Abstract
The pandemic of COVID-19 has arrested the life of 7.8 million people living on this earth. However, some people are more vulnerable to the risk of this deadly virus. The frailty of senior citizens put them at the top of this list. The past 6 months have not only presented a threat to their physical health but to mental health also. Although lockdown was necessary to check the spread of the coronavirus it culminated in an exponential rise in the problems of loneliness, anxiety, fear, helplessness, and depression. The present paper reviews the role of social networking sites, apps, and other digital platforms in saving and enriching the lives of the elderly, especially those who spent the lockdown alone and were devoid of a regular support system due to unavailability of transport and administrative restrictions on the movement of people. It also analyzes the efficiency of the virtual world in reducing their anxiety of being alone by connecting them with others and also make them feel empowered. The review is based on the online data collected about the insurgence in the percentage of elderly people using such platforms, recent studies analyzing the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic on senior citizens. Besides this personal telephonic discussions were conducted with some elderly people who spent their lockdown alone in their homes. The study was primarily focused on three objectives. Firstly it attempts to understand the ways in which senior citizens made use of social networking sites and various digital platforms for managing life better. Secondly, it analyses the process of adopting technology, and finally, it examined the width and depth of the impact technology created in their life and also the permanence of this change. The analysis clearly suggests an increase in the digital life of elderly people. The process moved in distinct stages from utter confusion to relative ease in using technology, thereby significantly reducing the loneliness, and bringing relatively stable change in the way they lead their life.
Highlights
The pandemic of COVID-19 has arrested the lives of 7.8 million people living on this earth
After discovering the first infected case in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, COVID-19 has spread beyond China, Asia, and the rest of the world, raising an unprecedented public health problem
Content analysis of the transcripts started with examining the quality of participants’ relationship with their children. This is an important factor determining the level of loneliness in elderly
Summary
The pandemic of COVID-19 has arrested the lives of 7.8 million people living on this earth. After discovering the first infected case in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, COVID-19 has spread beyond China, Asia, and the rest of the world, raising an unprecedented public health problem. The World Health Organisation (WHO), on March 11, 2020, announced COVID-19 as a pandemic, and as of March 24, 2020, more than 3.5 lakhs cases were confirmed, and more than. 14,000 deaths were registered, affecting 190 countries worldwide (WHO website dated March 24, 2020, at 9:00 p.m. Indian standard time) (Coronavirus, 2019). Indian standard time) (Coronavirus, 2019) These figures have exponentially increased to about 27.19 lakhs cases with about 1.9 lakhs deaths in 1 month time (WHO website date April 25, 2020, at 05:30 p.m. Indian standard time) (Holmes, 1999)
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