To fix loneliness in old people, there should be a social network for them specifically
Junior Owolabi
8 replies
To fix loneliness in old people, there should be a social network (not anonymous) targeted towards, life experience sharing, common old person multiple player board games, etc.
Because in old age many people lose their spouses (death or brain diseases), the longer they stay alone, the more the desire to die increases.
To remedy this just like strava is a sports oriented social network, there can be an old person oriented one too.
The revenue model can be a subscription model.
Get charities to fund the subscriptions.
The way to access old people could be through charities oriented towards them or medical centres for ageing people.
Requirements could be:
- No learning curve, older people would need be able to do things with one click.
- Private access, only allow the verified old people on the site, to avoid trolling people
- no ads
Features could be:
- With Browser extension, to help extract content to share
- Web based.
- Voice Typing.
- Voice Assistance.
- Online Multiple Player Board Games.
- Voice Chat (FaceTime).
- Recommending similar people.
I hope this or something similar is created, help ageing people feel they still have a reason to life.
Anyone who is interested could take this idea.
Replies
Yuliia Mamonov 🇺🇦@yulia_mamonova
I think it's a great idea! As long as it's simple and suitable for not tech-savvy elderly people, it'll be a hit. Especially in the times of pandemic when they can't socialize with them a lot in-person.
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Gimme Food
Sounds interesting, but very challenging considering their use of Social Networks x Smartphones.
Interesting! Combined with dedicated hardware like Facebook Portal (kind of basic tablet for old people to keep in touch with family) it can be a game changer!
Definitely would support such project 👊
Junior, thanks for sharing this! Loneliness in old people is a pretty neglected topic, and I'm glad you are shedding light on it. The loneliness and isolation we feel due to the pandemic currently- many seniors have been experiencing that for years.
The snarky response is that in fact there already is, it's called Facebook.
A less snarky response is, that lots and lots of old people use Facebook with no issue, so before you try to make something ultra-simplistic for old people, realize they can already use Facebook OK so maybe you don't need to make it as simple as you are thinking. Just make sure you support large text.
@kendall_gelner @rilwan_owolabi1 The thing is, I know a lot of old people and all of them I know can use Facebook better than I can... I think in fact the lonely they are, the more without family the more they gravitate to some place like Facebook because it's so much easier to make friends there than to try and meet people. It's easy to join some Facebook groups of interest, make a few comments and find like minded people you chat with.
I'd just say, be realistic about what your target market is doing and what they can handle.
@kendall_gelner do you really think lonely old people (with no friends and family) can use facebook, people suffering from chronic loneliness (probably without any computer
Tandem Shower
I agree this should exist. I similar concept I wish existed was a mentoring network that connected elderly people with younger people. The idea is that it would give the elderly gratification by helping younger people, as well as a social outlet. I think you could match or find mentors/mentees based on similar interests and goals. For the elderly person, it could be like advising your younger self.