Meet the Real Screen Addicts: the Elderly (economist.com) 38
Britain's National Centre for Gaming Disorders has treated 67 people over the age of 40 since opening in 2019. The oldest patient was a 72-year-old woman with a smartphone gaming obsession. Britons over 65 spent more than three hours a day online on smartphones, computers and tablets last year, according to Ofcom. They spent more than five and a half hours watching broadcast television. Over-65s are more likely than under-25s to own tablets, smart televisions, e-readers, and desktop and laptop computers, a seven-country survey by GWI found. Nearly a fifth of 55- to 64-year-olds own a games console.
Ipsit Vahia, who heads the Technology and Ageing Laboratory at McLean Hospital, part of Harvard Medical School, said some older adults are increasingly living their lives through their phones the way teenagers or adolescents sometimes do. A 2022 study in South Korea estimated that 15% of those aged 60-69 were at risk of phone addiction. A meta-analysis published in April of studies on more than 400,000 older adults found that over-50s who regularly used digital devices had lower rates of cognitive decline than those who did not.
Ipsit Vahia, who heads the Technology and Ageing Laboratory at McLean Hospital, part of Harvard Medical School, said some older adults are increasingly living their lives through their phones the way teenagers or adolescents sometimes do. A 2022 study in South Korea estimated that 15% of those aged 60-69 were at risk of phone addiction. A meta-analysis published in April of studies on more than 400,000 older adults found that over-50s who regularly used digital devices had lower rates of cognitive decline than those who did not.
Group hug. (Score:5, Insightful)
Might be because of the loneliness factor.
Re: (Score:2)
I was going to say the same thing. I have seen some of this first hand and it's not that different when you think back to times when we ourselves were growing up.
Re:Group hug. (Score:5, Insightful)
Having a whole lot of free time and very likely having reduced mobility to actually get out of the house could also be major contributors.
Re: Group hug. (Score:3)
It's bogus, look at the numbers!
Britain's National Centre for Gaming Disorders has treated 67 people over the age of 40 since opening in 2019.
67 people over the age of 40?!?!
Since 2019?!?!
(Note: that date range includes ALL of COVID lockdowns, social distancing, etc.)
This is a non-issue. When you have to define "elderly" as anyone 40 and over?
67 people since 2019 is fewer than 2 "elderly" screen addicts per month!
What baloney!
When a crisis, isn't. (Score:5, Insightful)
Britain's National Centre for Gaming Disorders has treated 67 people over the age of 40 since opening in 2019..
Egads. 67 in 6 years? Holy Clickshit Batman. We should fund the addiction wing in the retirement home ASAP. After all those retirees should get busy doing...doing..uh, the fuck else again?
Nearly a fifth of 55- to 64-year-olds own a games console.
There's a difference between own and addicted to.
Game consoles have been around for half a century now. The only thing my Apple IIc, Sega Genesis, and PS3 consoles are owning, is space in the garage.
Re: When a crisis, isn't. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
While i share the general sentiment of this post, may i suggest the elderly are supposed to do physical exercises like anyone else ? The are also much more at risk of losing their health fast if they don't move enough.
Re: (Score:2)
While i share the general sentiment of this post, may i suggest the elderly are supposed to do physical exercises like anyone else ? The are also much more at risk of losing their health fast if they don't move enough.
As we get older and wiser, we realize that damn near everything in life should be under moderation.
If someone hasn't figured out that both diet and regular exercise are vitally important by the time they're called "elderly", divine intervention more explains how they even lived that long.
It's becoming more and more necessary, but I hope the next get-up-and-move app push won't be quite as annoying as Pokemon Go.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
While i share the general sentiment of this post, may i suggest the elderly are supposed to do physical exercises like anyone else ? The are also much more at risk of losing their health fast if they don't move enough.
I didn't realize owning a gaming console and physical exercise was an either/or situation.
Re: (Score:2)
I was replying to the " After all those retirees should get busy doing...doing..uh, the fuck else again?" part only. :)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Britain's National Centre for Gaming Disorders has treated 67 people over the age of 40 since opening in 2019..
Egads. 67 in 6 years? Holy Clickshit Batman. We should fund the addiction wing in the retirement home ASAP. After all those retirees should get busy doing...doing..uh, the fuck else again?
Nearly a fifth of 55- to 64-year-olds own a games console.
There's a difference between own and addicted to.
Game consoles have been around for half a century now. The only thing my Apple IIc, Sega Genesis, and PS3 consoles are owning, is space in the garage.
Good sir, this is clearly a desperate cry for help... This "national centre for gaming disorders" seems desperate for people to learn that they... erm... exist.
More Americans seem to be aware of Milton Keynes than people who have heard about this place, probably because Britain's most unremarkable town has more functions.
Fun fact: there are over 140 roundabouts in Milton Keynes, giving you ample opportunity to turn around and get the hell out of Milton Keynes.
