00:00You know fish need water.
00:02I, Doreen, need handphone.
00:05People always laugh at me when I say that
00:07without a phone, it's like not wearing any clothes.
00:10Even when I'm eating, I open my mouth
00:12but I still watching the phone.
00:14At night, I will still using the phone.
00:17Sometimes I just fall asleep without knowing.
00:20I believe I'm addicted to the phone.
00:30You shouldn't look like Princess Diana.
00:3370-year-old Doreen Lee spends an average of 6-8 hours
00:37on her smartphone on weekdays
00:39and up to 12 hours on weekends.
00:41I use my phone for WhatsApp, YouTube, watching games.
00:47I read Chinese stories or I watch singing competition,
00:52a variety show from China.
00:55I believe having a phone, seeing a lot of things,
00:59hearing a lot of things helped me to exercise my mind.
01:03And until now, I still have very good memory.
01:08It all depends on what the elderly is doing.
01:11If they are alone and they don't go out
01:14or maybe some of them can't even walk properly.
01:17Why not?
01:17If they don't want to watch the TV, they use a phone.
01:23By 2023, IMDA reported that 89% of seniors
01:28owned a smartphone in Singapore.
01:30And ever since the pandemic,
01:3292% of them surveyed in 2022
01:34have been looking to connect with others online.
01:38Optometrists are also seeing an increase in seniors
01:40coming in for eye discomfort
01:42linked to increased use of smartphones
01:44and digital devices.
01:47To further understand her screen time habits,
01:50Doreen is meeting up with Tom,
01:51an addictions therapist.
01:53I have to say,
01:54when I met you, I was confused.
01:55Why?
01:56Because I thought,
01:57they told me I'm going to meet a senior.
01:59A senior?
02:00They said I'm going to meet an older person.
02:02Oh, okay.
02:02And I was confused.
02:03I said, where is it?
02:05The daughter came.
02:06Right.
02:08The niece?
02:09No, the daughter.
02:13So, how do you feel about your phone use?
02:15What's your feeling about it?
02:17What do you get out of it?
02:18What do you enjoy?
02:19I got a habit of touching my phone.
02:21Then after that, I stop.
02:22I eat.
02:23When I eat, I also on the phone, I wait.
02:25What do you enjoy from the drama so much?
02:28I feel like I'm the lady lead character.
02:34I used to cry when I see some of the story,
02:37but now I cry less.
02:39So, in some way, is it fair to say
02:41that it's like a fantasy a little bit for you?
02:44Sometimes, sometimes, yes.
02:45Add a little bit of fire to my life.
02:50In some way, we all form these parasocial relationships.
02:53We identify with characters,
02:55so we somehow, a part of our brain believes that it's true.
02:58And we have an emotional reaction to it.
03:00People that may be a little bit more lonely
03:02or they crave a sense of connection a little bit more.
03:08So, without the phone, without the drama,
03:11what would your life be like?
03:13Blank.
03:14Then I would sit there, looking in the wall,
03:17maybe looking at the sky.
03:19And I would ask myself, who am I?
03:21What am I doing?
03:23No sense of belonging.
03:24Belonging to what?
03:26I used to be very close to my mom.
03:27She passed on.
03:29After that, at one stage, I feel a bit lonely.
03:32Because last time, every weekend,
03:33I go back to my mom's house.
03:35After she passed on,
03:37I only met my siblings,
03:38maybe one year, few times.
03:41Or when we go and pray to my mom, my dad.
03:43If you were closer to the family,
03:45you feel you'll be on your phone less?
03:47Maybe, but each of us have our own life.
03:51So, am I okay?
03:52What do you mean by okay?
03:54What I did is normal.
03:56Well, can I be honest with you?
03:58Yes.
03:59Okay.
03:5914 hours sounds like a lot, right?
04:01There's 24 hours in a day.
04:03Depends on what you do with it.
04:05And I wouldn't want to take it away from you
04:08without replacing it with something better.
04:10So, if you do want to reuse it, sometimes...
04:15A little bit.
04:16A little bit, right?
04:17And this is human things.
04:19It's not like a defect of character
04:22or anything like that.
04:23So, it's about what we want.
04:25So, it's about adjusting things,
04:27having balance.
04:38Despite using her phone for up to 12 hours,
04:42Doreen still manages to find that balance
04:44through spending time with her friends.
04:46Do we look like young girls from after school
04:49arguing and doing?
04:51Don't say I'm 70, say I'm 7 years old.
04:54I swim at night, I can see until 12 o'clock.
04:57Oh my goodness.
04:58For me, I work long hours.
05:01So, I told us, can you almost two hours the phone?
05:05Then, my children knock the door.
05:07Can you stop using the phone?
05:09Can you?
05:10Can you come out?
05:12It's clear that phones have become part of everyday life,
05:16not just for Doreen, but her friends as well.
05:24Often, people at that state, at the golden years,
05:27they have a lot of accumulated losses.
05:29So, imagine you may find that your friends pass away
05:32or maybe you're not as mobile as you used to be
05:35or perhaps you lost your job
05:37and your job was a part of your identity
05:38because you got retired.
05:40Your children, perhaps, are adults now
05:42and they have their own families.
05:44Seniors, perhaps, especially in modern societies
05:46that are highly economically developed,
05:49they're less likely to be with others
05:51because they financially don't need others so much.
05:54So, societies are structured in a way
05:55that sometimes seniors fall through the gaps.
06:02So, as with most things, it is all about moderation.
06:05While it is important for those in their silver years
06:08to embrace technology,
06:10it should not be a replacement for human connection.
06:15Do I miss an old day?
06:17I don't think I do
06:18because old days are too straightforward
06:20and it's very slow.
06:22I myself want things to be fast.
06:25So, technology help us
06:27and I become more intelligent.
06:30Now I'm 70.
06:31I'm still working.
06:33Maybe I will work for another five years.
06:36If I don't have the phone,
06:37I will be left behind.
06:40Bye.
06:41Bye.
06:41Bye.
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