Social isolation of Older People

Social networking to empower older people

Dr Jenny Waycott

John*, a widower, is a retired engineer aged in his 90s. He lives alone in the family home and has struggled with loneliness and depression since his wife passed away. He feels frustrated that as he gets older he can no longer do many of the things he used to enjoy, which exacerbates his sense of feeling alone in the world.

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Social isolation in old age

In Australia, one-quarter of people aged 65 and above live alone. Some older people, like John, will be vulnerable to social isolation, which occurs when people have limited opportunities for human contact and become disconnected from society.
Not all older people who live alone are socially isolated. And social isolation is certainly not limited to old age. But social isolation in old age is a significant concern. It is linked to a range of health problems and, in extreme cases, can lead to people growing old and dying alone.
There have been public calls to address social isolation. Earlier this year, UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt controversially urged people to invite lonely elderly strangers into their homes in an effort to avoid “lonely deaths”. In Australia, many aged care organisations and local councils offer social programs designed to help older people stay connected to others.
But for older people with limited mobility it can be difficult to take part in organised social activities. And not everyone wants to invite strangers into their homes. For these people, social technologies could provide valuable opportunities to stay connected to the world.

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Older people and social technologies

Older people are going online at growing rates and social networking is no longer considered the domain of the young. Pew Research Centre found that that more than half of American internet users aged over 65 now use Facebook.
But not all older people feel comfortable using social networking sites. Existing sites, such as Facebook, can be confusing, with too many functions, distractions and extraneous information. Some older people, meanwhile, fear a loss of privacy and malicious intent when communicating online.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne developed a prototype iPad application, Enmesh, to explore how social technologies can be used to help alleviate older people’s experience of social isolation. The app was a simple social networking tool designed to be easy, fun and safe to use. Its simplicity meant it avoided many of the problems that make existing social networking tools difficult or unattractive for older adults.

Image: Sjoerd Lammers, Creative Commons, via Flickr

Enmesh was used to share captioned photographs and messages within a closed group. The photographs then appeared on an interactive display on each person’s iPad screen. This provided a safe and fun space for people to learn how to use the iPad’s touchscreen and camera while also developing new friendships.John was one of several older adults, mostly aged in their 80s and 90s, who took part in a series of studies to trial Enmesh. During the study, John shared over 100 photographs and messages with other older adults, all strangers to him at the start of the project.
Sharing photographs might seem like a simple and familiar form of communication to those of us who use social media every day. But for John, and others like him, it was a revelation.
Many of John’s captioned photographs provided personal, poignant – and sometimes humorous – descriptions that illustrated how he felt about ageing. Others could relate to his experiences and felt they got to know John through his photographs.
One of the older adults John connected with was Sarah*. She said the project gave her a sense of belonging to a group. She enjoyed sharing and seeing other people’s photographs. They provided “little snippets” that gave her insight into people’s lives. Sarah said:

It’s lovely to have conversations and I don’t have nearly enough, as I rarely go out or have visitors. I love it when one of those things is possible, but in the meantime this is a wonderful way of keeping in touch with folk.

Older adults who are socially isolated may have few opportunities to share information about their day-to-day lives. Photo-sharing with peers provides an important outlet for this communication.

Empowering older people

Technological innovations for older people – such as emergency alarms and devices that monitor activity – are typically designed to compensate for frailty and provide peace of mind for family members.
While these innovations are important, the Enmesh study has shown that technologies can offer powerful social opportunities for older people too.
As consumer technologies continue to advance, there will be more opportunities to enhance older people’s social worlds through technology. Alongside growing innovation, we need to build capacity in the aged care workforce to ensure the aged care industry is mobilised to take advantage of new technologies.
*Names have been changed.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Only 1 in 3 Indians are Vegetarians

The myth of a vegetarian India

Indian has a booming poultry market. Pau Casals/Unsplash

Tani Khara, University of Technology Sydney
India has a reputation as a vegetarian nation, and Indians certainly consume far less meat than the global average. But the view of India as a predominantly vegetarian nation may not be quite accurate.
India, whose population is predicted to overtake China’s, is rapidly changing from an agricultural society to an industrial economy with a surging urban population. This is driving the fastest-growing poultry market in the world, as cultural norms change and eating meat becomes a status symbol.

Total vegetarianism is rare

Vegetarianism in India has been gradually becoming less strict over the past 30 years. Only about three in ten Indians now claim to be vegetarian, and a 2016 national survey found that more than half of people aged between 15 and 34 eat meat.
A recent National Family Health Survey found that only 30% of women and 22% of men describe themselves as vegetarian. Other studies have similarly found that a relatively small minority practise vegetarianism.

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Even these numbers may well be underestimates. Indians are said to underreport their meat consumption due to religious and cultural stigmas associated with it.

Tastes like chicken

Poultry is India’s most popular type of meat, and India is projected to be one of the world’s largest growth markets for poultry consumption.
The rise in meat consumption is predominantly driven by urban India, and the highest percentages of non-vegetarians come from southern states such as Telgana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Another reason may be that chicken can be considered a universally acceptable meat, given the religious taboos associated with beef among Hindus and pork among Muslims. Although 80% of Indians are Hindus, India is home to several other major religions and sub-faiths, each with its own strictures about food and eating. Vegetarianism is less common among Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Bahais, Parsis and Jews who collectively make up 15% of India’s population.

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Upwardly mobile urbanites

In addition to religious and cultural variations, several key factors have influenced India’s shift, overall, towards meat consumption. These include rising urbanisation, increasing disposable incomes, globalisation and cross-cultural influences. Many urban Indians are embracing consumerism as a sign of upward social mobility and meat is widely considered to be a status symbol.
Despite this, others still consider meat-eating to be socially and culturally unacceptable. A 2015 study found young people felt “you eat [meat] in secret, away from your family”.
This appears to reflect differences in front-stage and backstage behaviours, a trait mainly found in collectivist cultures. “Front-stage behaviours”, which is how we act in public, may have more role-playing elements than backstage behaviours, which tend to be carried out in private.
It seems urban Indians today face a dissonance. On one hand, increasing exposure to new lifestyles is creating cultural change, but there is still pressure to adhere to traditions that have prevailed for centuries.
This contradiction is reflected in some of the urban Indian attitudes from the 2015 study on meat consumption. On one hand, some felt:

…in our Bhagvad Gita, Ramayan (in reference to the Hindu holy books) there are old teachings that non-veg is impure. It is the food of demons/monsters.

On the other hand, it was also claimed:

[When it comes to] holy men and Brahmins, it’s not like they don’t like eggs or meat. In front of people they will behave, but on the quiet/sly, they will smoke and drink and eat everything else.

Meat eating in India is a complex issue, with many facets. However, recent trends and figures certainly seem to indicate one thing: it is a mistake to label India as a vegetarian nation.
Tani Khara, PhD student in Sustainability, University of Technology Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.