Call Grandma: Survey Shows Older Adults Want More Family Connection During Pandemic

A recent Medicare Advantage survey of 479 Americans aged 55 or older found many grandparents wish their grown children and grandchildren would communicate more during the pandemic, reports the Burlington Free Press . According to the poll, nearly 60 percent of respondents desired more communication with family. Although 40 percent said they have been communicating more frequently with grown children and grandchildren during the crisis, an equal number wished for greater communication. About 25 percent said they would like "richer and deeper" conversations, and 57 percent of seniors communicate with their adult children at least once daily. Forty-one percent of that subgroup said they communicated by text or talking multiple times a day, and only 20 percent reported hearing from grandchildren each day. Sixty-five percent of grandparents prefer seeing grandchildren in person, while 21 percent cited video chat as the next preferred method when in-person interaction is unavailable. When queried about their preferred form of communicating with their adult children, 26 percent of older adults said they mainly prefer to speak to by phone, while just 13 percent preferred video chat.