Have you talked to your teen about Digital Post?

Often, when young people reach a certain age, parents sit down and talk with them about certain topics. Digital Post should be one of those topics - at least if you ask the Danish Agency for Digitisation. Up to 25 percent of the adolescents between 15 and 17 years do not get around to checking their Digital Post mailbox.

Since 1 November 2014, it has been mandatory for young people 15 years old and above to receive their mail from the public sector in digital form via Digital Post.

It is particularly the very young people between 15 and 17 years who are lagging behind when it comes to checking for new messages in the Digital Post mailbox. In the age group 15-17 years, 24.4 percent have actually received Digital Post messages within the last 6 months but have neither logged into their mailbox at all during this period nor had somebody else log in via "delegated read-only access". Looking at the total number of citizens of all ages, who are signed-up to receive Digital Post, this group only constitutes 4.2 percent. And fortunately, the very young do not receive that many Digital Post messages compared to older citizens.

Head of Division at the Agency for Digitisation, Louise Palludan Kampmann, believes that there may be several reasons why the "digital natives" do not get around to checking their Digital Post mailbox:

"We are aware that digital communication with the public sector probably is not number one on the list of interesting new experiences facing teenagers. Nevertheless, it is important to learn to pay attention to Digital Post messages" says Louise Palludan Kampmann and explains that young people might overlook important messages such as appointment notices from hospital or messages about youth card for public transport.

Text message notifications

The Agency for Digitisation would like Digital Post will be added to the list of serious chats parents have with their teenage childrent:

"When parents prepare their children for adult life, telling about those "grown-up things" they should know, it would be great if they would also talk about Digital Post. Some parents may take the ability to interact with public authorities for granted and may simply forget that it is something that needs to be learned" says Louise Palludan Kampmann and explains that the young people can get assistance to manage Digital Post in several ways:

"At the Citizens' Portal, borger.dk, they can sign up for automatic alerts to get an email or a text message when there is new mail in the inbox. That way they do not have to log in and check all the time. It is also possible to delegate read-only access to their parents, so as to ensure that important messages are not missed" says Louise Palludan Kampmann.

Key facts on the use of Digital Post

Statistics on the use of Digital Post by end of September 2015:

• 4.3 million Danes are registered to receive Digital Post.
• 545,000 Danes are exempt from Digital Post.
• 4.2 percent of the registered Danes have received Digital Post within the last 6 months, but have not logged in during the period or had somebody else log in via a delegated read-only access.
• Approximately 200,000 young people aged 15-17 years are registered for Digital Post.
• Of those, 24.4 percent have received Digital Post within the past 6 months but have not been logged in during the period or had somebody else log in a visit via read-only access.

Read more about Digital Post