Call someone you know that may be isolated and be a phone friend

[KY_EnviroGuy]

Call someone you know that may be isolated and be a phone friend if.....

* They have lost a loved one or friend recently.

* They are likely to need food, important supplies or medications.

* They have always been a highly social or extroverted type.

* They might have a birthday, anniversary or holiday event to discuss.

* They have been laid off or fired from their job.

* They have mental issues of any type or might be prone to commit suicide (seek professional help).

I'm not suggesting in any way that we call people and give them advice, but only to make a human connection which is very important for all of us.

It does not matter whether you can solve your friend's or family member's problem. What matters most is that you cared enough to call and discuss their issues. If there's a way you can help, it will evolve from the conversation.

Calls can lend comfort, companionship, empathy, sympathy and the warmth of just hearing another human voice.

Calls will benefit both caller and callee.

I suggest we all sit down and make a list of those we may want to call during this crisis.

Feel free to add to the above list if you think of others.......

[Newest Reality]

1. That is a very good suggestion!

Human beings are wired for social connections and it can be therapeutic and comforting to reach out and give someone a call or Skype with them, etc. Text and social media just don't do the trick and, in lieu of being able to get together now, voice and video still help.

I am used to it after years of social isolation, but i do know what it does to people and it takes a lot of coping and other methods to actually be totally alone most of the time with no friends or family to talk to. Older folks are more prone to social isolation because we easily become rather transparent, so they need some contacts and connection out of compassion.

Thanks.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

3. Yes, and as Dangerfield said "we don't get no respect".

I was raised in an old-fashioned environment by people that went through the Depression. We were expected to always respect older people and to seek their advice. Our societies have slowly drifted away from that practice, as the internet is now the "all-knowing and all-seeing" for humanity. As a result, people no longer come around just to chat.

After I reached an advanced age, I now realize those interaction are needed for us to maintain self-esteem and to fight off depression.

Perhaps this national disaster will reverse that trend just a bit and people will reconnect......

[Newest Reality]

4. You have echoed my thoughts.

I have contemplated that, also and I think it is evident.

The elders were often highly revered in indigenous cultures, some did that with great reverence, (not all). You can get all the information you want on the Net, but you don't get the living and the experience in person, even if you want it to rebel against or bounce off of. There is a trad off in this case. Of course, one needs to be sensible and wise as an elder and we may have fewer of them for various reasons today.

In India, the did have a system where, at a certain age, you would relinquish family, work, business, etc. and go out to the forest to be a shravaka in order to meditate, contemplate your mortality and prepare for the big one.

Here? Ah, disposable, perhaps? That is, if you don't have enough to matter much to a capitalist framework.

And so, sages, mendicants, monks and wise old elders are not important in most places in modern culture, or at least Western ones.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. I consider social media the enemy of the elderly and our culture in general because......

we instinctively need eye-to-eye contact, hugs and kisses, and in-person conversation from our loved ones, not snarky tid bits from a smart phone.

That's the way we are made and we're now violating our instinctive nature. Unfortunately, this is what big business and big tech want for us and they use a million sales pitches to convince people to use their latest junk. Just go to any family restaurant where large families dine and we see half or more of them with their faces in smart phones throughout the meal.

Due to that lack of respect and attention, us older guys will simply die earlier from lack of a healthy social family life...

-----------

My other thought is that the things my old folks taught me were based on real-life experiences and fact whereas info found on the internet may well be totally incorrect, bullshit or someone trying to scam people.

Grandma or grandpa's advise may have been a bit outdated but it was the real deal and was important for me to know from a historical context for moving forward.

Don't get me wrong - there a huge amount of very accurate and professional information available on the internet and I rely on many, many sources for that which stay bookmarked. As I'm sure you know, the real skill is in finding those credible sources.

KY...........

[Newest Reality]

6. Again, I get ya'.

I see you have contemplated this carefully and again, I agree.

I have seen other factors like the degradation of education, particularly in Grade and High Schools since the early '60s. That does not encourage a thoughtful population overall and critical thinking is often not encouraged the way it should be.

I used to enjoy a good ripping yarn conspiracy theory back in the days, (it is an interesting study) but they were like curiosities and not a "belief system" for me. I think caution and skepticism about information and sources, (which is what CT proponents BELIEVE they are doing) is essential since we are living in a time when information is another weapon of war. Now, the conspiracy appears to be the conspiracy theories themselves, (how ironic) fired in salvos at the believers who do not fact check, compare it what they already know, (which is conspiracy based) or go by the criteria of, "it sounds right to me." or by how much paranoia or stimulation they get from it.

Another factor, IMHO, is that, generally speaking this culture, inspired by corporate culture, has encourage a delayed or perpetual state of adolescence, (since genuine rites of passage are obviously lacking) and that supports the mythical, impulsive and immature mindset that conditions people to be better consumers that are more easily managed and influence without realizing that is the case. It's brilliant, really. However, that is not a "sustainable" means for a culture to continue properly in a highly technological, information-based world since it is knowledge that is required in order to process and understand the torrents of information, not just blind consumption. Blind consumption is, of course, profitable and how we "feel" about a product can easily bypass our common sense and reasoning, especially when it comes to how much we really don't need in order to be happy.

I imagine you have resources for fact-checking, (which is on par with getting vaccinations or having a good immune system these days. There is junk food and junk information. The former is not good for one's health, the latter is not good for the mind and one's life.

And so, we don our new form of amour that is befitting the field we are in. I hope more people will avail themselves of the tools required in this influence-based struggle in which Russia and the American Right-Wing are major aggressors judging by the money, foundations and resources they are now pouring into the battle for the mind of America.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

https://www.factcheck.org/

https://www.mediamatters.org/

https://www.metabunk.org/home/

http://debunkatron.com/

etc.

NR

[defacto7]

2. Great idea!