital Poverty were simply a matter of money, it might be relatively easy to solve, if at the expense of the taxpayer. But simply giving an individual a device, and a connection to the Internet is only a beginning, and without helping them to develop Digital Skills, harms may occur, and inequalities could actually increase.
But if we are to connect vulnerable groups to the online world, what might we need to consider, to ensure they are not disadvantaged by data collection, algorithms, online risks, and the distress of not being able to access or navigate the opportunities?
If Digital Skills are key to Digital Inclusion, and to reducing Digital Inequalities, how can we define and measure them, and establish what skills it would be helpful for someone to develop?
Perhaps then, the challenge is to identify what is needed to equip a vulnerable person, or, say, someone with long term health needs, with the Digital Skills that enables to make use of online opportunities.
