Imagine a woman in her sixties who needs to take care of some paperwork at a public service office. In the past, all she had to do was show up, take a queue number, and hand her documents to the officer. Now, she is suddenly asked to download an app, create an account, verify her phone number, upload a photo of her ID card, and then wait for a notification she has no idea when to expect.
Stories like this are what happens when the internet and digital life start to enter a society. Indonesia has at least 229 million internet users according to the 2025 APJII survey, yet behind that number, almost 20 percent of the population is still not connected. There are also millions of people who are connected but cannot really use the technology they hold in their hands.
The Internet as the Starting Point of Technological Progress
The internet was born from a small network called ARPANET in 1969. At first, it was used only by a handful of researchers to exchange data. Two decades later, the World Wide Web opened to the public in the early 1990s, and the internet began to find its way into homes, offices, and schools. Indonesia itself started to see commercial internet services in the mid 1990s.
Thirty years on, the internet no longer sits on a computer desk. It lives in our pockets. According to APJII, 95 percent of internet users in Indonesia go online through their phones. Penetration keeps rising too, from 77 percent in 2022 to 80.66 percent in 2025.
This progress has brought a lot of convenience. Shopping, paying bills, handling documents, and even consulting a doctor can now be done without leaving home. But that convenience comes with a condition that is rarely talked about. People have to know how to use it.
Almost everything that used to be done by hand has now moved onto a screen. Paper forms have become online forms. Service counters have become apps. Ledgers have become digital systems.
The Government’s Response to Digital Technology
The government has moved quickly as well, perhaps too quickly. When it launched INA Digital in May 2024, the government acknowledged that there were around 27,000 service applications spread across ministries, agencies, and local governments. Many of them run on their own and overlap with one another. For the public, this means one errand may need one app, and another errand may need yet another app, each with its own account and password.
The world of work is going through the same thing. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 estimates that 39 percent of workers’ core skills will change or become outdated between 2025 and 2030. Technological literacy is among the top three fastest growing skills.
Like it or not, everyone has to learn again. The question is whether everyone has the same chance to learn.
The Reality
Unfortunately, some groups rarely interact with technology in their daily lives, or only use one or two apps in the most basic way. They are not against technology. They simply do not have enough time, habit, or guidance to keep up with changes that arrive so fast.
Older adults are the clearest example. BPS data from 2025 shows that 52 percent of older adults in Indonesia already use a mobile phone, but only 34 percent access the internet. In other words, owning a device does not mean being able to use it. Meanwhile, the number of older adults keeps growing. The 2025 Intercensal Population Survey (SUPAS) recorded that older adults now make up almost 12 percent of the total population, and Indonesia has officially entered an aging population phase.
The gap also shows up in quality, not just in numbers. The 2025 Indonesian Digital Society Index (IMDI) from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs stands at 44.53. The infrastructure pillar scored the highest at 53.06. The empowerment pillar, which looks at how far technology actually helps people’s lives, scored the lowest at 34.42. The network is already there, but its benefits have not been felt evenly.
The global picture is not much different. The ITU reports that 85 percent of urban residents worldwide are online, compared to only 58 percent in rural areas. The ITU also notes that most internet users have only basic skills.
When someone fails to use an app, we often blame the user. They are called tech illiterate, unwilling to learn, or out of touch. More often than not, though, the problem lies in the app.
Research by the Nielsen Norman Group on older users illustrates this clearly. Users aged 65 and above successfully completed tasks on websites only about 55 percent of the time, compared to 74.5 percent for users aged 21 to 55. They were also 43 percent slower. The study was conducted more than a decade ago, but the pattern still holds. Design that does not consider its users’ limitations will leave them behind.
Buttons that are too small, confusing technical terms, flows that are too long, and error messages that do not explain what to do next. All of these may seem trivial to the team building the app, but they can become a high wall for ordinary people.
The government itself is aware of this. At the launch of INA Digital, President Joko Widodo stressed that bureaucracy should serve people, not make things harder or slower. The same principle applies to apps. Technology should serve, not add to the burden.
User Experience as the Bridge Between Technology and People
This is where user experience (UX) comes in. UX treats the user’s experience as the measure of a software product’s success. An app is not considered successful just because it has complete features or advanced technology. It is successful when even the people who rarely use technology can get things done without confusion.
In practice, a few simple principles can make a big difference. These include replacing technical language with the words people use every day, and simplifying flows by reviewing how a process used to work and then streamlining it within what is technically possible. They also include making sure users can understand how to use the app, through in-app guidance or by anticipating mistakes before they happen, along with other ways of making things easier.
Good UX is not just about empathy, either. A McKinsey study of 300 companies over five years found that companies with the strongest design practices grew their revenue 32 percentage points faster than their competitors. Apps that are easy to use get used more, receive fewer complaints, and deliver value sooner.
Technological progress cannot and should not be stopped. But progress that only some people can enjoy does not yet deserve to be called shared progress. Our job as technology makers is to make sure no one is left behind simply because an app is hard to understand.
At Aistech, we believe every digital system should be usable by the people who touch technology the least. Because when technology is designed for them, it will feel easy for everyone.
References: APJII, Indonesia Internet Penetration Survey 2025. Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), Indonesian Digital Society Index 2025. BPS-Statistics Indonesia, Statistics of Aging Population 2025 and SUPAS 2025. ITU, Facts and Figures 2025. World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report 2025. Nielsen Norman Group, Usability for Senior Citizens (2013). McKinsey and Company, The Business Value of Design (2018).
