CREDIT: FUSE / THINKSTOCK
Your old MP3 player can make all the difference to a senior citizen in long-term care.

Gone are the days of clunky MP3 players and those Walkman’s where if you lost the battery cover, it was game over. However, if you end up finding one when cleaning out your attic, there is an alternative to throwing them out and it could change someone’s life.

Donating your old MP3 player to a retirement home is a great way to give back to your community.

Senior citizens in long-term care facilities and retirement homes deal with daily roadblocks that many students cannot fathom: isolation, depression, confusion and memory loss are just a few of their daily struggles.

Now imagine them listening to a small device loaded up with the music that reminds them of their youth. Common sense can tell you that this idea will bring joy and happiness to the seniors listening, and science is right there to back that up. Music therapy is one of the coolest bridges of interaction between therapists and anyone who is cognitively impaired.

The idea that music can be used to ameliorate impairments such as dementia and anti-social personality disorder makes understanding our brains more interesting.

An Alzheimer’s patient may not be able to remember a shopping list you gave them 10 minutes ago, but they can vividly tell you about their first school dance and what they listened to with positive and powerful emotions. Playing this music for them not only creates a sense of wellbeing and happiness, but could also trigger fond memories that we originally thought to be gone forever. Music is almost doing the thinking for you.

Retirement homes all around North America are finding that patients utilizing this form of therapy are sleeping through the night and finishing their meals, two of the most common setbacks. Listening to music does not have the power to cure this disease, but donating an MP3 player to help someone cope and make their day a bit brighter seems like an idea everyone should look into.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.