Confidence is the missing link in digital inclusion

By Joakim Reiter, Chief External Affairs Officer

During a recent visit to Dublin, alongside the opening of our new Vodafone headquarters, I spent time at our Grafton Street store just around the corner. It’s a familiar retail setting, but it’s also a place where something less visible, and increasingly important, is happening.

The team walked me through how Hi Digital works in practice. Hi Digital is a Vodafone Foundation programme designed specifically for older people, focusing on building everyday digital confidence through practical, human support in familiar community settings.

 

Rather than a formal classroom session, the programme shows up as a simple, human interaction: a conversation at a desk, time to listen, space to ask questions, and reassurance that there is no such thing as a “silly mistake”.

 I asked the team what older customers most want help with. The answer was immediate and striking: how to protect themselves from fraud. Older people worry that their lack of digital confidence being exploited by criminals. It’s sobering, but it reflects a real sense of vulnerability.

I also learned there are a growing number of attacks linked to messaging services such as WhatsApp, showing how trust and personal connection can be turned against those who feel least confident.

Yet when we talk about digital inclusion, we often default to access and connectivity. Our latest Vodafone Foundation research tells a more nuanced story. Across Europe, although older adults are online and connected, only one in three feel confident using new digital tool. Many worry about making mistakes or falling behind as technology changes.

That confidence gap has real consequences. It affects people’s ability to act independently, manage everyday tasks online or feel comfortable with digital services that are part of daily life. Confidence, not capability, is often the real barrier.

What struck me in Dublin was how deliberately Hi Digital is designed around this insight. The focus is not on features or functionality, but on building confidence first - in a familiar environment, at an individual pace, and through practical, real world questions.

As more public and private services move online by default, inclusion policies risk leaving millions connected but still excluded. True inclusion means enabling people to use technology with confidence, safely and on their own terms.

Hi Digital is one way we are trying to do that - quietly, locally, and with people at the centre. It’s a reminder that the impact of digital initiatives is often felt in small moments, when uncertainty gives way to confidence and opens the door to independence.

That’s the kind of progress worth scaling – by companies, communities and governments alike – if digital inclusion is to mean more than being online in name only.