It's real (Score:2)
Addiction vs. Options... (Score:3)
'Addict' is a comparatively easy call to make when people are getting fired because they no-showed to play WoW; or spending all their time scrolling tiktok despite having a school or college worth of peers to socialize with; but if you are retired, less physically able to get out and about than you used to be, and at the age where your friends and peers are starting to die off, it seems like a much more open question whether having an engaging if ultimately rather hollow hobby is an 'addiction' or just a kind of depressing local maximum.
It's obviously not some ideal of perfected human flourishing; but if you are doing it because you don't really have things to do, rather than at the expense of things you have to do, that's not really classic addict behavior; just a mediocre hobby.
Re: Addiction vs. Options... (Score:2)
I don't even know how you would diagnose Internet addiction in a retiree. Typically addiction is diagnosed by how the behavior impacts your life. Retirees generally don't have a life. I doubt there are active retirees with big social groups and lots of friends who are getting "addicted" to the Internet. And bored retirees using the Internet all day is not a sign of addiction.
That's nothing (Score:3)
Think they use their phone a lot! Ha!
I'm disabled and bedridden. Want to guess how many hours/day in my phone? Hint: it's a lot.
Re: (Score:3)
Yep, something I agree with you about. Screens provide a valuable outlet, and input, for people who have limited ability to get outside and do things.
My father-in-law is 85 and has lost most motor control. He can't drive or even walk more than a few steps. He can't put puzzles together because his fingers won't pick up the pieces. But he can do puzzles on an iPad. I'm very happy he has something to do, despite his physical limitations.
Re: (Score:2)
If I were not able to use a phone or a laptop from bed, I would have gone insane by now. Insane in the membrane. That's what would happen.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe you should have a doctor make the sanity assessment. That's what my wife tells me!
Re: That's nothing (Score:2)
Your wife is wrong. Doctors do not diagnose people as "insane" or "sane". Those are colloquial terms, not medical ones. So, you're better off doing the sanity diagnosis on your own.
If you're worried about bipolar or schizoeffective disorder, check with doctor.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, it was a joke, so colloquial was more appropriate in this case.
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty clear he was just making a funny.
Re: That's nothing (Score:2)
No one ever complained about Stephen Hawking staring at a screen all day.
Re: (Score:2)
How do you know?
Re: That's nothing (Score:2)
Because as a public figure, you'd be able to find stories about it. But they don't seem to exist.
Re: (Score:2)
Not all complaints are well known.
Re: (Score:2)
Family gatherings (Score:3)
As a teen, I spent my time in front of a screen, learning everything I could and honing my craft to get ready for the future and was rewarded with endless ridicule for "sitting at a computer all the time". For the past fifteen years, almost every family party entailed well over half of everyone glued to their phone while I tried to make conversation.
I pushed back once, and got the "Look who's talking. You do it, too." Did... I was learning QuickBASIC, Turbo Pascal, and C programming, AutoCAD, Autodesk Animator Pro, 3D Studio Max, PhotoShop, every Microsoft OS inside and out, and even Linux. I was combining computers with the electronic circuits I learned to build when I was so much younger. Them? Doomscrolling and cat videos.
I eventually just stopped going. It was just too depressing.
Re: (Score:2)
I've seen this too. Grandma hassles the teenagers for being on the phone all the time... but grandma will sprint to her phone the moment there's a notification, then gladly spend the next 10 minutes laboriously hunt-and-pecking a response.
Old people also seem to love the speakerphone mode. So everyone else in the room has trouble with normal conversation because of the LOUD phone call.
Re: Family gatherings (Score:2)
Just a guess, but try and get your grandma a gift: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nat... [walmart.com]
I myself have some difficulty placing the phone speaker at my ear. And holding it to my ear is a chore. I can't imagine how difficult that would be for someone with old useless hands, terrible hearing, and too little sense to look for the speaker first.
Modern phones suck. They are horribly designed. Grandmas everywhere have the same problem.
Re: (Score:2)
Heh. Just needs the proper accessory holder so you can slam the handset in a telemarketers ear.
Cause/effect (Score:2)
over-50s who regularly used digital devices had lower rates of cognitive decline than those who did not.
Those with higher levels of cognitive decline might be having trouble navigating the digital world.
Looking Forward To- (Score:3)
playing Skyrim and Cyberpunk in my rocker on the front porch.
Old people used to read books (Score:3)
They had a book-'addiction'.
I myself spend 8 hours a day on my kindle because of my kindle-'addiction'.
Retired people have tons of 'addictions', Bingo-'addiction', gardening-'addiction', genealogy-'addiction', Netflix-'addiction'...
OMG I just saw, it's an epidemic! :-)
Re: Old people used to read books (Score:2)
Bingo there is a real potential problem. Gambling addiction ruins lots of elderly lives. Add in a bit of mental decline and a smidge of dementia, and people will ruin their lives without any addiction at all.
They spend a long time because they're inefficient (Score:2)
Britons over 65 spent more than three hours a day online on smartphones, computers and tablets last year
Have you seen a boomer trying to type on a touchscreen? Those three hours per day probably only add up to a couple of sentences. Even less if they're trying to add an attachment.
Re: (Score:2)
Bull crap.
They included people over the age of 40. People over the age of 40 CREATED the touch screens.
You have to go to 70+ to get the slow touchers.