How pickleball restored my faith in humanity (and saved me in the process)
We get Boomers and Gen X
“Today I am 65 years old. I still look good. I appreciate and enjoy my age. A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you’re in and take advantage of it. You still bring to bear all your prior experience, but you are riding on another level. It’s completely liberating.”
– Nikki Giovanni
How pickleball restored my faith in humanity (and saved me in the process)
Two months in and I’m addicted, riding the pickleball wave and hooked on the feeling. At 54, I’m generally a self-proclaimed “hot mess” thanks to menopause – AKA my surly sidekick who snuck up out of nowhere, hit me like a runaway train, and left me creaky and cranky but too tired to shoot up a flare. Truth be told, I hit a wall and I wasn’t embracing “the change” with open arms (more like tightly coiled fists). Mood swings, hot flashes and weight gain (why the hell is it all in my midsection?) – all the usual suspects. Not to mention that it’s nearly impossible to meet new people these days (especially single and in my 50s) when we work remotely, shop online and drink at home. And don’t get me started with online dating.
From Saatchi UK: Voting is hot AF!
Commentators have already dubbed the 2024 election as the ‘boomer election’, focusing on policies that would appeal to the post-World War II baby-boom generation. The uncomfortable truth is that this focus reflects voter turnout. Historically, younger people are less likely to vote than older people, and the gap has widened since the 1990s. Over half (54%) of 18- to 25-year-olds voted in the last general election. As Richard Huntington, Chair and Chief Strategy Officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, explains: “Only half of 18–24-year-olds now vote and that’s an emergency.” Enter non-partisan campaign, Just Vote, with the ‘Voting is Hot AF’ campaign, which aims to encourage young people to get out and vote in the 4th of July general election. The campaign strategy is built on the insight that voting officially makes you hotter. According to research from YouGov, 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds find regular voters more attractive.
US couple, 100 and 96, marry in Normandy, France: ‘We get butterflies’
Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But second world war veteran Harold Terens and his sweetheart, Jeanne Swerlin, proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot on Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France.
Their respective ages – he’s 100, she’s 96 – made their nuptials an almost double-century celebration. Terens called it “the best day of my life”.
The demographic meltdown
If birth rates don’t rise sufficiently, and if life expectancies continue as they are, then the only other option for staving off the worst is to quite literally substitute humans with machines. This, of course, is problematic in itself. Even assuming artificial intelligence will be able to do all its advocates claim (which is unlikely), the management of AI will soak up the educated labor pool, and the kinds of jobs listed above that require a human touch will be left to machines. I suspect that will create some friction, to say the least.
Older workers are sticking around - what does that mean for their younger colleagues?
People between 65 and 69 years old make up the largest share of workers 55 and older. Many older workers are thriving in the labor force instead of coasting into retirement these days. The workforce is aging with the number of workers between 65 and 69 years old making up a larger share of the group of workers ages 55 and beyond, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute's recent report on older workers and the labor market. Between 2000 and 2023, the share of workers 65 and older jumped from 23% to 29.5%, the study found.
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