Old age can often be lonely and boring, as socializing becomes a more difficult task. But joining online communities can help the elderly to make new friends, enjoy their leisure time, and feel connected.
Although there are tons of online communities, not all of them are active and, more importantly, safe. Therefore, here we have taken a look at the eight best online communities for seniors to join.
1. AARP Online Community
AARP is a reputable non-profit organization that strives to improve the lives of aging people. Besides advocating for social change, AARP provides a variety of services related to the needs of older adults.
AARP has an online community on its website as well, with forums for a variety of topics such as health, entertainment, money, home, family, and caregiving.
The members are generally quite friendly and helpful. Most of these forums will feature a topic expert. AARP also gives ACE badges to active and helpful members.
AARP Online Community has thousands of active members and several new posts every day. So whether you need specific advice or want to have a discussion with fellow seniors, AARP is a good community to join.
2. Senior Forums
Senior Forums claims to be the most active community for senior citizens. Their discussion pages cover a variety of topics, including retirement, hobbies, and interests.
The financial, health, retirement, general discussion, and humor sub-forums are the most popular and active ones. There are some pretty interesting and unique threads like Military Veterans, Diaries, and Days Gone By.
You can react to comments, quote them, and, of course, join the discussion. If you find any thread fascinating, you can watch it and opt to receive email notifications for the new activity.
Signing up on Senior Forums is easy and quick. If you enjoy discussing a range of topics and need an active community for that purpose, Senior Forums is for you.
3. Buzz50
A social networking site for people 50 years old (or older), Buzz50 has a variety of things to keep seniors entertained and connected.
It has several forums on various topics, most of which are regularly updated. These include forums for health, leisure, games, and humor. Similarly, there are chat rooms for seniors.
Since it’s a networking site, you can view others’ profiles, make friends, write on others’ walls, and even send virtual gifts to them. To keep you entertained, Buzz50 has some browser-based games on its site.
Whether you’re looking to make friends with similar interests or pass some time, Buzz50 is a great website.
4. Silversurfers
Silversurfers is a UK-based online community for the elderly. It has forums where you can interact with people having common experiences and interests.
If you have something to showcase, you can share it on Silversurfers forums. Likewise, you can voice your opinions in Speakers' Corner. As you make new friends, you can start a chat or group chat with them directly on Silversurfers.
The local community is a notable feature that shows you events, people, and businesses in your area. Silversurfers regularly publishes articles on topics concerning seniors, including health, finance, travel, insurance, etc.
Thanks to its partnerships with brands, it lists dozens of discounts on its website and holds prize draws. It also sends email newsletters with the latest news, discounts, and products.
Silversurfers gets thousands of visitors each month, so this is quite an active community. It's free to join, but you can upgrade to Silversurfers+ for around $6 per month. Doing so gives you access to fitness classes, webinars, live events, and lucky draws.
5. Gransnet
Gransnet is a popular online forum for grandparents or anyone in that age group. From home to health, they cover an array of topics.
The most popular subforums on Gransnet are house and home, legal and money, health, ask a gran, and TV, films, etc. They also have subforums for meet-ups, so you can meet with fellow elders in person.
To search for relevant threads, you can filter the threads by currently active, updated last hour, or the ones you're watching. It lets you add smileys, images (up to 30 per day), and formatting with its own shortcuts.
Other than forums, Gransnet has a section for feature articles, news, and a newsletter. It's a lively forum with a wide range of topics you can discuss.
6. olderiswiser.com
olderiswiser.com describes itself as a social networking site for grown-ups. It has dozens of forums, divided into categories, like money, health, entertainment, relationships, leisure, travel, etc.
Other than forums, olderiswiser.com has some interest-based groups where you can message and share photos with other members.
It lets you create a personal blog as well, where you can share your photos, experiences, and opinions with others. Similarly, you can read the blogs of other members too.
olderiswiser.com frequently publishes featured articles on topics concerning seniors, so it’s another benefit of joining this online community.
7. SENIORSonly CLUB
With over 15,000 discussion threads, SENIORSonly CLUB is an online forum for people over 50.
These forums are categorized as education, entertainment, on the lighter side, ourselves and others, and getting it done, etc. If you're interested in any topic, you can watch a particular thread or entire forum.
In the "I Remember When" forum, you can reminisce about the good old days. Similarly, "On The Lighter Side" is full of jokes, riddles, and games which can be a good pastime for you.
SENIORSonly CLUB rewards active and old members with titles like Veteran member or Supreme member, displaying them with their names. As of writing, there are around 150 members active on this forum.
8. My Boomer Place
My Boomer Place is a social networking site for baby boomers. It has forums, blogs, chatrooms, and an image gallery.
My Boomer Place has several subforums, with the most popular ones being politics, humor, word game, and boomer help. There's also a dedicated Q&A page, users’ blogs, polls, music, and videos collections.
Though it might not be the largest community here, My Boomer Place has a variety of things to keep you connected and entertained.
Interact With Fellow Seniors Through Online Communities
If any of your elderly relatives feel lonely, you can introduce them to these online communities. Here, they can not only make new friends, but also interact with their peers and share their experiences.
With others sharing their experiences, they can also learn new things. Besides interacting with fellow seniors, reading blogs can also be a good and healthy pastime for elderly folks.