Fieldwork
Findings
About
Fieldwork
Findings
About
Research
Everyone we spoke to has access to at least a smartphone, many to other digital devices too, and most to reliable broadband. Some have chosen not to use them. What they don’t have is a seat at the table where technology is imagined. This page explains how we listened.
• Knowledge and information sources
• Language and skills for digitization
• Device usage and connectivity
• Relationship with the digital world
• The future and technology
The survey premises and questions were further tested with technology developers with extensive experience from on and offline tech for telecoms, website and app development, programming, data management, GIS, and mapping applied to both public and private sectors.
Participants consented to being quoted, named and published; some asked to remain anonymous. In some cases, where respondents were open to it, interviews were recorded.
Occupations
Rural postman, farmer and livestock keeper, musician, musician, botanical craftswoman, tree surgeon and forestry worker, music teacher / craftswoman / farmer / cleaner / interpreter, sports instructor and firefighter in training, massage therapist and elderly carer, builder / waste collector / livestock keeper / cork harvester, physiotherapist / craftswoman / farmer, child protection educator, teacher and mother, educator and researcher, osteopath and family carer, farm worker, physiotherapist, electronics technician / estate keeper / printer repairer, municipal sports coordinator, retired shepherd, elderly carer, mechanic and olive grower, driver, civil servant, retired taverna owner and olive farmer, retired taverna owner, “whatever I can find”, machine operator, vehicle mechanic, farmer, farmer, river kayak guide, writer and filmmaker, electrician.
Ages
25–34 (3), 35–44 (11), 45–54 (8), 55–64 (5), 65–74 (7), 75–84 (0), 85+ (1).
Three small towns in the south-western mountains, near the Portuguese border: Los Marines, Alájar and Fuenteheridos. They sit between 566 and 717 m above sea level, about an hour from the nearest regional capital, with between 200 and 800 inhabitants each. The area lies within a natural park of over 180,000 hectares of chestnut, cork and holm oak forest. After decades of rural exodus, these towns are growing again, as people move in from cities and from abroad.
- Economics: According to local census information, average income sits at €1,732 per person per month, against a national average of €2,385. Unemployment sits around 22%, over double the national average. These figures may point to an unrecognized informal economy present in the area.
- Demographics: The villages have a large majority of young families and middle-aged people, and some foreign residents. Incomes are primarily middle to low, with some prevalence of informal economies, spanning traditional agriculture and animal husbandry, local goods production, tourism and services.
- In these villages, personal networks connect most people. I started by interviewing people I knew. Some interviews took place in public spaces, which drew curiosity and led others to ask to take part. I aimed for a sample that reflected the area in gender, age and experience. This first wave of 19 respondents comprises: Ages 25 to 74; 10 women and 9 men; a mix of rural and neo-rural profiles: 4 born in the area; 2 resident for more than 20 years; 8 for 11–20 years; 4 for 5–10 years; 1 for less than 5 years
- Many respondents had travelled around Spain and abroad. Whether born in the area or not, they gave many reasons for preferring to live here, describing it as better for their physical and mental health and valuing living close to nature.
Greece: Arcadia and Laconia, Peloponnese.
Eight villages between the Mainalo, Parnon and Taygetos mountains: Vlachokerasia, Alepochori, Pigadakia, Kollines, Vlachoraptis, Nestani, Kamari and Georgitsi. Their permanent populations range from 34 to 389 people (2021 census). Here, depopulation continues: young people leave, and the share of residents over 65 keeps rising.
Interviews
35 (Spain 19, Greece 16).
Format
In-person, semi-structured interviews, with a questionnaire completed by the interviewer.
Languages
In Spain, Sol Luca de Tena interviewed in Spanish and translated the responses into English. In Greece, Athena Lamberis interviewed in Greek or English and translated the responses.
Questionnaire
About 35 questions across 6 sections, multiple-choice plus open answers.
Average duration
1 to 2 hours, conversation included.
Interviewers
Sol (Spain), Athena (Greece).
