Bridging the digital divide: How Café Anschluss in Frankfurt supports seniors in a digital Europe

At Café Anschluss in Frankfurt, elderly women sit around tables, their coffee mugs steaming gently. They have just finished breakfast to mark International Women’s Day. After the meal, the tables are quickly rearranged for a smartphone Q&A session.

With quiet concentration, the women follow the instructions of a tutor on how to install the app Signal, add contacts, and make video calls. They help each other, sometimes ask questions, and laugh at each other's mistakes. No one fails, and everyone completes today’s goal. Those may be small successes, but each one is a step toward confidence. 

“You have to start with the education. You have to provide old people with the opportunity to learn how to do it.” 

Steven McAvinue, Assistant Director at Café Anschluss, is today’s lecturer to teach seniors how to use the app. This scene is more than a social gathering. It represents a growing recognition that digital inclusion for older adults is not a luxury but a necessity. In Germany and across the European Union, the digitalization of daily life and public services is advancing rapidly. For older citizens, however, this transformation often comes with anxiety, confusion, and the risk of exclusion. Café Anschluss aims to change that by offering guidance, community, and a safe space to learn. 

The digital gap in Europe and Germany

While the EU is moving forward with ambitious digital targets, the reality remains uneven. According to data published in 2023 by Eurostat, only 56 percent of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU have at least basic digital skills., These are defined as proficiency in areas such as information retrieval, communication, problem solving, and online safety. 

More strikingly, digital competence drops sharply with age. Among adults aged 65 to 74, the proportion of individuals with basic digital skills decreases significantly, reflecting generational and educational divides. 

 In Germany, although internet infrastructure and digital services are generally robust, many seniors still find themselves left behind. The transition to online public services has been rapid, from health appointments to social benefits. 

 According to a 2023 report by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the digitalization of public services poses serious risks for older people who lack digital skills or reliable access. The report warns that this can lead to exclusion from essential rights and services. 

In reality, this digital divide among older adults undermines not only convenience but also dignity and autonomy. 

Café Anschluss: Community response to a structural problem 

 Café Anschluss operates under the umbrella of the Frankfurter Verband, a long established community organization. For almost three decades, it has provided social and support services to seniors in Frankfurt. 

In recent years, the center has introduced various programs, including digital Q & A sessions, smartphone assistance, and a Repair Café where volunteers fix household items while talking with older visitors. 

They also managing programs that they can actually communicate with each other, such as hand-made craft, short trip, dance academy, etc. These programs primarily target people over the age of 50, although some participants in their thirties or forties also attend. 

Tutors encourage questions, reassure participants that mistakes are acceptable, and avoid technical jargon. Seniors learn by doing at their own pace, in a group setting, often with peers rather than authority figures. 

Steven explained the reason why many seniors, especially women are more excluded by digitalization. 

"There is actually more than just one barrier. One is financial. A lot of senior citizens do not necessarily have a good retirement plan, so they are not as financially well off and might not be able to afford a device. Among those aged around sixty and above, many are women who did not work and stayed at home. 

 “They were housewives, and now their husbands have died, so they do not really have retirement benefits. They have even less money, and that can be another financial burden." 

Another barrier the center identifies is the broader societal shift toward digital only systems. Many public services are now accessible only online, with little regard for those who still rely on analog methods or have limited digital literacy. 

Steven warns that eliminating analog options would result in forced exclusion. 

The human side of digital literacy

Beyond economic and access related factors, there is a deeply human dimension to digital exclusion: fear. Maximiliane von Arnim, a project leader for digital and social inclusion in Frankfurt, reflected on this: 

"They sometimes perceive the internet as something evil. They think they can make mistakes that are really horrible and break their phone." 

She provides visit services for elderly people for free who are unable to find the center due to fear of mistakes or of using the internet , or due to mobility difficulties.

“We visit them and help them a little bit. I had several cases where they were having WI fi, but they had no connection to their WI fi. We try to alleviate these fears as well.” 

According to Steven, age is not the only factor for this fear and lack of confidence. Educational background also play a role for this inequality. 

" We found that a lot of the people who come to us generally have had a higher level of education. The people who have not come to us yet are often from working class backgrounds who never had to deal with technology, and it simply was not something they grew up with." 

For Café Anschluss, success is seen in confidence regained, isolation reduced and reconnection with the family. 

Why digital inclusion is a rights issue 

The digital divide extends beyond issues of convenience. A 2023 report by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) states that as public administration, healthcare, and social services move increasingly towards digital-only formats, people who lack digital access or skills face significant barriers in exercising their basic rights. 

"It is the right to learn and to be educated," Steven said. "We believe that older people have a right to learn how to deal with digitalization, and in doing so, they are enabled to go for their other rights, free speech.They have the Internet they can actually do their free speech on the Internet." 

Scaling up: from local café to a European model 

Café Anschluss is part of the broader St@ndbyMe initiative, a project under the Erasmus Plus programme that supports community based digital inclusion efforts across several EU member states. The 2024 St@ndbyMe report highlights that small scale, peer oriented digital education programs tailored to older adults are often more effective than standardized digital literacy courses. 

This reflects a shift in European policy. Digital competence is increasingly regarded as a core element of citizenship and inclusion, not merely a technical skill. The Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 sets a target that at least 80 percent of adults should have basic digital skills by 2030. 

Challenges: what Café Anschluss cannot solve alone 

Café Anschluss faces limitations beyond what a single center can resolve. Digital assistance for older adults is not merely technical support; it is intertwined with long term social relationships and the realities of aging.

Since most of the volunteers are also seniors who want to help other seniors, Steven says: 

"You get to know your customers, and you get to know your coworkers and our volunteers. I consider our volunteers to some extent as family, and the drawback is that as they get older and pass away, it does affect you." 

The emotional burden is particularly heavy because loss is an inevitable part of elderly care. 

"This past November was hard for us. We lost a coworker, a former coworker, and two volunteers. November and February are the months when older people in care tend to die." 

Café Anschluss also faces operational constraints. They hold programs almost every day with different formats within the broader organization, which means staff must independently manage planning, scheduling, and design tasks. 

"Our program is slightly different, so we have to manage it ourselves. I am not a designer, but I work in InDesign four times a year. I am not going to get any better at it, but it is good enough." 

These behind the scenes responsibilities show that digital inclusion work requires far more than teaching smartphone basics. It demands administrative capacity, technical production skills, and constant coordination, tasks that often fall on a few overstretched staff members. 

A model for inclusive digital futures 

Nonetheless, Cafe Anschluss presents living evidence that digital inclusion is not just about technology but about people. By combining a humane level of education and communication, it helps seniors regain their sense of re-connecting in a rapidly digitizing world. As European society towards its Digital Decade goals, café Anschluss serves as a reminder that inclusion must be built from the local level.

“Our primary focus is the education to enable older people to strengthen their rights on the online world.” 

After all, bridging the digital divide is not just about introducing broadband or apps. It must be important to uphold basic rights for living and ensure that no one is on the wrong side in Europe's digital future.