Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working with more senior members of our community on a variety of ways in which lives can be enriched even after retirement. It has to be stated first that these members, while not at the very top of Abraham Maslow’s heirarchy of needs, are certainly not at the bottom either. So financial security is a given.
Their biggest issue is with how to enrich their otherwise drab and routine lives which now tend to centre around looking after their grandchildren. One of the reasons why I got involved is because technology and more specifically social media is probably more suited to this segment of the population than any other. While the younger set use social media for convenience, issues of physical mobility are significant for our more elderly citizens and social media platforms can help facilitate their continued social interactions.
However, while the benefits of an engagement on this platform is intuitive to people familiar with it, it is not always so for others. I realized after engaging this group that the following fears are prevalent:
– Fear of technology, and more specifically how to use the computer or the internet. This fear centres around how to navigate what for us is a familiar landscape but for others, an almost alien environment.
– Physically being unable to read from the screen comfortably.
– Fear of their personal information being stolen
– Fear of new things.
These fears are not without foundation. I am just grateful that they were open enough with me to be candid. The benefits I like to highlight are:
– Maintain contact with their current circle of friends and even reach out to other friends who might have been forgotten with the passage of time.
– Keep everyone updated on their current activities, or be incentivized to be more active to enrich their profile
– Relate to their children through this medium.
– Join or lead interest groups that are important to them.
To address the fears they have listed, I proposed the following activities:
– A series of training courses to bring them from absolute beginners to familiarity with the philosophy and context of social media platforms
– A manual on how to use large fonts for their computer. If this is insufficient, it is possible to use the mobile version of Facebook on your computer…with a little bit of work. The mobile version is very clear…especially when expanded to the PC screen.
– Part of the training should include a section on privacy and parameters on what to or what not to put on the web.
– The hardest part is the changing of the mindset. But if someone is willing to turn up at your course, it shows a willingness to at least consider the options
Tong Hsien-Hui
Some Meowsings...... 