As technology becomes increasingly important to health outcomes, so do the tools, skills, and knowledge needed to participate in the digital world. These are collectively referred to as the digital determinants of health. They’re also known as “super social determinants of health”6 because they play a key role in influencing health outcomes and other social determinants of health, like education and health care access.
The digital determinants of health fall into 2 broad buckets:
- Internet connectivity, including access to broadband internet
- Digital health literacy skills
Digital health literacy, in turn, is a function of personal health literacy (the ability to find, understand, and use health information) and digital literacy (the digital skills necessary to use technology). It’s defined as the ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge gained to address a health problem.6 Lack of internet connectivity and digital health literacy skills pose significant barriers to health. Fortunately, many of these barriers can be broken down — or at least mitigated — in the digital design and development process.
Below we discuss these barriers and their impact on people’s ability to access the internet, read and process information on a screen of any size, and interact with technology.
