When we saw the fear fade away

February 2026

“Today, I’ll be the first.”

When Marija said this, there was a brief silence in the room. A few months ago, she had been sitting in the back row. She rarely asked questions. She often quietly observed others and jotted down the steps, as if gathering the courage for the moment when she would have to try it herself.

That day, we were practicing submitting a form via a web application. The process required logging in, filling out fields, uploading a document, and confirming. It wasn’t complicated, but it had enough steps to cause uncertainty.

Ms. Marija sat down at the computer, took a deep breath, and began. Logging in. Filling out. Uploading the document. Upon confirmation, she paused for a moment, as if checking whether she really dared to click.

She clicked.

A message appeared on the screen: “Your application has been successfully submitted.”

She didn’t throw her hands in the air. She didn’t shout. She just smiled slightly and said, “Well, here I am.”

That “here I am” was quiet proof that fear was no longer her main companion.

Sometimes fear was stronger than curiosity

When we asked participants at the start of the project how they felt about using digital services, the same words kept coming up: fear, uncertainty, confusion.

• Fear of making a mistake
• Fear of losing data
• Fear of "breaking something"

This fear wasn’t due to incompetence, but to a lack of experience. If you don’t use the digital environment regularly, it remains foreign. And anything foreign can be intimidating.

DigComp Competence 5.4—identifying gaps and developing one’s own digital competencies—begins right here. Not with technical knowledge, but with the acknowledgment: I don’t know this yet. And at the same time: I can learn this.

From avoidance to gradual engagement

At UPI Žalec, we observed an interesting pattern. At first, participants often looked for workarounds. “Can I handle this in person?” “Can someone else submit it for me?”

They perceived digital channels as an additional obstacle.

Gradually, however, something changed. Not because they became experts, but because they received structured support and time to practice. Once they successfully completed the process with assistance for the first time, their fear subsided somewhat. When they repeated it on their own a second time, it became manageable.

Competency development is not linear. It is cyclical. Try, fail, correct, try again.

Fear does not disappear overnight. It recedes with experience.

Recognizing a gap means taking responsibility

One of the key moments in the process was when Ms. Marija said during one of the reflection sessions: “I used to avoid it because I thought I didn’t need it. Now I see that I was just making it easier to make excuses.”

This was not self-criticism, but insight.

Recognizing a gap means acknowledging that something affects our independence. If I don’t know how to submit an application electronically, I am dependent on others. If I don’t know how to use digital banking, I have to go to the teller window in person.

The development of digital competencies is therefore also linked to a sense of autonomy.

Reflection within UPI Žalec

As an organization, we also had to identify our own gaps. Do we explain procedures clearly enough? Do we create a safe environment for mistakes? Do we give participants time to repeat a task, not just complete it once?

The project taught us that developing competencies is a long-term process. A one-time workshop is not enough. Continuity is needed.

We also noticed that fear diminishes when participants understand the broader context. When they know why they are doing something and how it will benefit them, they find it easier to face the initial uncertainty.

When Fear Is No Longer the Starting Point

At the end of the program, Ms. Marija said, “I’m not afraid anymore. Not because I know everything, but because I know I can try.”

That is the essential difference.

Fear does not disappear because we become flawless users. It disappears because we gain the experience that we can manage it.

Digital competencies are not a list of tools we master. They are the ability to face a new process, a new application, a new challenge, and say to ourselves: first, I’ll try it myself.

And when that happens, fear loses its power. Not because it disappears, but because it is no longer the one calling the shots.