[Senior Trend] 'No(No) Care' Is Peer Empathy, Doing It Together Among Ourselves

In early 2022, I traveled alone to Jeju. Carrying just a backpack, I became a pedestrian traveler, walking and walking again. I picked carrots, watched a haenyeo (female diver) performance, climbed mountains, and had a great time, but I was displeased to find accommodations that did not accept guests over 35 years old. I wondered if getting older meant being unwelcome even at lodging, so I looked into the reason. It turned out that the place encouraged romantic relationships among guests and only accepted young men and women of similar age groups. Also, since guests stayed up all night playing drinking games, the environment was not conducive to “sound sleep.” The purpose and use of the accommodation were different.

“Peer group” means a group of people similar in age or level. A related term is “same-age group.” Children learn to speak, listen, and cooperate naturally by playing with peers, acquiring daily life skills. Therefore, in the early stages of life, deciding who to play with within the same region or community is important not only for children but also for parents. This peer group concept extends broadly. It refers to adult play-centered groups naturally formed by people with similar businesses, status, hobbies, or mindsets. The scope of peer groups can include not only play but also sharing and caregiving. Just as teenagers understand the minds of other teenagers best, seniors understand the minds of other seniors well. In the super-aged society, where no one yet knows the answers, “No-No Care” is emerging as one way to explore and seek new paths together.

“No-No Care” refers to services where healthy seniors care for elderly people who need help due to illness or other reasons. Started to solve the “isolation problem,” No-No Care involved visiting elderly living alone to check on their well-being, provide companionship, and offer daily safety services. Although it began in Japan, where No-No Care insurance mainly covered family caregiving, Korea’s approach is quite different, including neighbors and same-age social groups. Introduced by the government in 2005 as a welfare measure to create jobs for seniors, it has since expanded in the private sector to include food-sharing volunteer activities, work at senior centers, and retirement farms. In the rapidly aging society, the method of seniors helping seniors has a win-win effect. Healthy seniors gain jobs and income, while seniors with difficulties in daily life receive help, escape isolation, and communicate with others.

Searching for No-No Care yields many related terms such as No-No Care projects, education, welfare, and programs. Mainly, seniors in their 50s and 60s work for those in their 70s and 80s. Digital gap reduction education is a representative example. Seniors say it is more comfortable and easier to understand when taught by senior instructors rather than instructors in their 20s or 30s. In silver gymnastics classes, there are frequent cases where participants get injured trying to follow moves pushed by instructors in their 30s, but senior instructors adjust and pace exercises according to the elders’ conditions, preventing such issues. It is truly education at eye level. Meal delivery care is a public job project, and although the pay is at a volunteer level, seniors visiting elderly homes often work voluntarily overtime. Laughter therapy for depression and dementia prevention is another example, as jokes and humor reflect the peers’ era and old stories, making it more effective among seniors. There is also the Gangwon Land case. Since 2020, they have employed local seniors to run a project called “Happy Laundry,” washing clothes for vulnerable groups (not only elderly but also children) in Jeongseon and Taebaek.

Meanwhile, village-making is also expanding as a model of No-No Care. In areas with more severe aging than cities, seniors in their 50s and 60s take care of neighborhood affairs. They plan to care for elders or work together and rebuild the village. For example, the Hongseong retirement farm enables seniors to solve communal meals for older seniors and created a structure where packaging is done in a shared workshop and profits are distributed. Most members of the Wonju local food cooperative are seniors around their 60s who farm on a small scale locally; they sell collectively to agricultural cooperatives by village or farm units and participate in joint education or study tours to advanced agricultural areas. In Yeongdeungpo, senior cooperative members gathered to plan reading performances and formed a cooperative organizing local cultural and artistic activities. Meanwhile, the Cleaning Research Institute, a home cleaning startup, reportedly has a high proportion of workers in their 60s. Seniors in their 70s and 80s often request cleaning services combined with companionship because they do not require nursing care but need someone to talk to.

Participants in No-No Care are positive. Seniors receiving care feel reduced mental loneliness and deficiency, gaining stability and healing from alienation. Seniors providing care gain a sense of participation, fulfillment, and economic support. The aging issue has reached a stage where it is difficult to solve solely through low birthrate policies and immigration. In an era where living healthily, not just longer, is important, active involvement of seniors beyond robotic care is necessary. A solution by the elderly, of the elderly, and for the elderly.

Lee Boram, CEO of Third Age

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.