Boomers Staying Connected
The coronavirus (COVID-19) struck America hard and it has changed so much about the way we live our daily lives. One completely different thing is how we interact during social distancing and lockdown.
You can’t just take a drive over to the family to hang out with grandkids and many have to self-isolate due to age and underlying health conditions. The crisis has affected millions, but Boomers have been hit harder in more ways than one. Staying connected is more important than ever. It is a lifeline to the world, loved ones, and even employment. It can also affect your investment portfolio and how you get advice. There are ways to stay in touch and not miss out on the personal human interaction we need in our lives.
With restrictions tightened, more than 15 million Americans lost their jobs and the number keeps rising. A terrible state of affairs, given the fact that in February it seemed as if all was roses and sunshine. The United States was doing well, it was a period of prosperity and a historic bull market. The unemployment rate stood at a multi-decade low of 3.5 percent. Experts now say that the unemployment rate may hit close to 16 percent by July which is worse than any point since the world was rocked by the Great Depression. These days Boomers are working longer than their previous generations did. 29 percent of folks between the age of 65 and 72 were working or looking for work in 2018. With the way things have gone recently, that number looks set to rise.
Here are 4 ways to make sure you keep in touch with either family, friends, or work colleagues. You can also use them to get in touch with doctors or other professionals to get advice.
Skype
Hundreds of millions of people use Skype to do all sorts of things. It is built for both one-on-one and group conversations and works wherever you are on several devices. You can use your smartphone or computer or tablet. They have a messaging service as well, but the beauty of it is the video calling feature.
It works well for family group calls and is excellent for business calls for small groups. You used to be able to have up to four people on a call and then that was upped to 25. As of 2019, you can have up to fifty folks on one video or audio call.
Google Duo
Duo by Google is simple to use and gives you high-quality video calls on Android phones, iPhones, tablets, computers, and Smart Displays like the Google Nest Hub Max. It’s limited to 8 people on a call at once.
With WhatsApp, you'll get fast, simple, secure messaging and calling for free – available on phones all over the world. It requires the internet but is a great way to stay in touch, either via messaging or video or audio calls. There is also a voice message feature where you can record voice notes and send those in a message to someone. Both families and businesses have adopted using WhatsApp groups. You can add people to a group and name it with a subject line so that you know what the messages are dealing with. This is useful to label work and project conversations so you can keep track of them all.
No matter the reason for wanting to get connected these three options are great ways to get in touch and use for your sanity and survival. Other tech applications can be used, like the popular Zoom platform. Finding a simple and reliable video conferencing tool is essential in 2020.
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