The Netherlands is dealing with millions of lonely people in their elderly populations, so a new trending hashtag is reminding young people to step up. Hashtag #FuckingLonely, created by Leeuwarden’s Academy of Pop Culture students, raises awareness of the monumental social problem. Student associations, individuals, and young family members are being asked to ‘adopt a retirement home’, ‘play a game with an elderly person’ or even ‘go shopping together for new dentures’.
“In our rapidly evolving society, they seem to have a lot of trouble keeping up with the changes. They are increasingly forgotten and seen as a burden,” Redmer Stamhuis, one student behind the campaign, was quoted by Omroep OOG as saying. “We have all just come out of the quarantine, and many of us felt f*****g lonely at the time. If we keep thinking about our elderly and try to bridge the distance between us, we can learn a lot from them.”
The initiative hopes that as many people as possible will embrace the idea and reach out to someone they may have lost touch with or who might be socially isolated.
The campaign is being launched today (April 18) along with a promotional video in which the hashtag #FuckingLonely is central. The founders of the initiative are students from Groningen and Leeuwarden, so the campaign and the video is aimed mainly at these two provinces.
