Digital transformation through the lens of peripheralisation: Double exclusion of ageing rural localities in an advanced e-country

The digital transformation has reached a stage where digital solutions are an integral part of daily life. Yet little attention has been paid to which social groups and locations benefit from this transformation and which are left behind. This article examines digital transformation by focusing on peripheral rural areas, with a focus on older populations. The study draws on expert interviews with key actors working and communicating with older residents in four rural municipalities in Estonia – a country globally recognised for its advanced digital governance. In these settings, a condition of ‘ double exclusion ’ emerges: inadequate digital infrastructure fails to fully reach remote locations, even within a highly digitalised society, while older rural residents often lack the skills and trust to engage with the state-led project of a ‘digitally powered nation’. Paradoxically, peripheralisation trends have reversed the progress made in the late 1990s and early 2000s in providing nationwide Internet access by the standards of the time, even to the most remote settlements. Since then, the peripheralisation process – closure of local anchor institutions – has eroded opportunities for the ageing rural population to socialise and build trust in the digital society.