The Challenges of Living Longer – How To Put Sparkle In Your Step!

                                          How Do We Put More Life In Our Lives?

Most baby boomers today will live much longer than prior generations and the trick to enjoying what some are now referring to as the “bonus years” is to think about how you want to create a stimulating and satisfying life.  For most people this will translate into how can I lead a meaningful life, stay connected to friends and family, and  maintain an independent lifestyle?  The Encore section of the Wall Street Journal answered that question with one word: Technology!

                                               The Internet of Things

The article references something called the “Internet of Things” that will be available to older people and enable them to stay connected, work at leisure, and, maintain a heathy lifestyle.  They envision a new on-line service demand industry that will have items in ones home talking to one another. For example, a kitchen appliance will be able to keep tabs on what a person is eating and send the info on to their doctor, people will be assisted in ordering up services they need such as house cleaning to drivers for rides.  Clothing will also be constructed that will help people manage and motivate themselves!  There will be bumps in the road and some of these are cost and loss of privacy.  It seems that the price of these conveniences are well worth the value that they can bring by fashioning a new type of lifestyle that will allow older people to grow older with gusto!

                                                 Our New Bonus Career

Technology being developed will only pave the way for those baby boomers who want to work part time or from home.  There is a multitude of online classes that promote learning  and interview skills.  Peer-to-peer companies are mentioned as options for those wanting to connect by offering services.  Airbnb, a company that allows one to rent out their home currently reports that 10% of their hosts are 60+!

                                                 Maintaining Connections With Friends and Family

Skype and FaceTime already allow boomers to see their grandkids if they live halfway across the country!  It is predicted that social media will become more specialized in the future. .. Connected Living, Inc., is an example of an online community that serves to connect older people living in retirement communities with each other and their families. Commercials for online dating services like Our-Time.com are up and running and cater to over 2 million people who are over the age of 50.  What I find fascinating is the idea of using augmented glasses in the future.  These glasses will enable one to be reminded by virtual messages in their glasses of friends kids names, or what they talked about the last time they saw each other!

 

More next time about how technology will transform our homes and our healthcare!