DO YOU ever get the feeling you are being left behind by technology? One in two people over 75 who live alone certainly do; unable or unwilling to engage with computers and the internet they feel isolated and forgotten by the wider society, according to new research from the charity Re-engage.
The drive to digital and everything that involves, from axing telephone landlines to moving booking of tickets for rail travel online, risks leaving older people who do not have access to the internet, or who struggle with computers, missing out on vital services.
The pandemic has only made things worse, exacerbating a sense of loneliness and isolation for many of the 2.3m people aged 75 and over living alone in the UK.
One such elderly person told Re-engage, which is dedicated to helping older people form social contacts: “I don’t feel like I’m a member of the human race anymore.”
And an 84-year-old said: “There are
