A recent study by the IBM Institute for Business Value and the IBM Accessibility team found that for the aging population, loneliness is more than a state of mind – it is an emerging risk factor that has implications for personal, economic and societal well-being.
Loneliness in older adults is typically triggered by some form of loss, whether at a personal and/or societal level. But it remains a challenge for the medical and social community to identify due to lack of standard medical or social screening practices in place; difficult detection as a result of co-morbidity with other health and social conditions and reluctance of the individual to reach out for social support due to social stigma.
And when the problem is successfully diagnosed, there is then a lack of effective solutions due to a fragmented and incomplete stakeholder ecosystem; a lack of collaboration across multiple-point solutions and myth about the ability of older adults to use technology.
Future solutions to loneliness will require innovative thinking, disruptive organizational and business models, and the support of new technologies to adapt to the needs of a changing society. And government, advocacy groups and industries – from healthcare, retail, electronics to telecoms and beyond – need to work together help older adults strengthen their social fabric and reconnect to others. And at all times, keeping the individual at the centre of the solution, as described in the recently published Periodic Table for Ageing Technologies.
To read the full report, please visit ibm.biz/loneliness
