Today, the European Commission published the Special Eurobarometer 460 on attitudes towards the impact of digitalization on daily life. Overall, Europeans consider digitalization as an opportunity but demand efforts to improve online services and an effective public policy to accompany technological changes.
During this survey in March, 28,000 EU-citizens from different social and demographic groups were interviewed faceto-face in their mother tongue.
These are some central insights:
- Digital technologies in everyday life: 76 percent of respondents who use the Internet every day evaluate the impact of the most recent digital technologies on their quality of life as positive – in contrast to 38 percent who never use the Internet.
- Frequency of use: Two thirds of respondents say that a faster and more reliable Internet connection would encourage them to make more use of innovative digital technologies. 63 percent would use these technologies more, if online services were secure and 57 percent if more public services were online.
- Cyber security: Most Internet users have taken at least some measures to increase their security and privacy online. 61 percent of respondents find that security and privacy features are important when purchasing an IT device but only 27 percent are willing to pay more for them.
- Digital health: Respondents are much more willing to share their personal health data with doctors and healthcare professionals (65 percent) than with companies (14 percent) or public authorities (21 percent) even if anonymized and used for research purposes.
These findings allow the Commission to consider new policy initiatives and promote the further implementation of the Digital Single Market.
Source: European Commission
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