Are Future Generations of Seniors Likely to Be Less Socially Engaged With Family and Community?

We’ve all seen it — a family having dinner “together” while each member of the family is using a cell phone to text rather than talk.  Is this likelihood to affect long-term living, and if so, how? 

Stanford University’s Center on Longevity has a new report on trends in three key areas usually associated with longevity — health, financial security and social connections. The Sightlines Project: Seeing Our Way to Living Long, Living Well in 21st Century America analyzes data from studies that included more than 1.2 million Americans, and both positive and negative trends are documented.

Next will be “plans to host roundtable discussions with policymakers, private sector leaders and researchers to develop solutions to longevity problems.”  The goal is to better support “living long and living well.”  One component, therefore, is to examine the implications of “weaker social networks:”

Social engagement with individuals and communities appears weaker than 15 years ago, the research revealed. This is especially true for 55- to 64-year-olds, who exhibit notably weaker relationships with spouses, partners, family, friends and neighbors. They also are involved less in their communities than their predecessors.  

 

“The vulnerability and disengagement in the group headed into retirement warrants further attention,” Carstensen said.

 

The study does not address trends in the use of social media. 

 

Amy Yotopoulos, director of the center’s mind division, said, “It’s too soon to tell whether asynchronous, technology-mediated forms of social engagement – texting, chat, posting and tweeting – will provide comparable social benefits to more traditional forms of interaction with family and friends.”

For more on the Center’s research plans, see Stanford’s report on “Stanford Project Suggests Longer, Healthier Lives are Possible.”  My thanks to Professor Laurel Terry for sharing this article.