Older people remain in a state of emptiness, relaxation and boredom for long periods, which often causes their health problems and psychological suffering as if they were sentenced to be out life or as if they do not deserve happiness after all their sacrifice. 

In March 2017, an old woman called Masako Akamia, 81, created an entertainment application for the elderly after noting the limited number of entertainment applications for their age group. The game was called “Hinadan” and it was launched on the basis of the traditional festival " Hinamatsuri " which the Japanese celebrate at the beginning of March of every year. She explained that she created her application after the creators of applications ignored her call and request to create an application for older people that fit their abilities. 

(Entertainment) opens wide vistas to avoid the surrender of older people to the symptoms of aging and slowing down of movement and responsibilities, where faced with the interaction with life and the exercise of various appropriate activities with a view to improve the state of health, mental and psychological.

(Entertainment) works to reduce the various pressures on older people such as feeling weak, lonely and distressed, and to merge them in the outside community, and to get them out of isolation and loneliness, and create a kind of communication with others of their age, as well as break their daily routine through programs specifically targeting this age group, and to occupy their free time with matters of interest and pleasure that would increase their self-confidence as well as raise their morale instead of getting busy  and occupy those who are around them with problems of generational variation problems.

(A study) conducted by the University of Queensland, Australia, found that group activities reduce mental decline in older people, and that its effect increases with age. In addition, The elderly, who exercised for a year, their memory and concentration significantly, have been improved. 

But what are the recreational activities that the elderly can do?

There are many forms, activities and entertainment programs that fit the elderly, the best of which may be as follows:

Enjoying nature by going out to parks, gardens, nature reserves, and beaches.

Practising jogging; this has been proved by a study at the University of Michigan on a group of adults divided into two groups; one in rural areas and one in the city, asking both to remember the list of elements they saw. The result was that those who walked in nature had a better ability than others.

Cycling is a sport that strengthens the physical structure of adults.

Spending time with family, grandchildren or friends to play and solving the puzzles, reading and hunting.

Participating in private clubs for adult age groups to spend time and share memories.

Entertainment idea

Older people, regardless of their culture and social level, have long experience in life.

However, with the significant communication gap between them and the next generation of children and grandchildren, the creation of appropriate activities and forms of entertainment will be an excellent way to extract and share these experiences permanently between adults and young people; such as:

Asking questions about normal life problems for adults and children and asking for the best solution; 

Asking about situations and how to act in which: such as an embarrassing situation– funny situation - a sad situation. Also these questions can be in the form of a challenge between adults and children;

Making a comparison between past and present education facilities;

Asking about the most important date of an event in the life of each one, and why is it so important?

Asking about the story of his career; how he started, what he achieved, and what can be done if time is back?

Such methods aim to revitalize the memory of the experiences of adults in an entertaining framework that is useful to all.

Dr. Mohammed Bin Yahya Al- Mufarreh

Innovator and founder of  (On-demand Entertainment )