Isolated seniors thrive on social media interactions

QUEENS STRONG

Social media living up to their name Seniors are staying in touch, doing business and even volunteering, all online

Debbie Vogel, left, of Rego Park is spending exponentially more time on Facebook than she had been before the pandemic. Alice Goldman Kasten, formerly of Flushing, has been using it for her business selling paper antiques. Melanie Lee of East Elmhurst has made social media her way of life, including by keeping in touch with people at her church on Facebook, right. COURTESY PHOTOS

by Mark Lord Chronicle Contributor The American Institute for Cognitive Therapy, a group of clinical psychologists, offers multiple suggestions for dealing with isolation during times like these. It recommends, among other things, taking up new hobbies, watching movies, preparing new dishes, maintaining a routine and, of course, focusing on health, doing exercise and getting enough sleep. The institute also advocates using various forms of social media to stay in touch with others. This seems to be a particularly popular pastime — even among senior citizens who, some might think, know nothing about any of them. You’d be surprised! A sampling of individuals, all over the age of 60, indicates that Facebook is one of the chief ways they have been managing to maintain their sanity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of them, in fact, are thriving and blooming. Take, for instance, Rego Park resident Debbie Vogel, 62, a veteran usher at Broadway shows who has been out of work since the entire theater district was put out of commission by the virus. qchron.com Q UEENS • 2020 Before it hit, she would spend no more than two hours a day on Facebook, “just to see what was happening with my friends, grandchildren being born, interesting things about friends who wouldn’t necessarily call everybody.” All that has changed. While she does venture out to shop for food and to take an occasional For the latest news visit23 RD ANNUAL C ELEBRATION OF walk, she revealed that “most of my time during this pandemic has been on Facebook. Since my Facebook friends are a diverse bunch, the posts that I’ve been reading have expressed a multitude of ideas.” Unfortunately, Vogel said, she has seen signs of depression in some of her friends, especially those in the entertainment field who will likely not be going back to work until 2021. “Many believe Broadway will never come back,” she said. “I try to reassure them that Broadway is the Fabulous Invalid which always bounces back. Many call me a cockeyed optican do; virtual is the way to go.” So busy is mist,” a phrase taken from an Oscar Hammershe, in fact, that sometimes “you don’t want stein II lyric in the musical “South Pacific.” to go to sleep.”

“I have to be to get through the day,” Vogel She has become quite involved with Fountain added. House, an organization dedicated to the recov

For Melanie Lee, 63, of East Elmhurst, ery of men and women with mental illnesses, using social media has become a way of life. which provides members with opportunities to She often finds herself on Twitter, YouTube, live, work and learn while contributing their talZoom and, of course, Facebook. ents through a community of mutual support.

Lee said since the pandemic, she has only The organization, Berman said, has 750 ventured outside twice. A college writing tutor, active members on its Facebook page, and she’s been doing all her teaching online. But helps them “recover by working and collabothat’s just part of how she uses social media. rating together.”

“I wake up at 8 or 9,” she said. “I open Berman said she attends virtual meetings Facebook to check to see “every day, all day,” somewhat’s there. I’m on and off it times two at a time. She throughout the day.” She said she frequently “ I now realize how writes articles for the Fountain House newspaper and updates photographs that reflect the news or holidays much I love being works on videos and podcasts for the organization. She or “whatever is going on in my life.” on the computer.” “meets” with clubhouses all over the world, from Scotland

She added that she will “pop — Judith Berman and Australia to Israel and in to Facebook to make a comFrance. ment on the news or share a Being able to connect on thought. Sometimes I’ll engage in political Zoom with Fountain House and attend the meetdebates.” She also finds it useful to get in touch ings meant she became a lot more familiar with with people she knew in years gone by. fellow members. She plans to virtually celebrate

Perhaps most importantly, “I’m able to conher birthday with them in September. tinue to worship with my pastor and to make Though Berman spent years working with contact with people of the church.” technology, she said, “I now realize how much I

And just recently through social media she love being on the computer.” So much so, she “got a glimpse into my niece’s wedding,” which added, that she could even see herself going she was unable to attend in person due to the back to work at some point. pandemic. “I’ve thrived tremendously,” she said. “I’ve

For retired computer programmer Judith Berevolved. I can do a lot more virtually. It’s more man, 64, of Forest Hills, using social media productive. I recommend it to everyone.” comes naturally, and she has taken full advanArea residents aren’t the only ones finding tage of her time at home. solace in their online adventures.

“I am mentally and socially active, not isolatJack Taylor Macaluso, 62, a professional ed,” she said. “I just don’t have enough hours in actor originally from Annapolis, Md., now the day to do everything.” residing in Los Angeles, said that prior to the

While many consider the pandemic and the shutdown he would go on Facebook “every three isolation that has resulted a nightmare, for Beror four days. man “it’s a silver lining, a blessing.” “I was very resistant when it first came out,”

There is, she said, “no end to what you he said, finding it “invasive.”

Now, Macaluso said, “It’s my lifeline. I use it to contact and keep in touch with friends,” though in recent days he finds himself going on it a little less.

“I can’t deal with the political stuff,” he said. “I have to temper myself.”

Though he “takes walks pretty much every day,” he has not been out socially. So, he turns to Facebook. “On a scale of one to five, it’s a five,” in importance in his life right now. “It’s a way for me to still be in contact and share joy and see pictures of some people I haven’t seen in 30 years.”

He’s on the site every day. “It is difficult for me to read a book because of my eyesight,” he said. “I blow up Facebook. It’s my nightcap, a salvation at the end of a day.”

Perhaps making the most out of Facebook is Alice Goldman Kasten, 75, a retired teacher and dealer in ephemera from Flushing who now lives in Connecticut.

“I collect trade cards,” she said, describing them as “advertising giveaways from the late 1800s” and noting, “They soon ceased to exist,” as printers came up with cheaper ways to reproduce color, and can be quite rare and valuable.

She has been collecting them for many years, and would sell them at shows that attracted others with a shared interest.

Carting crates filled with the heavy mementos became too much for her to handle after a while, so she turned to eBay, where she now has her own virtual store.

Since the pandemic struck she finds herself on Facebook “all day.” While the market there doesn’t seem to go for the more expensive items, Kasten said she is “doing OK” by selling the cheaper ones, some of which have ripped edges and appeal to buyers intending to cut them up for scrapbooks.

“I have been selling my paper antiques at least 12 hours a day,” Kasten said. “It has certainly occupied the long hours of the day.”

She sums up these days by saying, “I spend my whole life on the computer. Before [the pandemic] it was only half my life.” Q

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