Benefits of using social networking

     Online, ‘a Reason to Keep on Going’

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

Published: June 1, 2009

Like many older people, Paula Rice of Island City, Ky., has grown isolated in recent years. Her four grown children live in other states, her two marriages ended in divorce, and her friends are scattered. Most days, she does not see another person.

But Ms. Rice, 73, is far from lonely. Housebound after suffering a heart attack two years ago, she began visiting the social networking sites Eons.com, an online community for aging baby boomers, and PoliceLink.com (she is a former police dispatcher). Now she spends up to 14 hours a day in online conversations.

“I was dying of boredom,” she said. “Eons, all by its lonesome, gave me a reason to keep on going.”

That more and more people in Ms. Rice’s generation are joining networks like Eons, Facebook and MySpace is hardly news. Among older people who went online last year, the number visiting social networks grew almost twice as fast as the overall rate of Internet use among that group, according to the media measurement company comScore. But now researchers who focus on aging are studying the phenomenon to see whether the networks can provide some of the benefits of a group of friends, while being much easier to assemble and maintain.

“One of the greatest challenges or losses that we face as older adults, frankly, is not about our health, but it’s actually about our social network deteriorating on us, because our friends get sick, our spouse passes away, friends pass away, or we move,” said Joseph F. Coughlin, director of the AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“The new future of old age is about staying in society, staying in the workplace and staying very connected,” he added. “And technology is going to be a very big part of that, because the new reality is, increasingly, a virtual reality. It provides a way to make new connections, new friends and new senses of purpose.”

About one-third of people 75 and older live alone, according to a 2009 study from AARP. In response to the growing number of older Americans, the National Institute on Aging is awarding at least $10 million in grants for researchers who examine social neuroscience and its effect on aging.

Online networks may offer older people “a place where they do feel empowered, because they can make these connections and they can talk to people without having to ask a friend or a family member for one more thing,” said Antonina Bambina, a sociologist at the University of Southern Indiana who wrote the book “Online Social Support” (Cambria, 2007).

For the family members of older people, online social networks can provide a bit of relief. Chris McWade of Franklin, Mass., the youngest member of a big family, recently helped his parents, his grandparents and his uncle move to retirement homes. He said he spent two or three years “just flying cross-country, holding a lot of hands” and seeing the isolation and depression that came with aging.

That sparked the idea for MyWay Village, a social network based in Quincy, Mass. Mr. McWade helped found it in 2006 and now sells it to retirement homes. It has just completed pilot programs in several nursing homes in Illinois and Massachusetts, and Mr. McWade says he has agreements to expand to several other homes.

Two and a half years ago, Howe Allen, a real estate broker in Boston, moved his parents to the River Bay Club, a retirement home in Quincy, Mass., that uses MyWay.

His mother died soon after, but his father, Carl, was able to start making friends and share stories on MyWay. The older man had never used a computer, but picked it up quickly; the software includes computer training sessions. And after he died last December, a memorial service at the home included photographs he had uploaded to MyWay, excerpts from memoirs he had posted and eulogies from friends he had made through the site.

Questions from the article "Taming Macho Ways"

   what women should do to have same right that men have in thier jobs?
   
   if men help women at homw, would be bad or good ?why?

wed 10/12/2011 work in lab( summary)

          In the article” Taming Macho Ways,” by Elvia Alvarado described the life of men and women in Campesino. Both men and women have jobs but one of them works more than other.  They work from sun rise to sun set every day. Women can do jobs as men can do their jobs, but women cannot do physical job as men do. Women work never done, but men they finish when sun set and they just get rest or go out for drink. Men treat women as a slave Campesino but in the city men help their women when they are busy. Women get hurt and hit if they yell at their men, and police are not involved in a fight between couples. If women can take anymore harm from their men, they just leav, but men never leave them alone. And if women tell their family, they just balmed her and make her fult. Men should changes they both are equal.

the work that we did in the class (Story)

            One of the worst days in my life was when I started my first job as a waiter in a Ranch restaurant. It was my first day to work and I was really excited. I thought I was the luckiest man in this world to find such a good job.I started my job in the evening after I finished my class. I was busy doing my side job while a couple walked in the restaurant joyfully. They were lead to my section. I thought that I was lucky to have them as my first customers since they looked rich. I thought I would have good tips from this couple.
        “How are you today?Would you like to place your order now?” I asked them politely.
        “Oh, sure. Do you have any recommendation? Tell me what is the best here,” said the man.
         I gave them several suggestions and a few minutes later, I took their orders. “Thank you. The food will be ready soon,” I said. When the food were ready, I took them to the table where the couple was. “Enjoy,” I said and I was going to serve another customer.
         “Wait a minute. What is this?” said the man furiously. I turned round and saw what had happened; there was a fly in the food. “Oh my God! I’m sorry. I don’t know why it is in your food,” I apologized. I wanted to take the food back into the kitchen and change a new one for them, but the man shouted at me,” Don’t touch it! Are you going to take away the fly and give me back the same food like a new dish? I want to see your manager! I was so upset that he blamed it to me to think that it is not my fault. (are you trying to say that the man blamed me that it was my fault to have the fly inside the food?)However, I need to act professionally. "Ok, sir. Again, I apologized for what had happened. Could you please calm down? You don't want to create a scene. I will call my manager and tell him what happened." I said sarcastically “What kind of attitude is that? Is this the way you talk to customers? How rude! I wonder why your manager would hire a waiter like you!” He shouted His impolite words pissed me off. He was intolerable with no manners. “Excuse me, look who's talking. It seems like you are the one who don’t have manners. Who are you to treat people disrespectfully?” I speak loudly that everyone heard. I couldn't suppress my anger.
         “I don’t want to talk to you anymore! You're stupid! Where's your manager and I wanna complain you to fire you!” shouted the man without noticing the rest of the people watching us. The big quarrel brought the manager out. He told me to shut up and then tried to calm down the man. I pulled my apron off and said, “It doesn't matter, I quit!” Then, I just walked out of the restaurant. I could still hear the rude man complaining to his girlfriend while I was exiting through the main door. I might be just a waiter but I still need to be respect.