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Combatting Loneliness in Seniors When You are Away from Home

January 24, 2025
Loneliness in Seniors

Isolation and loneliness are some of the major drawbacks of old age. Older adults struggle to stay connected with their loved ones as they age. Moreover, while technological advancements have taken the world by storm, they have had a rather disappointing impact on the lives of the elderly. Countless elderly individuals are unaware of how to use advanced technological inventions such as video calling, sending voice notes, and connecting to their loved ones online.   

Thus, it is essential to implement and integrate a steady introduction to technological literacy. Now, tech literacy may mean understanding the mechanics of everything regarding technology. However, starting with baby steps for older adults would be best. The following ways to combat loneliness in seniors when you are living away from home are not just meant to be a guidebook on how to help your seniors but are intended to make your emotional transition smoother. It is undeniably difficult to shift away from our loved ones, and it is even more turbulent when we are worried about the well-being of our elderly relatives while we are miles apart from them.   

So, the following tips to battle loneliness and mental turmoil are ideal for strengthening a virtual yet highly emotional bond between you and your elderly family members. These tricks will allow you to stay in touch with your loved ones, monitor their well-being, help them stay happy in this difficult phase of their lives, and ease their hearts and minds. Moreover, staying in touch through virtual means can also allow you to help your senior family members connect with distant relatives. Read more to find out some ways to maintain harmony and peace as an NRI family with elderly relatives living away from you:  

Ways to keep loneliness at bay when you are away from your seniors

Computer and WhatsApp Literacy: Computer and WhatsApp literacy is one of the most essential aspects in this day and age. While most of us are adept at staying in touch with our loved ones through virtual means like WhatsApp and Instagram, reacting to special memes, and being pretty tech-savvy, older adults may find it difficult to adjust to these means. Thus, it is imperative for younger family members to dedicate some time and effort toward senior assistance and teaching their senior family members how to use WhatsApp and even a computer. This will ensure that your loved ones stay connected with you through thick and thin, and you can maintain that familial love and understanding regardless of the distance.   

Maintaining Regular Contact: When it comes to maintaining regular contact and connection with your senior loved ones, you may find it difficult since older adults may or may not be able to maintain that routine. Thus, keeping this in mind, NRI families should consider integrating home health care caregivers into the lives of their elderly for optimal elder care. Home health care caregivers are not just proficient at aiding your elderly loved ones with their daily needs but are also adept at helping them maintain contact with their families settled abroad. So, your senior members’ caregivers will not only care for their physical and emotional needs but also aid their technological needs.  

Online Family Get-togethers: Virtual family get-togethers are the best way to keep the senior members of your family happy. As an individual and family member, if you have recently moved abroad, then virtual connection sessions can prove to be beneficial for both you and your loved ones. Not only will your older relatives get to stay in touch with you, but you will also be able to adapt to this emotionally challenging change. Virtual video call sessions with the complete family gathered would uplift the mood of your elderly loved ones. In addition, these group video calls are also an outlet to connect to their distant friends and relatives.   

Encourage Social Interaction: Even if you are away from your elderly relatives, you must encourage them to engage in social activities that will uplift their mood and keep them emotionally happy. Older adults find it highly difficult to stay away from their younger relatives, and this may cause severe depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Thus, keeping them engaged in activities that will allow them to battle isolation and alienation is important. These practices are essential parts of senior care. You and your family can even organize online activities for your senior members. These steps will strengthen the bond between you and your older family members, fostering happiness and unity.  

Online Teaching: While you may wonder how online teaching comes into play here, it is rather simple. By online teaching, we mean that older adults should be taught how to navigate different online sites and platforms. For example, younger family members can teach their senior loved ones to browse through websites like YouTube to foster entertainment and even to indulge in resources for their hobbies. Moreover, these interactive online calls would not just focus on teaching and learning but would build a platform for sharing ideas, indulging in long discussions, and maintaining an environment of love between two different generations.   

Whether virtual calls with grandchildren or regular texting with other loved ones, older adults can benefit greatly from technology. Technology has not just armed us with the tools to advance our professional or academic lives but has also enabled us to build an emotional ecosystem. As we already realize, shifting abroad is a challenging and long process. In fact, it is even more uncomfortable for older adults. So, an elaborate system of online relationships throughout the family network can enable older adults to feel connected to their loved ones and NRI families to breathe a sigh of relief. 

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