A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Forced to live in the present : older people's temporal experiences of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic (2024)

Leinonen, E., & Era, S. (2024). Forced to live in the present : older people's temporal experiences of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ageing and society, Early online. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x2400014x

JYU-tekijät tai -toimittajat

Leinonen, Emilia
Era, Salla

Julkaisun tiedot

Julkaisun kaikki tekijät tai toimittajat: Leinonen, Emilia; Era, Salla

Lehti tai sarja: Ageing and society

ISSN: 0144-686X

eISSN: 1469-1779

Julkaisuvuosi: 2024

Ilmestymispäivä: 24.04.2024

Volyymi: Early online

Kustantaja: Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Julkaisumaa: Britannia

Julkaisun kieli: englanti

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x2400014x

Julkaisun avoin saatavuus: Avoimesti saatavilla

Julkaisukanavan avoin saatavuus: Osittain avoin julkaisukanava

Julkaisu on rinnakkaistallennettu (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/94529

Tiivistelmä

This article explores the temporalities experienced by persons aged 70 years and over during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. Although the temporalities of the pandemic have been analysed from multiple perspectives, we contribute to this line of research in two ways. First, we show how deeply the pandemic affected older people's experiences of temporality. Second, we further develop the concept of forced present to highlight the consequences that the restriction measures had on older persons’ situations and perceptions of temporality. More specifically, we asked the following question: How did older people perceive time (past, present and future) during the pandemic? We used thematic analysis to examine a dataset consisting of written letters (N = 77) collected between April and June 2020. The findings showed that social isolation forced older people to live in the present without being able to plan their near future because they had no knowledge of when they would be ‘free’ again, which made some participants feel anxious and depressed. Furthermore, we found that the present became intertwined with the personal past as well as with the collective past, as evidenced by participants’ descriptions of war, previous pandemics and hardships. This article deepens our understanding of older people's everyday lives during the pandemic and highlights the problematic nature of social isolation of older people as a safety measure. Overall, this article reveals the particularity of older people's experiences in unequal pandemic times and the ageism inherent in the restriction measures.

YSO-asiasanat: pandemiat; COVID-19; poikkeusolot; ikääntyneet; eristys (eristäminen muista); kokemukset; temporaalisuus; menneisyys; tulevaisuudenodotukset

Vapaat asiasanat: COVID-19; Finland; forced present; lockdown; older people; temporalities

Liittyvät organisaatiot

Hankkeet, joissa julkaisu on tehty

OKM-raportointi: Kyllä

Alustava JUFO-taso: 2