Social Networking for Seniors (Part 3)

Social networking is all about communication. People with common interests are able to share information with each other through a variety of social networking sites on the Internet. Some of the possible approaches are presented in my previous articles published in CanAsian Times as well as posted on my blog:
http://frankhegyi.blogspot.com/2010/12/social-networking-for-seniors.html
http://frankhegyi.blogspot.com/2010/12/social-networking-for-seniors-part-2.html
In addition to the Internet based practices, there are several other social networking avenues available to seniors that will keep their mind active. Joining a service club like Kiwanis, Lyons or Rotary and volunteering time to help the needy can be especially rewarding. For example I have been a Kiwanian for 39 years and did my share of volunteer work over the years. Now that I have reached the golden age, my volunteer work with Kiwanis has changed from a physically active form to one where I can sit and still get involved with projects. I am now member of the Kiwanis Club of Rideau; we meet the first and third Thursday of each month at the Villa Marconi. We get a 3-course lunch for $15 and we have a lot of fun discussing topics of mutual interests as well as have a guest speaker at each meeting. We are also doing some fund raising by selling 50-50 draw tickets at the Ottawa 67 hockey games. I enjoy meeting the public and the money we raise is donated to several worthwhile charities such as Boys and Girls Club, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), and helping high school students to learn about volunteer work and leadership.
Seniors who may not wish to make a regular commitment in volunteer work such as required in a service club, have several other avenues to get involved. For example, volunteering in the local hospital can be rewarding. I remember when I went to see the Oncologist to initiate the radiation treatment for my Prostrate Cancer I was nervous and uncomfortable to just sit in the waiting room. One of the volunteers came over to talk to me about the facilities available at the Cancer Clinique. That put my mind at ease while we were waiting for the appointment. Volunteering to support other worthwhile causes such as the food bank, local theatres, serving meals for the needy at Christmas time or feeding the hungry through a church projects such as Sunday Suppers can also have a positive impact on the mindset and prevent loneliness. The key is to get involved!
Another opportunity that recently caught my interest are the eBook Readers. They are particularly suitable for Seniors who like to travel or just go out for morning coffee. To see a review of the top 10 eBook Readers which priced at less than $350, see the web site: http://ebook-reader-review.toptenreviews.com/. More sophisticated eBook readers, such as Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle DX are between $350 and $550. I just purchased an eBook Reader which is in the middle of the range ($249), a Barnes & Noble Nook Color. This Color e-book reader has vibrant 7-inch touch screen, zippy performance, built-in Wi-Fi, Barnes & Noble Nookbook store (with over 2 million eBooks), 8GB on-board memory to accommodate storing over 6,000 eBooks, and has a built-in Web browser. It supports PDF, Word, and ePub files, displays images and some video formats, and supports audio and MP3 playback. The dimensions are 5 in x 0.48 in x 8.1 in and it weighs 15.8 oz. A particularly attractive feature of this eBook reader is that fonts can be enlarged and seniors with vision challenges can access a whole library of books without the need for magnifying devices.
My message to fellow seniors: get involved in social networking and the eBook technology and you will keep your mind active and will be too busy to be lonely.