Promoting Digital Literacy in Local Communities
We are conscious of the limited demographic that Soccer.Net will be able to reach. Apps for mobile phones are significantly more popular among younger generations and tech-savvy digital natives. Even when older generations pick up tablets and smartphones, research suggests that they use them in quite different ways. Graph (1) presents figures of the general app usage in the US in 2017. Even for those among the elderly who do own a smartphone, they only spend about half the time that younger people spend using apps on smartphones and tablets.
In a recent survey of people aged 65 and over (2), the most prominent themes that emerged were related to barriers (i.e., lack of instructions and guidance, lack of knowledge and confidence, health-related barriers, cost) as well as disadvantages and concerns (i.e., too much and too complex technology, feelings of inadequacy, and comparison with younger generations). A recent BBC News Report referred to this cohort as the ‘generation that tech forgot’ (3). Many older people find new technology impenetrable.
SoccerNet aims to take active measures to promote digital literacy among older people in local communities who are keen to participate in grassroots football but find using an app difficult. In collaboration with local Councils and organised by the FA’s Community Engagement Team, workshops and outreach events are to be scheduled across the UK that aim to reduce barriers and anxieties around using the Web and mobile services. The UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy aims to make sure that by 2020, ‘everyone who can be digitally capable, will be’ (4). SoccerNet’s outreach programmes are a continuation of this strategy on a local level. SoccerNet is an inclusive promoter of grassroots football that is blind to age, colour or creed. The love for the game is all that it should take to get involved.
References
(1) https://www.statista.com/statistics/323522/us-user-mobile-app-engagement-age/
(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5649151/