How do you want to spend your 3rd age?
Older people named a wide variety of future plans in the interviews. Examples of these are learning tutoring skills, learning languages or volunteering. Many of these older people stay active in the field of voluntary work or have obligations in the family.
A topic the consulted participants were very concerned about is how other older people can be motivated and activated.
An Austrian older learner stated the following:
“Why are people socially isolated today? Because everything works with messages and computers. No one just calls someone and says let’s do something together […] people need to stay in contact.”
The most frequently named strategy to motivate older people to engage in societal processes was personal contacts. This included recommendation of an older person for an activity, personal persuasion, personal relationships and telling others about own experiences of active citizenship. Introducing old volunteers to new volunteers can also be an effective and direct strategy. Buddying and communication between the generations as well as linking up with schools were also mentioned .
