Seeing Each Other

At our last AHWGO Marie Jobling talked about her efforts for the San Francisco Community Living Campaign that is introducing tyze, one of the internet network tools that facilitates building community around a person or cause. It is sort of a village idea on the net, a group of people who want to look after each other. Despite our busy lives there is still the desire and need to be there for each other. I do not do face book or any other social networks but I skype about every two weeks with my mom in Austria. For both of us this is always an emotional date, to actually be able to see each other. A NY Times article ‘Helping Grandpa Get His High Tech On’ published not too long ago also talks about the same topic. This is even more relevant at a time when travel has become a huge obstacle for seniors and the economic crisis might cut down on family visits. The digital network also allows to ‘touch’ more people than the old time hands-on networks. Senior homes should facilitate individual broad band access and have tech help on hand that can assist with using the internet as a tool against loneliness.