The future is old: March 29, 1999 issue of New Thinking

March 29, 1999 New Thinking:
The future is old

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March 29, 1999

The future is old

By Gerry McGovern

At the end of the 19th Century, the average American could expect to live for some 50 years, with only 4 percent of the population reaching 65. By 1999, life expectancy had reached 76 years and 12 percent of the population was 65 or over.

“By 2025,” A USA Today report stated recently, “one in 5 Americans – 62 million people, most of them baby boomers – will be 65 or older. Progress is so rapid that life expectancy could reach 80 or more in the next decade. Eighty-year-olds are already the fastest growing age group.”

This ageing trend is not just to be found in America. It is even more pronounced in Japan, where one in three of the population will be 65 or older by 2025. The median age has risen in Europe from a little under thirty in 1950, to a little under 40 in 1998. In Asia, it has risen from a little over twenty to almost forty in the same period. In South America it has risen from 20 to 23, while in Africa it has dipped slightly, staying under twenty.

Ironically, as people are increasingly living longer, the function of and respect for older people is diminishing. Something has got to change, or else society is in serious trouble.

When community was strong, you didn’t need childcare as the grandparents very often looked after the younger children. Not alone did they look after them, but they also passed on learning and wisdom to them. Today, old people are very often seen as a drain on society, but they have so much that they can and want to contribute.

Older people, particularly in the United States, are recognizing that the Internet can be a wonderful door back into society. The Internet allows them to connect and network from their own homes. Consider the following:

In 1998, Microsoft set up one of its largest corporate exhibits at the annual American Association of Retired Persons convention
Internet research company, Activmedia, in 1998 reported that senior citizens were one of the fastest-growing segments of the on-line population
In a 1998 Roper Starch Worldwide study, 56 percent of over 50's said that they felt the Internet was narrowing the generation gap
According to a 1998 study by SeniorNet and Charles Schwab Inc., over 13 million US adults over the age of 50 had Internet access, with the number growing rapidly

At one end we have children who while learning lots about how things work are not learning nearly as much about how society works, because both parents are usually out working long hours. At the other end we have older people with lots of time on their hands who want to be useful and contribute in a positive manner to society.

Why not use the Internet as a vehicle that connects up an old person with a young child, creating an old-young ‘pen-pal’ environment? Certainly there are obstacles, and proper monitoring needs to be in place, but think of the productive social potential. We could even go a step further by getting whiz kid children to adopt an old person in the neighborhood, showing them how to use a computer and get connected to the Internet.

The old learning from the young. The young learning from the old. With the Internet, it’s not an impossible dream.

Gerry McGovern

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Older people, particularly in the United States, are recognizing that the Internet can be a wonderful door back into society.