BRANCH LEAD STORY

Elderly people in lockdown: How are they coping with social media?

During lockdown one of the only ways of communicating with other households is through social media platforms or video call apps. For the younger people in society this is nothing new. A quick FaceTime call is regular occurrence for them but for the older generation this is an uncertain and stressful time.

Having not grown-up with social media, elderly people are now faced with having to learn what we consider to be general knowledge, such as how to use a laptop, Facebook and Zoom calls.

Through a survey carried out to find how the older generation are coping using social media during lockdown, we found what they consider to be most difficult to understand.

Most struggle to post statuses and share other people’s posts but for some the difficulty don’t stop there. Janet Redgwick, is a grandmother of five so has had plenty of advice on how to use social media platforms but she still struggles to understand the basics of social media.

For the older generation it is harder in lockdown as they are at a high risk of serious infection from Covid-19. This means that although the restrictions are being loosened, the over 70s still have to minimise their contact with others and stay inside where possible.

In the survey those who took part gave their advice on how to use social media, to help elderly people learn to use online platforms to get in touch with their families during lockdown.

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