The Social Status of the Elderly in the Family with an Emphasis on TV Role: Survey of Tehrani Senior Citizens

The present study is a qualitative survey of the role of TV in transforming senior citizen's social status in the city of Tehran. Interviews were carried out with the statistical population of the research, i.e. senior citizens, each taking more than an hour, the most important results of which have appeared in this article. The basic research question was: What status do Tehrani senior citizens consider for themselves among their families? What role do they think TV plays in this regard? The result obtained from these in-depth interviews with those who were selected with targeted sampling method revealed that as regards their social, economic, and physical status, there have been traces of disappointments with their families; and concerning the cause of this situation, they pointed out the attenuation of religious and cultural values. Few seniors assumed a pivotal status in their families and more of them believed that they were missing the kind of respect they deserved and were mostly treated as marginal. Moreover, the seniors whose surrounding family members were too much busy with watching satellite programs thought to be neglected by their children. TV itself has shown a weak performance in producing programs for elevating senior citizen's status. Sending seniors to nursing homes is also the result of children's ingratitude and their economic problems. In their responses, the seniors also referred to the necessity of respecting their dignity, providing media programs for their training and education, supporting them financially, and providing amusement and health facilities for them.