Boomer Myths and Misconcpetions Blog

Baby Boomers & Our Future

Baby Boomers remain the darlings of the media - at least to talk about. It is no secret that mainstream media remains addicted to youth markets of yesterday in spite of the exploding numbers of age 50 plus adults. If you haven't nototiced, even ads targeting Boomers seem to prefer nostalgia so they can maintain a youth focus. Still ohters show middle ageed Boomers acting like the young creative prefer to see them - in other words a fanticized vew of aging through young eyes.

Those of us addressing the need to change marketing paradigms for the past 20 years or so can't seem to get business and government leaders to recognize that Boomers are not one; but multiple generations. That they are maturing pretty much like past generations while bringing different life experiences into the equation - making them less trusting and more self-directed; less deppendent on traditional institutions and more prone to experiment; and less self-absorbed and more altuistic with each passing year.

The aging of the Baby Boom is too often pictured as a pending disaster rather than the dawn of a new eara of enlightenment. The youth culture of the past has given us the drug culture; increased dependency on government institutions to solve problems, unchecked agism, and a long-term health care system that addresses the needs of the body but not the mind and human spirit. On the other hand, our nation has never had this much wisdom and experience available with which to address and solve problems.

Hopefully, the tapping of this wisdom will begin on December 11th as delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging gather in Washington, DC. With a looming deficit, the highest median age of adults in our nation's history and systems that are out of touch with reality, the solutions will not come by expanding the Federal bureaucracy; but through innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity. The nation awaits...

Japanese Yacks

My day started with a message from an associate sharing a quote she had recently read in an article relative to branding - " "Brands are interactive cultures around which people resonate." What a profound and increasingly accurate thought. No longer are brand managers in control. Their domain driven by paid advertising looses ground daily to a dialogue among customers.

For over 12 years now, I have had the honor of coordinating meetings of a group of cutting edge marketing professionals called The Society (www.thesocietygroup.com). We are a collection of professionals committed to lifelong personal and professional growth and ending ageism that meet twice a year. Shortly after receiving the quote from my associate, I received a yack (see www.yackpack.com) from Dr. Peter Whitehouse who is the Director Integrative Studies for the Department of Neurology at

Case

Western Reserve

University. Our Society had just started a YackPack and Peter was checking in from Japan. This very busy man, whose book "The End of Alzheimers'" will be published in 2006, wanted to be sure he was involved in the new dialogue. With his yack, our Society has entered a new era of interaction.

For over a decade, members have told me that they never know exactly why they attend our invitation only meetings; but I have never received a communication from anyone that regretted attending. It would seem everything is of a circle. Services such as yackpack and skype are replacing the gatherings on the village square. We all need to hear from those we care about, respect and admire - and the emotion that is critical to meaningful human discourse just isn't possible with email.

Viva la discourse! Sorry Peter, I don't know how to say that in Japanese.

Opening Conversations on Negative Stereotypes

                          When I first heard about the research behind YackPack,www.yackpack.com , I was intrigued that someone was focusing on the importance of emotion in building and growing positive relationships that simply isn't possible with email. I also thought this might be the technonogy that could be used to open a conversation about how to counter stereotpyes by creating groups of active, involved, knowledgeable older adults who are sick and tired of being portrayed as greedy, unproductive, and foolish drains on society,. I hope this will become one of the key tools used by those who are committed to changing the way we view later life and those qualified to enjoy it.

For awhile I was encouraged that times were changing as the national news media began carrying stories of the Baby Boom, until it hit me that in doing so they continue to ignore the millions of adults already beyond age 60 who are still intelligent, contributing, tax paying members of society who are driving much of the positive change; not the Boomers who are mostly still building careers, educating children and supporting familes. The first boomer will turn 60 January 1, 200t - not all 76 million as news stories would lead you to believe. "Boomers are turning 60 and reinventing retirement communities" a recent news story touted. In fact, most boomers want nothing to do with anything labelled retirement, senior etc...as do most current "seniors" still residing in homes of their own choosing and giving back to their communities.

