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Nearly 16 million people, or 31.5% of French people over the age of 18 living in mainland France, are affected by the phenomenon of “distancing” from digital technology, according to a report sent on Friday to the Minister Delegate in charge of of the Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot.
Among them, the report makes a distinction between those who are digitally distant 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 the digital 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 for medical or social monitoring“, says the report.
Minister Jean-Noël Barrot will present a strategic roadmap “very soon” in particular to achieve “the European target of 80% of the population having basic digital skills by the end of 2027“, indicated his cabinet to AFP, while the share of French people who do not feel competent vis-à-vis digital technology is “up eight points since 2020”.
“Containment had an accelerating role in the existing digital divide between the French: the +quantitative leap+ made at that time by a large part of the population raised the standard of mastery required to be comfortable and therefore further weakened people“, further underlines 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.“, says the report.
Since 2021, 4,000 “digital advisers” 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.