Charity’s Loneliness Experiment Was A Real Eye-Opener

FRIENDS of the Elderly  staged a poignant social experiment in June to highlight the plight of loneliness in old age.

From June 20th to 26th, ten volunteers from the charity spent a week in isolation with just a TV for company to experience first-hand the kind of daily seclusion felt by more than a million elderly people throughout the UK.

They also wore vision-impairing glasses and special gloves to simulate the effects of arthritis in the hands.

None of the volunteers were allowed outside their homes or have visitors during the week and mobile phones and internet access was strictly forbidden.

Daily video blogs recorded by each participant can be viewed online at the Friends of the Elderly website www.fote.org.uk.

This month also saw a number of organisations coordinate projects designed to bridge the gap between teenagers and the elderly, following research showing that neither have much respect for each other.

Among the events staged were students at Loughborough University giving internet lessons to the elderly, while the Welsh Pendyrus Male Choir gave a singing masterclass to pupils at a school in Taunton.

  

New Research Reveals Rise in Facebook Grandparents

ONE in seven grandparents over the age of 60 have an account on some kind of social networking website, a new survey reveals.

A total of 22 per cent of 1,341 grandparents questioned admitted to sharing messages, photos and videos online with friends as part of the data collected by MyVoucherCodes.co.uk.

Of those asked, 71 per cent said they were on Facebook, compared to 34 per cent on Twitter and 9 per cent on business networking site Linkedln.

The majority said they had joined their chosen network within the last year, while more than half did so because they were encouraged by younger members of their families.

A quarter took the step to find old friends and fifth said it was keep in touch with current friends and family.

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said “I think it is quite a common misconception nowadays that the over 60s are not as savvy as others when it comes to the internet.”