Information School News

Can robots help tackle loneliness? Dr Dave Cameron It was announced this week that Robots to be used in UK care homes to help reduce loneliness . Dr Dave Cameron gives his thoughts on robots tackling loneliness. Photo by  Alex Knight  from  Pexels What do you make of “companion robots”? Do you think they really could be the solution for curing loneliness in old age? Companion robots have a real potential as a research tool to better understand how people interact with each other and how social interactions progress. Their use in supporting people who are lonely is admirable but a lot of the ground work still needs to be done. I don’t think loneliness in old age could be solved just by using companionship robots. Companion robots may help though: they can provide entertainment, comfort, or distraction from loneliness, similar to other media, but not tackle the issue itself. They can offer a simulation of a relationship but that experience may be closer to the social connec...

Tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and the loneliness epidemic together Peter A. Bath, Information School and School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), University of Sheffield. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the current advice from the government is that we should all be taking social distancing measures and reducing our interaction with other people as much as possible to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Some groups in particular, for example, people aged 70 and over and those with long-term health problems, are being asked to limit their contact with friends and family to protect themselves. Whilst it is good that this can help reduce the spread of the virus, and protect vulnerable people, it also runs the risk of making people feel more isolated and lonely.  We live in an age in which there is what has been called “an epidemic of loneliness”. Older people and those with long-term health problems are not only more vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19, but they are also ...