Social media addiction hits senior citizens, therapy session organised

As many elderly people tend to live alone with a lot of time to spare, they develop an interest in mobile phones.

Stating that anything new tends to attract every individual, Dr Anita Rao, Director Medical Services, TTK Hospital, said, “The elderly too are developing an interest in social media. However, the chances of this curiosity dying out among them is higher than among youngsters.”

“Watching their children and grandchildren stare at cellphone screens all day, they too develop a sense of curiosity,” said P Nilam, a counsellor, adding, “It is not much of an addiction among the elderly people, but more of a means of keeping themselves occupied. As they have not grown up with technology, letting go of this constant use is not that difficult.”

Though social media addiction is a new area, doctors say it would take time before proper treatment procedures are identified. “It was only recently that the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) - 10 accepted social media as part of its list of addictions. It is still a grey area, though, and studies are being conducted. We hope to understand the addiction and its symptoms better and find the necessary treatment for it,” added Dr Rao.

With this behaviour found to be on the rise mainly among youngsters, and in some cases, the elderly as well, the Senior Citizens’ Group of Besant Nagar and Mylapore is planning to hold a programme on social media deaddiction next week. Though it is not limited to any age group, the group hopes that around 25 per cent of the participants in the programme would be elderly people.

“We have been seeing this kind of addiction among some members of our group too which consists of elderly and retired persons. We are hoping this programme would benefit youngsters (mainly), as well as elderly persons who see their families hooked to social media and get engrossed in it themselves,” said Prof V Chandrashekar, president of the group.