The journey of life has certain rhythms and seasons. When you're young you have a lot of friends and opportunities to make new friends. However, the unfortunate fact of life (for most folks) is that as we age, our circle of friends gets smaller and our sense of isolation grows. That's why we created Pleasant Hub for the 55+ community.
Loss of friendships can be due to friends moving out of the area for a job, a fresh start, to afford a home, or to be closer to family among many reasons. The hardest loss is when a close friend passes. It’s also true that life experiences change our thoughts and views and sometimes we’re just no longer like-minded enough to be compatible with some friends. So we “quiet quit” those outlived friendships.
But it’s not like our social circle suddenly collapses. It happens gradually over the course of time until one day you sense a feeling of loneliness when you have no one to attend an event, go on a hike, travel on a trip together, meet up for a cup of coffee, or just have a phone call for some conversation.
So we compensate by staying busy with work (or
make-work), family and maintaining our routine. It's simply easier to “keep calm and carry-on” doing what’s necessary to get through the week than expending the effort to build and maintain new friendships to be part of a community. The result is we slowly become more isolated and disconnected because being part of a social circle, like any other relationship, must be nurtured with effort to stay vibrant and alive.
The Importance of Connection & Community
If the COVID lock-downs proved anything it's that isolation negatively impacts our physical and mental health and that people are unprepared to age alone. Yet according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 report, 28% of people aged 65 and older (16 million) in the U.S. live alone.
The “Why” of Pleasant Hub
As a person of a certain age, but still working and with a fairly large circle of friends, I’m witnessing the above isolation and loneliness scenario playing out time and again for friends and family members as they age alone. Women our age say they feel invisible. Men say they are viewed as bitter old guys no one wants anything to do with.
But we count and we're simply not ready to be put out to pasture!=> The seed was planted of doing something to help.
I hit the gym three or four times a week. It’s one of those large gyms and at 6pm there may be 250 people getting their workout in. The other day I looked around and realized I was the oldest one there by probably 30 years. I thought to myself:
Where’s my people? I have absolutely nothing in common with all these young folk. I’ll just keep my mouth shut, head down, finish my workout and get out of here.
Having younger friends is great. I truly enjoy my younger friends and they enhance my life. But honestly, we don't quite have as much in common because times change and they see life through the lens of their generation. You can't do a "
Remember when. . ." to appreciate something from the past with young folk because they weren't even born yet!
=> The seed germinated with the realization that folks like to connect and hang out with people who: Remember when. . .
At this stage of life each of us have talents, skills and knowledge we can share to help others. We’ve been blessed to be a blessing as the old saying goes. I work at a large Silicon Valley Tech Company in the web department and knew we could provide a place for 55+ folks to find community and connect. Being a web developer we have very low overhead to provide Pleasant Hub. We have additional coding resources at our disposal and know where to source hosting and storage for best cost and service. We knew we could provide a platform that would help the 55+ community stay connected which they would enjoy being a part of.
=> The seed of Pleasant Hub started growing!
We created Pleasant Hub because many 55+ adults feel lonely and would enjoy connecting with a vibrant community of other 55+ folks to share the Remember whens, things they're doing, and fun things they want to do.
Pleasant Hub was born from this understanding. It's a place designed for you—the 55+ community—to stay connected and build a new social circle in a vibrant community that does not allow politics or hate. We provide a space for both online and real-world connection, built on a foundation of mutual respect and pleasant interaction.
Pleasant Hub is NOT a dating site – It's a Community Connection site!
Here you will find online social media style connection. As Pleasant Hub grows, you may find some folks for a local coffee group, lunch group, a group hike, some classes, or day trips. It's about finding a group of like minded folks for community connection.
Pleasant Hub is Different - No Algorithm Force Feeding Politics & Enraging Content at You
The big social networks are filled with politics, disrespect and content feeds are driven by powerful algorithms that force feed content at you to enrage and upset so you keep scrolling. Pleasant Hub takes a different approach. We do not have an algorithm feeding you content. We have empowered YOU to craft your own experience on the platform to set your activity feed to Friends-only, those you Follow or viewing All-Updates.
No Politics, Hate or Violence Allowed
We do not allow politics, hateful or violent content and have strict
Platform Posting Guidelines to ensure "The Hub" remains a Pleasant place.
Let's Keep Pleasant Hub Politics Free
There's no greater source of bad feelings, hate and disrespect than politics. Just as you no one is going to change your views on politics, you're not going to change anyone else's political opinions either. So let's keep Pleasant Hub politics free.
No Solicitation of Members for Money
Pleasant Hub strictly forbids asking members for money or business investment (solicitation) regardless of the reason. We have provided a "Report as Inappropriate" function on each direct message for members to alert the Pleasant Hub Moderation Committee that they have received a message asking for money. If we receive a report and validate it as true, we will delete the member who sent the message asking for money.
Pleasant Hub is FREE to Join!
Pleasant Hub is FREE to join and will ALWAYS be No Cost for Members! Our goal is to create a unique online social community where the environment is positive, friendly and welcoming. We think people are going to like the concept and we're going to be successful so once we get the platform launched are goal is to sell advertising.
Being retired isn't about doing nothing.
It’s about living the fullest and most enjoyable life you can possibly imagine.
