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Did you know….

According to the report, "Matures 62+ On the Internet: An Overlooked Audience," over a third of the Mature population (aged 62+) are connected and collectively spend almost three-quarters of a billion minutes a day on the Internet.

You can see the entire report here: http://www.focalyst.com/Sites/focalyst/  Or check out:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/new-report-reveals-online-ads-are-effective-in-reaching-mature-adults,374025.shtml

A friend also sent me a link to an organization that is looking to hire an "ageing consultant".  Imagine!

I find these latest reports particularly interesting in light of the common misconception that older folk just aren’t technologically savvy enough to be considered viable employees in today’s market.

My gosh, can it be? Someone is actually recognizing that mature people - those of us who have "snow on the roof" - are actually out here mixing it up with the rest of society?  We’re actually being discovered?!

Marketers, trying to figure out how to tap into this lush new market, are actually trying to reach us and find out what makes us tick.

Guess they haven’t figured out yet, that as long as we live we have pretty much the same interests and needs as everyone else. We may like to sit on the front porch in our rockers reading a novel on a hot summer afternoon on occasion. But that’s certainly not the limit of our interests and capabilities. We garden and create and surf the net right along with the best of them. We enjoy good food and travel and being financially independent and productive. We are intensely concerned about the price of gas, food shortages and the ecology. And we do know how to play.

But, when people have gone down as many different roads as we elders have to get where we are today, we tend to be a very diverse group. Anyone who wants to understand what makes us tick is going to have to understand that we aren’t statistics. We have set our priorities based on lessons learned along the way. We make our own choices based on what our individual interests are - not on hype or emotional hot buttons. We’ve learned to think for ourselves, thank you very much.

Gosh, I sure will be happy when the statisticians and marketers finally learn that classifying people and cramming us into neat packages just doesn’t work. And I’ll be happier still, when, finally the older set is once again welcomed into the workplace so they can - if they choose - buy some of those luxuries the marketers want to sell them.

Do you get the sinking feeling that the world is going to Hell in a hand basket of late? Well, you’re not alone, those of us who have watched history repeat itself over and over again in our life times, are indeed more than a little disturbed by events since the turn of the century. We had great visions of a grand new world where peace would reign and we’d finally enjoy an era of worldwide prosperity.

Instead, the first decade of the 21st century seems to have brought us a general melt-down on all sides…global as well as local. We’ve seen enough war and destruction to fill a library of books rivaling War and Peace in sheer volume. And it doesn’t stop with global issues. Even our families and neighborhoods are at odds with each other. Control and dominance is pervasive everywhere.

In the midst of all the negatives, memories of Sr. Mary’s history classes keep haunting me. She was one stern history teacher. Few of my high school teachers were as demanding as she. Oh, how we hated memorizing all those dates! And, her exams were something else! It wasn’t enough to know the dates…we knew we’d be expected to deliver written essays on the pros and cons, whys and wherefores of wars and famines in bygone eras…stuff that "nobody cares about today". But she stood firm. "History repeats itself," she’d tell us. "You must understand the past if you expect to build a better future." 

I know, for a fact, she wouldn’t much approve of "sound bytes" that we get for news today. Heck, if we’d tried to slap together anything like the news reports we get in today’s media we would have been assured an "F".

So, even though I’m not a particularly political type person, I’m truly glad that we have the internet and well-stocked libraries. It does take some digging to get past the media hype and claptrap, but we can drill down to get to the story behind the story if we really want to. And, in doing so, we can bring perspective to our present human condition. Because, Sr. Mary was right… history does repeat itself…the more things change…the more they remain the same. 

The great orator Cicero (106-143 B.C.) had much the same concerns we have today. He’s said to have complained, "Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book…."

Just look how far we’ve come from there. ’spose we can finally achieve the kind of change that will make a difference this time? Hope springs eternal.

Talk of the economy is everywhere. It’s a major focus of the elections. It’s at the top of everyone’s head - especially those who have lost jobs - or are afraid they might lose their jobs. It’s a major concern for those who have lost homes and are very much concerned about how they’re going to get their children through college. And, it’s a sore spot for seniors who are desperately trying to survive.

The common thread that runs through too much of the talk is, "Someone’s got to do something!!!"

Well, that’s true. But, who, I ask, can do that "something" better than you and me? There’s so much work out there that we will never get it all done - not if we want to rectify all the troubles that beset us.

Why isn’t it getting done? What’s it going to take for us to get past all the negativity, pointing fingers and "can’t" thinking? Every single person has the potential to make a difference. It doesn’t matter if they’re yellow, orange or purple. It doesn’ t matter if they can only walk on their hands or peel onions. It doesn’t matter if they smile pretty and have perfect teeth. And it doesn’t matter if they know how to work on a PC  rather than a MAC. This old world needs every one of us.

it’s time to start thinking creatively. For those who don’t understand what creative solutions are, I share the following link: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~zeigleem/potatoes.htm I couldn’t have come up with a better example.

We have some serious challenges facing us right now (I think we can all agree on that). It’s true, right now, many are feeling impotent. But, for every challenge there is at least one solution. Usually there are many solutions, each when added up can make a significant difference. We can find those solutions when we start thinking creatively. The solutions may not be obvious and they may not be what we expect. That doesn’t matter.  What does matter is: Can we finally start thinking creatively and allowing everyone to contribute?