Create A Sense Of Community: If you have a family member who’s a senior and is home-bound, you may find that they are lacking in their sense of community. When you’re able to leave the house, you can interact with people all over your city. But when you’re stuck at home or in an assisted living facility, the people available to interact with can be few and far between.
Luckily, with the use of technology, your older loved ones can still find people to interact with outside of their home. To help you learn how you can teach them about this, here are three ways home-bound seniors can use tech to create a sense of community.
Get Involved In Online Communities
Using a computer or smartphone, there are all kinds of ways that your elderly loved ones can create a sense of community around them, especially if they’re able to find online communities that they can feel a part of.
For many older people, you might need to show them how to find communities online that they can join and become a part of. To do this, you should start with what they know and go from there. If there are things that you know your loved one is passionate about, try finding forums or communities through various online channels and having them join. This way, they can share their experiences and interact with others while speaking about things that they know and enjoy.
Use Social Media To Stay In Touch
Another way that older people can use technology to stay in touch with their community is to take advantage of social media.
There are so many different social media platforms that your elderly loved ones can learn to use in order to stay in the loop with those that they care about. Ideally, you should try to teach them how to use the platforms that most of their friends and family members are already using. This way, they can connect with the largest number of people to grow their online community.
Master The Art Of Video Chatting
While sharing things through social media and commenting on posts from others can help home-bound people feel like they’re still a part of the lives of their loved ones, getting to speak with someone outside of their home in real time can be a much better way for your elderly loved one to stay connected with their community.
To help make this easier on everyone, you may want to have your loved one use something like a stationary camera while video chatting. This way, they won’t have to worry about holding the camera up and can focus solely on the time they’re spending speaking with the people they love and care for.
If you have a home-bound loved one in your life that you’d like to help have a greater sense of community, consider using the tips mentioned about to help learn how technology can make this happen.
Also Check: Organizing Outdoor Dinner Events
Final Words:
Finally, technology provides a great opportunity to help seniors who are homebound feel connected and part of a community, which is vital for their mental well-being. By engaging in online forums, maintaining connections through social media, or becoming proficient in video chats, these easy tools can greatly enhance their feeling of belonging.
You can help your aging loved ones connect with others in new ways, improve their quality of life, and foster a feeling of belonging without ever leaving their house by teaching them to use these technological solutions.
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