While the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating, and particularly for the seniors who are more at risk for the disease than most, there apparently is one “up” side: Americans of a certain age now find themselves more tech savvy than before. 

A new survey of 2,000 seniors commissioned by the YMCA showed that while 65% of them said their mental health has taken a toll during the pandemic, mostly due to the loneliness of isolation, 65% say they’ve become  more self-sufficient because of it, and 70% of those say they expect that feeling to last when the pandemic is truly behind us. 

Fifty-eight percent of respondents in the non-scientific poll say technology allows them to stay in touch with their families during the lockdown, while 55% said getting more tech-adept has allowed them to have essential items delivered.

Sixty-three percent said learning technology helped curb the negative impact of 2020, and 56% said technology stopped them from feeling lonely.

With hundreds of millions of vaccines getting into arms, the seniors polled who planned to get the shot were looking forward to life returning to normal. Fifty-two percent said they were most looking forward to taking care of their loved ones, 39% said they can’t wait to attend social gatherings, and 37% said they just wanted most to visit with their loved ones. 

Also on a positive note, 54% of those polled said they felt closer to their neighbors as a result of getting through the pandemic together.

 

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