One in six Dutch people has difficulty keeping up with digital developments. Even one in four of the over-55s state that new software, digital devices and applications are difficult to find. The results are also striking for young people:one in five young people (18-24 years) is afraid of doing something wrong if they have a problem with a digital device. This is apparent from a study by Studentaanhuis among 1,007 Dutch people.
Also, more than half of the Dutch feel frustrated when mobile devices don't do what they want; among young people this is even 69 percent. How self-reliant are we in these emergencies? Three quarters of the men say they prefer to solve issues with mobile devices themselves; more than a quarter of the men believe that their partner cannot do this independently. One in three women say they have a tendency to throw a mobile device out the window if it doesn't do what they want. And more than one in ten women expect their partner to solve all problems with mobile devices.
Thirteen percent of the respondents are ashamed when they cannot solve a small problem with a mobile device themselves:older people even more (fourteen percent) than young people (ten percent). Yet almost half of the Dutch cannot live without access to the internet. Without internet access, more than one in three feels left out and a quarter even helpless. More than one in ten young people even feel lonely without access to social media. That is why seventy percent of the Dutch have a good WiFi connection everywhere in the house.
