5 ms·

At the age of 90+, there's probably an element of enjoying answering the phone to just talk to someone, even if it is a scammer. Loneliness is a major issue fo

At the age of 90+, there's probably an element of enjoying answering the phone to just talk to someone, even if it is a scammer. Loneliness is a major issue for the elderly and due to culture of the time, there's a lot of resistance to do something about it. I wonder if there's a service where you can sign-up to be randomly connected to other elderly people. Omegle for the elderly.

tsimionescu 3y ago
There is actually an international NGO, Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly [0], that exists exactly to help lonely elderly people meet others and have a new social life. There are several chapters in the USA [1]. While not very well known, it's a really old NGO, started in 1946 in Switzerland, with the US wing existing since 1959. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brothers_%E2%80%93_Friends_of_the_Elderly https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brothers_%E2%80%93_Fr... [1] https://lbfenetwork.org/#network https://lbfenetwork.org/#network
standardUser 3y ago
Absolutely. I worked very briefly and regrettably as a cold-call telemarketer and the vast majority of the people who would stay on the line were elderly and seemed to enjoy talking to a friendly person who wanted to sell them fake supplements. I still feel bad about the one sale I made.
- 14 3y ago
  A lot of elderly are of sound mind I’m sure the one you sold to knew exactly what they wanted.
  - standardUser 3y ago
    He certainly sounded like he was sound of mind, but even I didn't know what I was selling. We already had their credit card info on file, so we were taught all we needed was a "yes" from the customer, and after a while of chatting I think he wanted to be nice and gave me the "yes". I just hope he could afford it.
zubairshaik 3y ago
> I wonder if there's a service where you can sign-up to be randomly connected to other elderly people. It's not specific to elderly people but back when I used Dialup[0] many of my matches were elderly folk who just enjoyed talking to someone about what's going on in their life and telling stories about their youth. [0] https://dialup.com/ https://dialup.com/
fragmede 3y ago
This being HN, I can't help but point out apps like CallAnnie to be able to have a conversation with an LLM.
tomjen3 3y ago
If that was the case, they would try to make it a game, no? Trying to keep the scammers on the line for as long as possible.

tsimionescu 3y ago

There is actually an international NGO, Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly [0], that exists exactly to help lonely elderly people meet others and have a new social life. There are several chapters in the USA [1]. While not very well known, it's a really old NGO, started in 1946 in Switzerland, with the US wing existing since 1959. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brothers_%E2%80%93_Friends_of_the_Elderly https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brothers_%E2%80%93_Fr... [1] https://lbfenetwork.org/#network https://lbfenetwork.org/#network

standardUser 3y ago

Absolutely. I worked very briefly and regrettably as a cold-call telemarketer and the vast majority of the people who would stay on the line were elderly and seemed to enjoy talking to a friendly person who wanted to sell them fake supplements. I still feel bad about the one sale I made.

14 3y ago
A lot of elderly are of sound mind I’m sure the one you sold to knew exactly what they wanted.
- standardUser 3y ago
  He certainly sounded like he was sound of mind, but even I didn't know what I was selling. We already had their credit card info on file, so we were taught all we needed was a "yes" from the customer, and after a while of chatting I think he wanted to be nice and gave me the "yes". I just hope he could afford it.

zubairshaik 3y ago

> I wonder if there's a service where you can sign-up to be randomly connected to other elderly people. It's not specific to elderly people but back when I used Dialup[0] many of my matches were elderly folk who just enjoyed talking to someone about what's going on in their life and telling stories about their youth. [0] https://dialup.com/ https://dialup.com/

fragmede 3y ago

This being HN, I can't help but point out apps like CallAnnie to be able to have a conversation with an LLM.

tomjen3 3y ago

If that was the case, they would try to make it a game, no? Trying to keep the scammers on the line for as long as possible.