by Growing Needs | Mar 8, 2024 | Digital & Technology, Services
As one enters their silver years after retirement, boredom might start to creep in as one no longer has to commit to working and have more free time on their hands. This increases the risk of one experiencing cognitive decline and memory loss as the mind is no longer as active. As a result, this would affect the quality of life of both the senior and their caregiver.
Modern day technology has allowed us to not only stay connected but also serves as a great source of entertainment and education. With the ubiquity of smartphones these days, it is no surprise to see many older persons in Singapore who own a smartphone and are in fact rather proficient at it. This could be attributed to the government’s continued emphasis on honing digital literacy amongst the senior population that led to more seniors being comfortable with using technology in their daily lives.
Mobile games are not only a great form of entertainment but also a source of education for seniors to kill boredom and to keep their minds active. Gaming could potentially be a fun and relaxing activity, allowing seniors to also stay connected with their friends through playing the same games. Overall, when gaming is done responsibly, it could be a great mood booster and improve general well-being.
This mobile game is no stranger to many where the player must slice fruit that is thrown into the air by swiping the device’s touch screen and must not slice bombs.
The gameplay requires the player to be on their toes and be alert to the next fruit thrown on the screen. This mental stimulation is important for the brain and goes a long way in preventing or slowing down cognitive decline. There is also an opportunity to connect with friends and caregivers as one can engage in friendly challenges to see who is the best at slicing fruits.
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In the world of mobile games, you certainly cannot miss out Candy Crush, a tile-matching game. Players need to plan their moves by matching 3 or more candies in a row, using boosters in order to overcome those extra sticky puzzles. Strategising here is very important – to find the most efficient way to clear the candies and get to the next level. For seniors, this not only helps them to train their mind but also the colourful candy graphics are a serious mood booster for anyone playing them!
Wordle is a word-based puzzle game which quickly grew into an online sensation due to netizens sharing their scores to demonstrate a sense of accomplishment. For seniors who want to challenge their friends, this is a great avenue to have some friendly competition, tightening social bonds in the process. This is also a good option for caregivers and seniors to participate together, nurturing the relationship.
Wordle has very simple rules, meaning the game can be easily played and understood by seniors who are familiar with the English language.
Each day a new five-letter word is released at midnight, where the player has 6 tries to guess the Wordle and the colour of the tiles will change to show how close one’s guess was to the word.
Sudoku is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3 × 3 subgrids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9.
For seniors who want to relax or train their brain, Sudoku allows for one to pass time in a meaningful way. It requires one to be attentive in analysing the grids and populating the numbers and is a great way for one to exercise logic.
Shopee Pets is an in-app reward game where players get to raise a pet to enjoy guaranteed coin rewards. These coin rewards can then be used to get discounts on Shopee purchases.
The gameplay works as such – raise pets that produce coin tokens which you can exchange for shopee coins at the pet bank. Each pet has a different rarity level which determines the pet’s value and token/diamond output levels.
With daily check-Ins and tasks, users can earn in-game items by participating in daily check-ins. The game also features a “Player versus Player” (PvP) gameplay mode, where users are randomly grouped or paired to compete directly against each other.
Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) has introduced Ami, developed by Associate Professor Yow Wei Quin and her team. They aim to leverage gamification to harness the cognitive benefits of bilingualism or multilingualism amongst the elderly.
Their study revealed that seniors who engaged with specially designed cognitive games in two languages over two to three months exhibited significant improvements in cognitive skills and verbal memory compared to those playing monolingual games or none at all.
The app currently offers three touchscreen games in six languages and dialects, catering to both cognitively healthy seniors and those with early-to-moderate dementia symptoms.
When played responsibly, mobile games bring about great benefits and especially so for seniors to help them relax and at the same time keep the mind active. When using technology, always remember to be alert to scams and not dish out personal information. We hope that you find something that piques your interest here!
Growing Needs grew out of our own encounters with caring for our aging parents and reflecting on the Growing Needs that we ourselves would face as we advance in years. We hope to build a community that will learn, share and contribute towards caring for the growing needs of our loved ones.
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