With Covid, there is a lot of talk about social isolation in the US and how it can lead to or is leading to many mental health issues. But let us take a step back and think about seniors aka people over 65. According to US census data, 1 in 3 seniors live alone. These seniors are isolated whether there is Covid or not. That is not to say that they do not see or interact with someone during the day but I am willing to bet they are typically not high quality interactions. Now, that made me think of my childhood…let us take a walk down my memory lane.

As a child growing up in India, we lived in a “joint family” where I lived with 5 other kids (2 siblings and 3 cousins), my parents, my uncle and aunt, my grandfather, one live-in cook (more like a family to us) – that is about 11 people. It does not stop there. My dad and uncle ran a business and so we had an attached office which had about 5 full time employees and many many people coming and going everyday. I can only imagine how lucky my grandfather was to have so many of his family so close by. If anything, he probably wanted some privacy now and then.

He would hang out with us when we played in the yard, be the umpire during our cricket games, teach us yoga, urge us to do daredevil stunts (resulting in a skinned knee every now and then), and regaled us with stories about the olden days. My dad and uncle would always spend time speaking with him about any topic he wanted in the evening. My mom and aunt took care of him as their own making sure everything was done to his liking.

There was never a day when we was bored, alone, or felt unwanted. To add to this, his daughter (my aunt) visited often, many of our relatives visited us and spent hours speaking with him. And everyday when I came back from school in the evening, I would see a circle of my granddad’s friends having coffee and snacks and chatting. My grandfather was in his element during these visits and was the star of the show. He lived a full life.

Which brings me to a question I have been mulling over in my head…what is the solution to the social isolation problem for seniors? How can we ensure that they feel wanted and have high quality interactions? I am not saying everyone should live in a joint family which has its own pros and cons. What do you think?