The long 'gap years' of old age social isolation

Everyday Ethics

We often hear people talking about their need for "me time" and, in the busy world of work and family, that is indeed a genuine need, but further up the age brackets there's often very little but "me time" with older people feeling increasingly lonely, isolated and disconnected from a world that seems in a dreadful rush, a world where people spend so much time on their phones or tablets rather than engaging with the people next to them, a world where someone can very quickly feel that they don't really belong anymore. Research carried out by Trinity College in Dublin has highlighted growing numbers of older people in particular expressing a 'wish to die' because they felt socially isolated. Is there, sadly, an inevitability to that, or can we change as a society to become one where inclusion is truly multi-generational? Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with Dr Mark Ward from Trinity College Dublin, retired school principal Michele Marken, Kellie Turtle from Age NI, and senior lecturer in social policy at Ulster University Goretti Horgan.