GETTYStudies show that only 37 percent of over-65s use the internet
Take the Christmas cards we have just sent.
If you are anything like me then you probably wrote in several of them something along the lines of: “We must get together in 2015!”
Sure, we mean it, most of the time.
But that stock Christmas card line along with: “Hope you are well,” can also be code for: “I feel bad we never actually speak any more so I am going to write something to make this card look more than just another annual attempt to avoid a proper conversation.”
It is the same with Facebook.
This is not real relationship building but an easy way of stringing along old acquaintances with a “like” or a “poke”.
While I wouldn’t advocate keeping men on short leashes, women would be wise to remember that they are a little bit like dogs.
What is the point of it all if you have no intention of ever taking the friendship further than the odd online comment?
In the old days we used to be able to lose touch with people. That was fine because it meant you had time to keep in touch with the people you wanted to.
Nowadays there is not even time for that.
There is a text here and a What’s App message there but very few “actual” conversations, let alone face-to-face chats.
In my case, it might just be that stage of life.
I have young children, my friends have mostly got young children (and those who don’t cannot think of anything worse than being surrounded by young children) and actually when you take out school terms, Saturday sports clubs, after-school music lessons and the weekly supermarket shop, there is only an hour or two left and that is reserved for Downton Abbey.
That said, even those of us with work and children coming out of our ears still seem to be able to find endless hours for e-mails and so-called social networking.
We find the time to take selfies, fill our Instagram accounts with specially filtered photomontages and upload video after video.
We still seem to find the time to like, poke, comment, Tweet, text, and send emoticons at every available juncture.
We just do not have time to talk.
That’s fine if the people we don’t want to talk to don’t want to talk to us either.
GETTYThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge left baby George at home
If they, too, would rather do it all online, that is great but what about those for whom Facebook remains as elusive as Mark Zuckerberg’s dress sense?
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the number of over-65s who use the internet now stands at 37 per cent.
So that is 63 per cent of our ageing population who are effectively completely cut off.
We don’t visit them in the real world and they are not a part of the virtual world either.
Is it any wonder then, that when surveyed nine out of 10 over-75s said all they wanted for Christmas was some company?
However half a million still ended up spending Christmas Day alone.
Since the number of people aged 85 or over is set to double over the next 20 years, the Government could do worse than pledge to train all those pensioners without the skills to use the internet.
At least that would be one way of tackling loneliness.
The rest, however, is up to us, as a society, to solve.
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I CAN sympathise with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s decision not to take Prince George to church on Christmas Day.
Well wishers hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive prince outside Sandringham’s St Mary Magdalene Church were left disappointed after William revealed they had left him at home at Anmer Hall fearing he would wreak havoc during the service, which is broadcast outside.
Our youngest Lara, who at 16 months old is just a few weeks younger than George, is becoming a bit of a handful in the pews.
The Christmas Eve crib service we attended saw her make a dive for the altar on more than one occasion.
That said with her blonde curly hair and blue eyes she could easily have fitted into the Nativity scene as an angel so no harm done.
It is worth noting, though, that traditionally royal children are not taken to church on Christmas Day until they are a lot older.
Prince Edward and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex’s son James, Viscount Severn is yet to make an appearance, and he turned seven earlier this month.
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PAEccentric couple Helena Bonham-Carter and Tim Burton announced their separation
IT IS not often I agree with the RMT union but it was right to call City Link’s decision to announce thousands of job losses on Christmas Day “disgraceful”.
The parcel delivery firm has gone into administration but to spring this news on workers after they had completed all their Christmas deliveries and deserved a day’s rest was beyond the pale.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said the news was the “bitterest blow any group of workers could receive on Christmas Day”.
The Coventry-based firm’s 2,727 staff have been told that wages will be paid up to December 31 but further payments cannot be guaranteed.
My heart goes out to them – the timing could not be any worse.
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DID YOU happen to catch ITV’s excellent documentary on the Boxing Day tsunami?
Giving an incredibly moving account of the events a decade ago, “Tsunami: Survivors’ Stories” featured a brother and sister’s attempts to retrace their steps when they were engulfed by the tidal wave, which killed their mother Louise as she popped into a shop to buy sun cream.
Ben and Emily were aged 16 and 14 and on holiday with their parents in Phuket, Thailand when the tragedy happened, killing 230,000 people across 14 countries in the Indian Ocean.
One of the most poignant scenes came when they were reunited with the Thai woman who looked after them when their father went to search in vain for their mother.
Using social media they managed to track her down and their reunion was one of the most moving pieces of television I have seen in a very long time.
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AND THE award for least surprising celebrity break-up of 2014 goes to… Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton.
The self-confessed “bonkers couple” did not live together, instead occupying neighbouring houses connected by a communal walkway.
Call me conventional but are a couple even a couple (bonkers or not) if they don’t actually live together by choice?
The trouble with “me time” is that men and women use it differently.
Women tend to have baths. Men tend to have affairs.
Although there is no suggestion Burton has been unfaithful, their split comes a year after he was pictured embracing a mystery blonde, thought to be one of his assistants.
While I wouldn’t advocate keeping men on short leashes, women would be wise to remember that they are a little bit like dogs.
Let them off the lead and they’ll soon start sniffing around someone else.
Let them sleep in your bed and they’ll be your best friend for life.
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