Benefits of social media for adults

The world population is ageing, and loneliness has become one of the major issues affecting the quality of life of our senior citizens.  

Additionally, we have observed that social computing increases social contexts through the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Smartphone and tablet proliferation also empower people to interact and create and share content, strengthening new forms of communication independent of time and space.  Therefore, the senior population would have a lot to gain by using social networks to overcome their solitude.  Nevertheless, the elder people are still digitally excluded due to their lack of technological skills, as well as age-related impairments.  Without the social network, the feelings of the senior population like belonging, companionship and connectivity, well-being and interaction, meaningfulness, and emotional comfort are get affected! 

The main thrust should be to digitally include all seniors --- independent of their educational level, literacy, or technological skills—by promoting a social network that allows them to share their life experiences, strengthen communication, improve their awareness of still playing an active and useful role in society, encourage emotional comfort, improve their health condition, and provide new forms of joyful entertainment in their lives.

No doubt the quality of life of senior citizens improved through the social network. 

It has been estimated that the globally increasing population are 65 or above.  This global phenomenon is leading to socioeconomic and political implications.  

As they retire, the elderly change from an active role in society to a more passive role. They no longer have a schedule or professional activity and interaction with their coworkers and instead, stay at home. Most do not have their children living with them anymore, and some are widowers/widows. Therefore, they usually find themselves lacking in purpose and lonely, which may lead to manifest depression due to social isolation which may lead to affect their state of mind and their physical health also. 

Due to the modern lifestyle with demanding jobs, childcare, household activities, social involvement, and digital lives leads to time issues and constraints to support the elderly otherwise as it should be. Moreover, it has been observed that to seek better life opportunities many children go abroad leaving their parents unattended.  This is an increasing trend now.  

Therefore, family members often develop feelings of guilt from their inability to provide proper care and attention to their elderly parents, especially when they are in distress or in a dangerous situation.  As a result, retired seniors are struggling to maintain a sustainable social security system. 

It is important that seniors should be keeping their independence, both physically and emotionally and emerging technologies and devices can contribute to this task.  It has been observed the exponential development of social networks to connect people all over the world. Additionally, devices such as mobiles or tablets are available at an affordable price and are now an intrinsic part of our daily lives, with more and more accessible interaction. Consequently, the combination of several technologies can improve the quality of life for seniors.

It is out of place to mention that solitude is the major issue that must be addressed when considering the elderly population.  It is clear that seniors prefer to maintain their independence and live in their own homes as long as possible, yet they are still eager to communicate. 

We cannot ignore that solitude and social exclusion is a transversal problems in rural and urban areas. While in rural areas isolation is often due to geographical locations, in urban areas isolation among the elderly can be attributed to a fear of walking in the bustling cities. Moreover, for those with reduced mobility who live in older buildings with no elevator, stairs are often an obstacle to leaving their homes. 

To overcome solitude and increase the use of virtual societies by the senior population, social networks and social media can play a crucial role when adequately applied to older adults. Social networks are leveraged to maintain active relationships with other family members or friends and continuous medical support, regardless of time or place. 

Despite the development of many software applications where people interact socially, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram, the needs and specifications of the senior population are often disregarded. The absence of a social network platform that meets the usability needs of seniors is identified as the major reason for their lack of involvement in Web 2.0 social networks, despite the many potential benefits. The senior population still struggles with digital exclusion and technological barriers. 

Given the intense benefit that social networks can provide to increase the quality of life for seniors and the fact that there are still many seniors who are unable to take advantage of these benefits, should explore social networks’ features and propose a fundamental set of mandatory characteristics so that all older people, despite their education level and technological skills, can fully enjoy social networks. Moreover, a solution using the proposed characteristics should be developed and further tested.

The appearance of social networks and the proliferation of low-cost devices -- such as tablets and smartphones --and existing internet communications have expanded the horizons in research seeking to apply new technologies to overcome social exclusion in the senior population.  

Platforms [encourage communications]

• AMCOSOP (Ambient Communication for Sense of Presence). This platform uses a touch screen device (home terminal and mobile client) and web services to encourage communications by the elderly with their families, friends, and professional caregivers. 
• Mazadoo platform. Mazadoo solution has a TV interface allowing the senior population to interact with Facebook, a wide social network already used by the family members of many seniors. The Mazadoo developers adapted the display of Facebook newsfeeds and content consultation on the home TV screen of the elderly user. 
• TV-Kiosk is another TV-based user interface designed for the elderly with the same goal of stimulating social interaction and avoiding isolation. 
• FoSIBLE (Fostering Social Interactions for a Better Life of the Elderly) aims to improve the quality of life for seniors by fostering social interaction among elderly people. 
• The HOMEdotOLD project has the same goal to advance the social interaction of elderly people. 
• SSP (Senior Social Platform) presents itself as a social network with a user-friendly interface focused on senior citizens. 

What we want to do is expand the use of social networks to every elderly person, even the illiterate.  The contribution aims to digitally include all seniors --- independent of their educational level, literacy, or technological skills—by promoting a social network that allows them to share their life experiences, strengthen communication, improve their awareness of still playing an active and useful role in society, encourage emotional comfort, improve their health condition, and provide new forms of joyful entertainment in their lives. 

As we live in a digital era people are always connected, sharing information, exchanging experiences and emotional feedback.  It is an extremely important role in combating the loneliness and emptiness manifested by the majority of the senior population by linking them to social networks and social media. 

Here are the characteristics to promote healthy ageing: 

• Simple interface: common minimalistic and intuitive social user interfaces must be developed.
• Extended interface: smartphones, tablets, and wearable technologies are contributing toward a more dynamic and ingrained interaction in our daily routines.
• Ease of feeding and finding: data must be easy to upload, share, and find.
• Being user-based: users fill the social network with conversations and content, in a collaborative and interactive way.
• User-generated content creation and exchange: social media enriches social networks. This characteristic is vital whenever the elderly is considered, as they have so many life experiences and so much wisdom to share.
• Emotion over content: sharing life experiences not only with friends but also with other persons who are passing through the same experience can provide extreme emotional comfort. Moreover, having a network of people to contact at any time provides reassurance that we are never alone.
• Relationships: in the course of our lives, we cross paths with many people with whom it is nearly impossible to keep in touch. The appearance of social networks has brought the opportunity to easily find old acquaintances and even some “lost” family members.
• Being community-driven: It is profitable to follow and interact with people who have a similar background in interpersonal growth.

The aim is for these proposed characteristics to develop positive feelings in the elderly and enhance the feeling of belonging, the social aspect of communication, and contact with remaining family members and friends face to face.  It will certainly help fight the loneliness that may occur when physical presence is not possible.

It is advisable that family members and other caregivers are able to use familiar social networks to interact with the elderly, like Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter, and other social networks that have Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) in order to overcome solitude.  

Conclusion

Social networks can deeply increase the quality of life for the elderly, especially their ability to overcome solitude, a condition usually manifested by this population. Nevertheless, many seniors are still unable to take advantage of these benefits due to age-related issues and technological illiteracy, among other factors. 

The major goal is to overcome these issues and use social networks and social media to promote some positive feelings like the feeling of belonging, feeling of companionship and connectivity, feeling of well-being and interaction, feeling of meaningfulness and feeling of emotional comfort. Moreover, the purpose is to reach every elderly person, regardless of their education level, literacy, or technological skills.