Free Essay on Concepts of Aging: Idea for an Internet Home Page

Loneliness is one of the main problems that the elderly experience due to death, divorce, retirement, or children moving out to start their own lives. Social interactions are an essential part of human life. Everyone deserves to have someone in their lives to interact with and establish social contact, including the elderly. Therefore, it is essential to develop a means for helping the elderly group have social interaction. Technological advancements such as mobile phones and the internet have provided an easier way to develop or establish social interaction. However, most of the elderly group are not conversant with such forms of media (Vaportzis et al. 2017). Therefore, any idea for an internet home page to promote social interaction among seniors needs to be user-friendly, and factor in the unique needs of the group. A friend finder is my idea of an internet home page designed to promote social interaction.

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Features

Some of the features that would be present on the internet home page include the ability to connect an individual with other seniors that are also looking for friendship. The home page would use the individual’s IP address to track his or her location. It would also ask them to input their gender, year of birth, mobile phone number, and preferred age and gender of the friend that he friend that they want. It would then use the details provided and match it with the information provided by other seniors within the locale. The user would also have the option to expand the scope of their search from an estate to the city or town, county, or even state. The mobile phone number can be used to establish communication in case the two internet friends decide to take their friendship outside of the internet platform.

The homepage will also have a chatting and video call features. The input devices that can be used on chat include the mouse, keyboard, touchpad, touchscreen, and stylus pen. While most seniors might be more conversant with the physical keyboard, the stylus pen might be the most advised input module because it combines modern and traditional modes of communication. Writing can help with those whose typing speed and coordination have been reduced due to aging or disease but are still shy to do face to face communication.

Platforms

The internet home page should be configured to work on both mobile phones and computer platforms. Although not many seniors are active mobile phone users, the mobile phone is still one of the most used social interaction devices. Most people, including seniors, rely on it as their primary mode of long-distance communication. Therefore, it will be convenient for the home page to be configured for mobile phones because smartphones are readily available and already available resources. Another advantage of the mobile platform is that they are highly portable. The elderly suffer from reduced mobility, and it might be difficult for them always to carry a laptop around, or having to move to the location of the computer, as is that case with desktop computers. Finally, the mobile phone enhances verification processes such as mobile number, fingerprint, or facial recognition.

However, it should also be available on the desktop or computer platforms to ensure everyone can access it. While mobile phones are the most widely used by seniors, computers offer better working conditions for the group (Smith & Anderson, 2017). Laptops and desktop computers have bigger screens, which is always an advantage, especially when dealing with a group that is likely to have eyesight complications. Computer keyboards are also more comfortable to type with, especially for most seniors who might have used the computers or typewriters during their employment years.

References

Vaportzis, E., Giatsi Clausen, M., & Gow, A. J. (2017). Older adults’ perceptions of technology and barriers to interacting with tablet computers: a focus group study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1687.

Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2017). (rep.). Technology Adoption Climbs Among Older Adults (pp. 1–22). Washington, D.C: Pew Research.org.