This article drew out the practical implications of UIS work on digital literacy and ICT skills by asking what actually enables some countries to perform better than others. Rather than repeating the common assumption that device access alone is enough, the piece showed that digital skills depend on how technology is used, how strongly literacy and numeracy foundations are developed, and how education systems support learning across age groups. The article was written to make a technical monitoring topic more accessible and policy-relevant, while also helping raise the visibility of UIS work on future-ready skills under SDG 4.