Platforms and Seniors
Platforms' Second Innings !
Yet the timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness,
And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless?
But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,
And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.Khalil Gibran on Time, The Prophet
When I published an earlier guest author Aru Bisht’s piece on Teenagers and Platform , I immediately thought of writing about Seniors and Platform. And it is an amazing journey because the the future has the seeds of the past. I am also amazed that in most of the Indian languages the word for both (yesterday and tomorrow) is similar (Kal- कल).
Speaking of old people and wisdom, I am a fan of Mitch Album’s Tuesdays with Morrie. I am amazed by the words of wisdom by Morrie and the awesome bond that he shares with his student Mitch Albom. The conversation between a dying teacher and a reluctant student which transforms into something bigger when Morrie tells Mitch- “Death ends a life, not a relationship”.
At the end of this newsletter, I would leave you with another life lesson from a dying Sociology Professor who would not give up on his student !
DTW
During the Week, few organisations realised that it is World Senior Citizens Day on 21st August and sent out few more promotional/congratulatory messages. Earlier during the Covid19 pandemic lockdown, there was an opportunity for multiple platforms to engage with seniors
The relationship between Platforms and Seniors could be visualised through health, independence and relationships.
Health Tech has been a boon specially during the current Covid19 pandemic. We have seen a spurt in number of platforms pivoting to provisioning health services to older population. Companies like Seniority have realised that Seniors citizens have greater disposable income and willingness to spend on themselves including lifestyles products and hobbies. They have also recognised the gap in organised retail market which has failed to address this consumer group. Similarly, Nightingales- an initiative of Mahindra Group has realised huge gap in home health market and has made huge progress in ensuring care and cure at home. They are so confident of their out-of-health-facility care protocols that they have found new opportunities in developing a Workplace Health Safety Program.
We have multi-pronged problems of old age , ill health and loss of connect with the loved ones. In fact, lot of social media platforms have built their strength in this age group due to their ubiquity and instant painless interactivity. Here is an amazing campaign by WhatsApp where an elderly woman shares her most private moments with her caregiver via text, voice and video calls.
The curse of old age for many of our seniors has been loss of relationships and spark of life. Whether we talk about either Non Profits like Anubandh Foundation or Happy Seniors dating services providing matchmaking for seniors, the idea is to have a bond of like minded seniors who would live a better life with a new partner. There are other emerging platforms like Empowerji which help the senior citizens to learn various apps and technologies to lead an independent life. Platforms like Silver Talkies reach out to interesting opportunities for seniors and Old is Gold can help them find products that are not easily available in regular online channels and even unavailable in offline neighbourhood stores. Many platforms are working on providing serious input for developing new hobbies for them.
One of the drawbacks of the platforms specially social media has been the rise in fake information and frauds. This is very important for platforms seeking to provide financial services to this demographic. These platforms need to understand the frequently used digital platforms and create content and engagement to resonate with the seniors.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I was part of multiple discussions about health and life. More specifically about health interventions in increasing the life span over last few decades. One of my favourite text on matters of life and medicine is definitely Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.
He has an extraordinary grip on illness, health and life specifically for older people. We often associate old age with death and also with the pain associated with death but Dr Atul Gawande has refreshing take on life and death.
“Our ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life to the very end.” Atul Gawande, Being Mortal
If you need more evidence for this wonderful thought of “living a full life”, do listen to this timeless classic by Kishore Da.
ज़िंदगी को बहुत प्यार हमने दिया / मौत से भी मोहब्बत निभाएँगे हम
रोते रोते ज़माने में आए मगर / हंसते हंसते ज़माने से जाएँगे हम
It is so amazing that Hindi Poet Indeevar would have something in common with an ageing sociology professor Morrie Schwartz in Boston.
“The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”- Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom
I Love You
Shailendra
PS- My mentor Dr Sharda Nayak would turn 88 years young this October and I often brag that I know somebody alive who was in the Parliament on Midnight of 14-15 August 1947. I would recommend that you watch this S3E1 MountainSpeak Episode with Dr Sharda Nayak here to hear about her experience on the midnight of Indian Independence.
PPS- You could join for the next session here ! We meet Every Second Sunday of the Month from 7 PM to 8 PM.
PPPS- MountainSpeak is a Free-Form Conversation Style Platform for exchanging ideas about Multi-sided Networks, Business , Marketing , Endurance Running and Life in general !
Phir wohi shaam wahi gham wahi tanhaayi hai;
dil ko samjhaane teri yaad chali aayi hai.
Your post made me remembered some of the fond memories of my childhood with my grand-parents, and not only with them; the amount of time which we spent with our parents as well. And don't know how they feel about that...... as I'm not a parent now........ might learn at later part of my life-course when I became a parent...... and hope my experience will be good. But, your post really Tapped that part of our life which remained Untapped for a long period of time.
It's good that you highlighted the points with regards to senior citizens as well. And, I really felt a need of more compassion in my own life, what-so-ever I say; but I really need to make some of the changes, so I won't regret in the future about the steps that I'm taking now.
Note: Thanks @Dr.Bisht with such a thought and its mediation with a Platform.
This post take me to re-think on process of keeping engaged while as a person moves towards retirement.Keeping engaged and informed both at a same time that is waht i guess platform and marketplace need to captalize.The triangle formation of Health prospectives-Engagement-Source of information will be vital to handle and challenging at same time. I guess if we provide way to give extra straing recipe to immune system and process to develop then it would be re-defining moment for any age group. As the challenge goes from seen as independent entity to managing things in given frame work is challenging for any age group and its degree of not in ease in doing will grow from smaller age group to gradually to older age groups.By defining something like age bar on retirement sometimes makes a person to think differently if they are closing to retirement age bracket. The enormous data and opportunities in terms of second innings definition be it a advisory group, consultants group or any field of engagement will create win-win situation for information seeker-information provider-intermediary providing bridge and way to reduce the gap.