Creating a YackPack of like minded adults to open and grow the conversation and encourage others to openly attack any business or organization openly perpetuating aging stereotypes by withholding their business while vocalizing their disgust and disappointment. Unlike email, a yackpack allows us to share emotions in our own voice with those we choose to invite into our groups. Right now the service is free for anyone wanting to connect with friends, fellow advocates, family member etc. As the use of yackpacks continue to grow, it will be interesting to view the age and interests of those setting up these focused, on-line, invitation only grooups of kindred spirits. I can ony hope that, like the population of the US, a majority will be older adults - and I further hope many will become evangelists preaching the gospel of positive aging.

Years ago a mentor told me there was only one thing I needed to remember in reaching out to and serving older adults - "Older people know more about being young; than the young know about being old." From what I've seen lately, there are a good deal of younger self-styled baby boom consultants who think they invented aging that should heed this advice. While there are many more of them and their life experiences are different than the generations ahead of them, the values that will serve baby boomers in life's second half are the same as those that served their parents...it is the attitudes and stereotypes that need changing...not a re-invention but a retiring of retirement is what is needed.

Committed to the Art of the Positive

Welcome to my new blog! This is another tool in a 30 battle to replace negative aging stereotypes with more inclusive terminology, positive images and a commitment to aging successfully.

Not only are there more older adults than at any time in history; this new consumer majority is also the healthiest, wealthiest and best educated. Yet the media, political and social leaders seem determined to focus only on the potential problems of an aging population rather than the incredible potential. The purveyors of gloom and doom only ask questions like, “How will we pay for long term health care? Will Baby Boomers bankrupt Social Security?

Perhaps a more appropriate question would be, “Is retirement” the problem? As a concept, retirement hasn’t been around that long. It arrived with the Industrial Revolution as businesses needed a way to push older people aside to make room for younger, “more productive” workers. While much of the work was hard manual labor, age may have been a real factor in productivity; however, that is hardly the case in this information age. In fact, age and wisdom may be more positive “productivity indicators” than “youth and vitality” as we move into this new millennium.

The industrial revolution also changed society by making everything more efficient…or disposable. As Styrofoam filled our land fills and littered our streets, we finally realized that recycling made much more sense – something our forefathers knew instinctively. Landfills were not the only victims of a disposable society; we also came to consider the contributions and wisdom of our elders as disposable. We viewed this segment of our population as a group to be catered to and cared for. We developed programs to feed, house, transport and entertain them; but few to give them meaning and significance.

Today, we are just beginning to pay the price for years of misunderstanding. We encouraged a generation to get out of the way and take it easy. Watch some television, relax or go fishing…just take it easy. The results: obesity and adult onset diabetes are nearing epidemic proportions. What started as program to address the poverty and misery of a large group of disenfranchised older adults has become an “entitlement’. Well, if given the choice, few would probably want to be entitled to a later life full of pain, misery and dependence.

Retirement is not just an outdated concept; one could easily argue that it is a contributing factor to many of the health problems that plague older adults throughout the world. As Hippocrates pointed out thousands of years ago, any part of the body that is not used tends to atrophy – even the mind. Inactivity is no doubt a major contributing factor to the rise in adult onset diabetes and clearly a major cause of obesity.  When a person looses significance and purpose, there is also clear evidence that the immune system erodes and the self-fulfilling prophecies of aging begin to take their toll.

In the area of long term health care, we have added rules and regulations to govern “quality of care” while ignoring the reality that no one wants to use a nursing home. Rather than spending billions more on drugs and health care facilities, isn’t it time to focus on prevention and re-define later life as a time for continued personal growth, adventure and contribution? Rather than allowing service systems, institutions and facilities to evolve, it is time for a new paradigm – a new way of viewing later life. We could start by redefining the aging at what it is…a biological process – not a life stage. We might start by using the Japanese principle of kaizen[1]  – finished never is. Aging is simply the continuing process of becoming the very best you can be – ideally.

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[1] Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning gradual and orderly, continuous improvement