By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
BOSTON – As part of an experiment to connect the young with the old, the biotech company Matter Neuroscience temporarily placed a bright, yellow phone booth called a “boomer” phone near the Boston University campus outside Pavement Coffeehouse.
In the interim, another phone rests inside the lobby of Sierra Manor, an affordable housing building for seniors in Reno, Nevada. The boomer phone enables callers to pick up the receiver and automatically call another party on the other side of the country free of charge. Also, Matter posts snippets of these recorded conversations from the internet phone on social media.
Photo/Courtesy of Matter Neuroscience
Finding common ground
The goal of the experiment is to connect people with the purpose of encouraging them to overcome polarization and find common ground. According to an interview WCVB-TV conducted with Calla Kessler, a social strategist for Matter, “A lot of people feel disconnected from their communities and feel alone and upset. And all of these negative feelings cause a spike in our cortisol, which is our brain’s primary stress hormone. And so, we’re trying to figure out a way that we can get people in conversation to find their common ground and connect with people they might not otherwise meet.”
Self-described Boston “boomer” Mark Krone said, “What young people may not know is we’re still them on the inside, but we look really crappy!” Another Bostonian called the concept “sweet.”
A plaque on the phone read: “Younger adults and older adults tend to experience the highest levels of loneliness of any age group, so the goal of this project is to inspire generational connection through meaningful conversations, despite differences in age, lifestyle, or politics.”
Sharing wisdom
Not only does the idea offer a chance for callers to pass on words of encouragement, but it is also an opportunity to share thoughts, pass along wisdom and uplift someone living a dark space filled with loneliness and depression, no matter the age.
A statement on the company’s website reads: “Right now, we’re in the midst of a growing mental health crisis, with over 200 million people living with major depressive disorders. We can reverse this if we start paying attention to what makes us happy – internally, molecularly. Luckily, we all have built-in biological reward systems that already do this for us. Most of us just haven’t had the tools to use and understand them until now.”
Earlier in the year, the company installed the setup in San Francisco and Abilene, Texas. It was a huge success resulting in over 350 conversations and 400 voicemails. Boston was identified as a prime candidate due to its large number of students with close proximity to a college campus with a high concentration of foot traffic and young people in general who are civically engaged and open to participating in such a project.
A hit with young people
Boston University graduate Clark Fumiatti believes the phone booth gives his generation a chance to learn from the “vast wealth of knowledge” elders have. He explained to The Boston Globe, “Here is someone who has lived three times as long as I have, and that’s a lot of time to learn things, a lot of time to make mistakes, a lot of times recover from those mistakes. I would want to learn how do you keep going when you stumble?”
The boomer phone is such a hit likely because old and young alike feel understood when someone listens or is at least willing to lend an ear. The phones are refurbished payphones the company bought online and the one in Reno only differs by asking seniors to call “Zoomers.”
A spokesperson told NBC10 Boston that the phone will be up for a month but could stay longer if the businesses choose to extend the agreement.
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