The phenomenon of “distancing” from digital technology concerns nearly 16 million people in the country, or 31.5% of French people over the age of 18 living in mainland France, according to a report sent this Friday to the Minister Delegate Head of Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot. The text makes a distinction between those who are remote from digital because they do not have access to the Internet (4.5 million people) and those who are because they do not feel competent (11, 5 million people).
“The remoteness of digital technology can, in an increasingly technological society, have major consequences for those for whom it is suffered, for example in terms of employability (…) in terms of access to rights (…) or even for medical or social monitoring”, warns the report.
Minister Jean-Noël Barrot will present a strategic roadmap “very soon” to notably make it possible to achieve “the European objective of 80% of the population having basic digital skills by the end of 2027”, indicated his cabinet, while that the share of French people who do not feel competent with digital technology has “increased by eight points since 2020”.
Accelerating role of containment
“Containment had an accelerating role in the existing digital divide between the French: the quantitative leap carried out at that time by a large part of the population raised the standard of mastery required to be comfortable and therefore weakened more people, “said the report.
Many factors explain these “digital inequalities” including age, socio-professional category, place of residence or gender. Social origin, if it cannot explain all cases of distancing from digital technology, is very important to take into account “both in the relationship to technologies and in the development of differentiated digital practices”. “These variables have the particularity of being interrelated and often interdependent on each other, even cumulative,” the report states.
Since 2021, 4,000 “digital advisors” have been deployed in France, “employed in all types of structures” (municipalities, departments, associations, etc.) according to the policy for “digital inclusion”. The government estimates that this has made it possible to support 1.8 million people – half of whom are over 60 – to carry out online procedures or even learn to navigate the Internet.