Research undertaken by BNZ  – Digital skills for  life in Aotearoa shows soaring use of the internet through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital inclusion is when “everyone has equitable opportunities to participate in society using digital technologies”. To enable digital inclusion, people need access to digital technologies, the motivation to use them, trust that they are safe, and the digital skills to get the most out of them.

While considerable knowledge already exists on internet access in New Zealand, much less was known about the other enablers of digital inclusion. To fill that gap, this report gives a comprehensive assessment of digital skills – plus insights into the other enablers of digital inclusion – across a representative sample of adult New Zealanders.

Key findings from the report highlighted a proportion of people did not know how to:

• Pay for goods or services online, 11 per cent
• Manage their money and transactions online securely, 11 per cent
• Access and use public services online, like MyMSD, 15 per cent
• Upload documents and photographs when needed to complete an online transaction, 21 per cent
• Re-set a password from an online account, 10 per cent
• Use different secure passwords for different websites and accounts, 21 per cent
• Get help to stay secure online, 37 per cent

Source: BNZ