Young people spend too much time on their mobile phones and not enough time talking to their elders, Qatar health officials have said.

The end result: increasing feelings of alienation and depression among those aged 65 years and older, Supreme Council of Health Communication and Media department health programme senior specialist Dr Rida Taha Ahmed Abon said.

Gulf Times reports:

“In Qatar, the most common problems threatening the elderly group is the addictive use of new technology because many people now prefer to stay long time chatting on their devices such as BlackBerry, thus preventing them from showing enough attention to the elderly in the family,” Elazab said…

According to him, the most common problem with ageing is social withdrawal or loss of social contact and this could also lead to other psychological problems and common chronic disease like diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension and obesity.

There are about 13,800 people aged 65 and above living in Qatar – less than 1 percent of the population. Qatar has two institutions to help this segment, but most elderly people here live at home.  

To tackle communication problems and other issues faced by families with elderly relatives, the SCH said it is launching a training program next week.

Perhaps lesson 1 will be how to step away from the CrackBerry. Thoughts?