For a lot of people from the age of 25 onwards until the age of 60 they are social and busy with both professional as well as personal works. Typically, from the time where we wake up until 6-7pm in the evening a lot of the social requirement is addressed by the workplace. In addition to this as we grow in age and position at the workplace, our responsibilities keep increasing, and decision-making roles give us a sense of purpose, challenges and fulfilment. On the day we retire there is a huge vacuum where we have to keep ourselves occupied and engaged.
Earlier in the era of joint families, by the time we retire there would be responsibilities of taking care of the grown children and enough family members staying at home to keep us occupied. Also, it was quite common for people to be in the same city for 20-40 years at least and we would know everybody in the neighbourhoods in nearby common places such as parks, places of worship, community centres etc.
However, due to the nuclearization of family’s migration to urban cities, migration to other parts of the cities for the purpose of work, breakdown of social infrastructures such as parks and common meeting grounds, has led to huge chunks of time in the retires employee’s hands where social and entertainment needs are not being met.
One of the most common complaints we receive from children is that my parents are getting irritable because they are feeling alone at home. We all need to understand that 15-30 minutes of socialisation is absolutely not sufficient for the emotional and social requirements of a senior citizen. Prolonged lack of socialisation and feelings of loneliness will lead to depression, anxiety and other signs of mental stress.
The biggest change is to find a way to stimulate the minds of the elderly. T.V and other media can address this to a limited extent.
Taking this as a challenge we at RESTORY are creating India’s first comprehensive social forum for senior citizens where they can engage with like-minded members with similar interests and thoughts or even dissimilar views to engage in a healthy debate. Please follow our website for more information and updates on this.
