Getting older poses a lot of challenges. One is to cope with increasing social isolation - a lack of relatedness. But "loneliness" is not only a result of increasing health problems and according limitations in personal mobility. It is a natural consequence of an ever narrower circle of friends. The telephone takes a central role in mediating relatedness, but at the same time it introduces a host of problems due to its design. Kathrin Völker did an analysis of older people's social situation and their use of the telephone...

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