Keeping Minds Sharp After Retirement

There's a new website that should appeal to all the senior citizens in Ocean County.  It's meant to keep them socially and intellectually engaged from the comfort of home. The online social community is at www.oursocialcircle.com and it's for anyone 50 years of age or older.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jay Lanners who co-founded the site with Priya Boyington.  He says they started www.oursocialcircle.com after noticing a common complaint among retirees.  They can be bored and lonely.  Without the daily responsibilities at the office, they're not using their brains and skills the way they used to.

According to Lanners, "We've talked to a lot of people about their experience with retirement, and it's almost never what they planned or imagined. It is hard to be as engaged and as social as they once were when working full time."

Our Social Circle (www.oursocialcircle.com) is a free online social community for people 50+ who are interested in lifelong learning. "Older adults have so much wisdom about a variety of topics.  With this site, they can share their unique perspectives with others, while also learning from other users," he says.  Our Social Circle offers virtual meetups through group video chats (similar to Skype) to achieve that goal. Each of the meetups has a particular focus, and organizers typically provide an article or video ahead of time to prompt the conversation. They also have meetups that are led by users with a particular expertise in a certain field.

If you go on the site today, you'll see it offers a number of interesting topics, ranging from politics and science, to travel and cooking. "All of our meetups are designed to provide a social learning experience in which users get to know each other and share their own knowledge and perspectives with each other. In this way, meetups are both fun and engaging," says Lanners.

Lanners tells me he's gotten great feedback from people who have used the website.  People seem to enjoy talking about and learning about subjects that interest them.  And they like doing it from the comfort of their own homes.  As the site is new, Lanners is looking to get more users.  It's totally free to join so it might be nice for you to try it out and tell others about.

Is www.oursocialcircle.com something you or a friend or family member might try?