Can sharing media parcels help older people feel closer?

Details

Social connection is related to well-being, and deepening existing relationships is one way to avoid social isolation. Regular, meaningful communication can reinforce relationships, but advanced communication technologies alone do not increase the quality of social connections. The researchers proposed that a trained human facilitator could help older adults deepen relationships, preferably over a short period.

The study tested whether a human-facilitated media-sharing social networking system could improve social connection and deepen relationships over a few weeks in small groups of older people, who are more vulnerable to social isolation than most. The researchers designed and evaluated a system called Media Parcels.

Media Parcels uses the metaphor of a facilitator collecting and delivering physical mail parcels. The system helps the facilitator design dialogue over time that asks participants for parcels bringing out their memories and feelings, collect those parcels, wrap them in annotations conveying the corresponding requests, and deliver them to a target person.

The qualitative evaluation involved two two-week trials, each with three people: a family group of children and their father, aged 55, 56 and 82, and a group of friends aged 72, 72 and 74. In each trial, researchers collected data through three interviews—before, during and after the trial—and system logging.

The data indicated positive social effects on developing and deepening relationships. Participants easily understood the parcel metaphor and readily adopted the system. Preferences for producing or consuming media varied. In the family group, the children preferred receiving parcels because of their sentimental value, while the father enjoyed both producing and receiving them. Among the friends, one enjoyed both producing and receiving, while the other two preferred one over the other. Participants generally preferred producing items of certain types depending on their content. They engaged strongly with the system and reported feeling closer to one another than usual.

The researchers concluded that Media Parcels promoted media sharing and social connections in both groups, deepening existing relationships. They said its design can inform researchers seeking to promote social connection among older adults.