A note on scale
This is a small, qualitative study, not a statistical sample. We report numbers as counts, and we let people’s words carry the weight.
Learnings
Signal, power, devices, cost and skills: the classic reasons people are left offline barely came up. Everyone we spoke to in Spain had a smartphone and found it affordable, and people had learned what they needed, whether that meant video-calling their kids or finding recipes on TikTok. Language was the exception. In Greece, half of the people we spoke to struggled to find information in Greek, from EU paperwork to vet instructions, while the information that really mattered was often hyper-local and only reachable through people.
“Most of the vet vaccination and medicine information and instructions were not in Greek.”
— Retired shepherd, Vlachokerasia, Greece
2. When the system fails, a neighbour steps in
Doctor’s appointments, school notices, social support and banking have almost all become digital-first or digital-only. When those systems fail, the in-person option has often disappeared, or it sends people back to the website. What keeps things working is the informal safety net of a village: you know the nurse, the mayor or the person at the counter, and they help you, unofficially. In a bigger town, that net would not be there. But informal, human support is not always available, and although there are IT support offices for citizens, they can offer very limited help with digital-first or digital-only services. Human, non-digital services and support options need to stay.
“If the page fails, I go to the office, but they can’t help me.”
— Music teacher, craftswoman and farmer, Sierra de Aracena, Spain
“There are no other alternatives.”
— Odd-jobs worker, Vlachokerasia, Greece
3. Using it isn’t choosing it
High use doesn’t mean preference. Many people feel they can’t opt out of digital technology and AI, because work, family, public services and community now depend on it. What they want is to understand their tools so they can make informed choices, to be able to repair and control them, and to choose what to use and what not to use, instead of being forced to use full suites of products when they only need one function.
“If I could opt out, I would. Right now I can’t, because people depend on me being connected.”
— Municipal sports coordinator, Los Marines, Spain
“I hear a lot and read a lot, but I have no basic knowledge. I don’t know how to start understanding more.”
— Rural postman, Sierra Norte de Huelva, Spain
4. Many ways of using it, one shared worry
People use technology in very different ways. One switches his phone on only when he expects a call, or to use the torch. Another dreams of browsing the internet with all his senses, like in a cyberpunk novel. Most sit somewhere in between. They value contact with family far away, access to knowledge and faster paperwork. Yet almost everyone shares concerns about its effect on children, on attention and memory, on how people relate to each other and the health of the personal and social fabric, and on the environment. Views on AI range from “a fabulous tool” to “absolute panic”, with fear and distrust the most common. In many cases, these negative experiences and this mistrust are becoming a barrier to using digital tools well.
“Playing games on my phone and seeing my mom in Australia.”
— Elderly support worker, Vlachokerasia, Greece
“Even the benefits are starting to be outweighed by my concerns. What good is it to have access to so much if I don’t remember it, and it makes me feel empty?”
— Care worker, Alájar, Spain
5. Knowledge lives between people
Local knowledge passes from person to person: in families, at gatherings, in the doing. Much of it is disappearing, and digital technology is only part of the reason. Young people leave, elders pass away, crafts stop paying, regulations change, and the seasons themselves are shifting. People feel this as a transition of its own, happening alongside digitalisation. As more things get sorted out by message instead of in person, the casual conversations where knowledge used to flow are also fading.
“In the hamlet, things now get sorted out by message instead of meeting in person, and that takes away something human.”
— Massage therapist and elderly carer, Alájar, Spain
“When I built my house, nobody helped me. My father made a stew and everyone helped.”
— Builder, livestock keeper and cork harvester, Los Marines, Spain
6. What people ask for
Asked what they would tell the people who build technology, they described tools that are useful but optional, with a person or paper always available as an alternative. They want tools that are not addictive, that protect children, that are honest about data and can be repaired. Above all, they want technology made for the common good, not for the profit of a few.
“Stop using us as raw material.”
— Massage therapist and elderly carer, Alájar, Spain
“Be kind, not greedy.”
— Writer and filmmaker, Arcadia, Greece