Wow, so many comments already which is great to hear your opinions which are all really interesting and as you all come from different perspectives. My situation is pretty similar to you nelliedeane, My grandma, born about the same time as your mum (1926) is also very independent and also really likes her own company and has a good social network or friends (by letter) and some by phone. However, she is outliving a lot of them her mental strength is strong even if physically she is a lot less mobile than she was even a few years ago. She has only just allowed us to get her help with cleaning her flat, which she was completely against for years, but her energy levels and the risk of injury has meant that now we can have some relief to know that this has been reduced somewhat. To get back to the point of lonliness though, my other grandma has really bad memory problems and knows who we are but can't really remember names unless she sees them everyday and also can't make food for herself, apart from cereal and cups of tea, so myself (when on holiday and away from university) but mainly my mum who is a full time district nurse so has a lot of experience with dealing with this and my step dad go in everyday to hep her with dinner, washing etc. But through the day when we are at work, she relys on paid help to take her to town, if she didn't have this help and luckily she is financially able to do this then she wouldn't be able to leave her flat all day. When I have spoken to her she speaks sadly of how she hates being inside and always wants to be outside and being physical even if this is walking into town and having a cuppa at the local cafe. So this came about from my own personal experieces with my family, but I am currently studying 3D design at Falmouth university and because this is something that I am interested in I wanted to incorporate this into a project. I don't have in mind anything in particular to design as nowadays we don't necessarily have to design an 'object' it could be a system put in place to allow older people to get around with more independence, especially those who aren't privilidged enough to pay for help everyday to take them out. But being outside in the natural environment and being socially active is something everybody knows is important for mental health even though Greatnan and Carol you seem extremely happy in your own company, is this because you have particular hobbies, interests? My Grandma (Omi) who is like yourself is an avid reader and I think from her childhood she has coped to be in her own company and enjoy it. What are your thought here? A few things I thought of with regards to products were maybe something like a satnav for people with bad memory problems, something with a really simple interface that you can program your home, favourite cafe, shops, post office etc, so you can get around by yourself, (I didn't know whether this was really patronising though). Also something that isn't an object, both my grandmas, were extremely good at dancing when they were younger and would go to the dance halls each week, but this is something that is lost in todays society, myself and all my friends just go to clubs, they don't and myself don't know any of the set dances like the fox trot, waltz tango etc, which I think is a great shame, I thought a sharing of knowledge between one generation to the other may be a good idea as we would both get something out of it.