Engaging Baby Boomers and Seniors through Social Media

Baby Boomers (post WW II; 1946 - 1955, or 1966 in Canada.) After the vets came home, there was a population boom. These are people with pensions, work histories, and women who began to work as a matter of choice or necessity, outside their homes.

You know the myths, that seniors are not on-line, and don't use computers!

This slide show, below, does provide some insight for those youngsters who think we don't know a mouse from a mole!
What bothers me is that we are not the target audience for many advertisers, despite being pretty sedentary evenings, unlike our younger folks.
We have the disposable income to spend, yet they do not target TV or radio shows to our generation.

I began using computers at work in 1989! My late mother, born 1945, learned to use a computer at work, when she was 40 years old, in order to publish their weekly newsletter for the Rotary Club of Toronto. I was so proud of her!

My friends in long-term care use them. A skill they learned in their 80s and 90s!

My late Aunt Lillian (Forsyth), Uncle Fred,
Marion, who died at age 16 in the 40s.

'Timmie is down the well!'

This slideshow is a publication of AARP, American Association of Retired Persons, which is a US-based lobby group. They survive on big bucks from those of us with disposable income.
The Canadian equivalent, CARP, does similar lobbying here in Canada.

Engaging Baby Boomers & Seniors through Social Media from Care2Team

Seeds and snow and spring

I like to think of all the seeds under the snow, ready to go.

With +15 C. temperatures yesterday, the snow is melting. I'm looking forward, once again, to the changing of the seasons. Here are my twins playing with the milkweed seeds last fall!


These are photos from our trip to the big city, Carleton Place, last Friday! You ca see how much snow we had. I look forward to checking out the melt. Yesterday it was +15 C., according to my outdoor thermometer.

Peeps at work!

More peeps at work!

Not an Inukshuk!

Can you see the beaver lodge?

It's a pretty little bridge! Love Lanark Highlands.

Here we go, on our way from Carleton Place to Westport!

This is typical of Ontario roads, right now, with the freeze-thaw!
Accordion-like roads, 'bumpies!'

We had errands and ended up having dinner in Westport. Almost a Daycation!

It was on Monday that Norovirus hit us both. We've hydrated like mad.
We've been watching men and women's curling, and this has hit both tournaments.
Some are on IVs!

With so many gathered together, and a virus that lives well, and is highly communicable, this is something well have to learn to live with!

I've never felt so weak! Childbirth was better than this! I can see how those who are young or old would be at high-risk for death.

Hubby's illness was about 12 hours later than mine, which is good.

When caregivers become ill, a family often breaks down. I've seen it in my clients.

My Facebook friends have been wonderful, with expressions of support!

This is where Social Media works, not in those enervating newscasts that feature inane tweets, but kind, caring 'get well soon' thoughts from cyberfriends!

They say that few Zoomers (Baby Boomers and Generation Jones) are on Twitter, although more than the Millennials, seniors use Facebook at a rate of 90%!

Unfortunately, the Millennials who drive the system ignore we older folks in data management. They will learn.

For more data, see: Baby Boomers and Seniors Are Flocking to Facebook [STATS] |
 What Do Seniors Do Online? Visit Facebook and YouTube, of Course [STATS]
Excuse me, must run! :-)

Retirees over age 55 - money issues

Give seniors a break!

So much talk in the recent Canadian election about we older folks. Apparently, there is much elder abuse (I've yet to see the data to support this), we're all going to be stuffed in long-term care and we will drain our younger Canadians' finances.
Any elder abuse (financial, emotional, physical) is to be disdained, but many seniors are in their homes, finding fulfillment in family, life, and activities.

Hold on there.
About one-third of retired Canadians are in some form of debt, a report from Statistics Canada said. But look at the debt.

Most of us have been foxy about our finances

Most of us have with convenience or consumer debts, e.g., we buy on a credit card. This is about 25% of us but we owe under $5,000.

Among retired people with debt:

• 25 per cent owed less than $5,000.
• 32 per cent owed between $5,000 and $24,999.
• 26 per cent owed between $25,000 and $99,999.
• 17 per cent owed $100,000 or more.

But those of us in this group tend to have a good foundation in finances.

We're not hiding in our shells
moaning about the state of the world

We own our own homes, our income and education gives us a high level of net worth.
We know that education and means makes a difference in having good health. We do not have large debt, getting an education that leaves us with large loans, and no jobs. We got an education we needed, apparently with higher standards than in this generation. I've taught in a University. It's all about marks, not about mastering material.

Q&A feeling blue in the ivory tower

May 14, 2011

Student disengagement, inflated marks and credentialism: University is not the answer to all problems, says author.

Afraid to peer over the edge

Is a university degree becoming the new high school diploma? Côté, a professor of sociology at the University of Western Ontario and co-author of...co-author of Ivory Tower Blues: A University System in Crisis. (Excellent book, by the way. But I won't read his new one, Lowering Higher Education: The Rise of Corporate Universities and the Fall of Liberal Education. It's too depressing. I fought these issues in the elementary panel.)

Making ends meet
Most of us only have short-term debt, e.g., a credit card. Only 20% of retirees age 75+ compared to 48% of those in the previous age bracket (age 55 - 64).

Most of us are managing in Canada. Most of us will not be a burden to our families, or on the system, as the media keeps fearmongering!

Mind you, it depends upon where you live.

Low income among seniors (Statcan PDF)

One in five seniors in Canada lives in a low-income situation. In 1998, almost three-quarters of a million

people aged 65 and over, 20% of all seniors, had incomes below Statistics Canada’s Low Income

Cut-offs. The proportion of seniors with low incomes has fallen sharply over the past decade and a half,

dropping from 34% in 1980 to 20% in 1998.

one summer home in Bala, Muskoka
retirees with money?
There are many in Muskoka.

There is wide variation in the proportion of seniors with low incomes in different provinces. In

1998, the share of seniors with low incomes ranged from 

• 30% in Quebec
• 25% in Manitoba
• 19% in British Columbia
• 18% in Saskatchewan
• 17% in Alberta
• 15% in New Brunswick
• 14% in Ontario.

Most of us will be able to stay in our homes and live healthy, fulfilling lives. Those who live in poverty are to be cared for, do not misunderstand, but many of us are out in the community, volunteering, living fulfilling lives.

Which generation are you? 
Lots of talk about millennials, but baby boomers are booming. I'm on the fringe of baby boomers, and we're doing just fine, thank you! We are using the skills we mastered for our jobs in our personal lives. We're volunteering these skills to many groups who need us.
We're going to be OK. How about you?!

Which generation are you?

Lots of talk about Baby Boomers...doom and and portending gloom. I'm on the fringe of this generation.

• The Lost Generation 

Those serving in WW I, coined by Gertrude Stein about American writers: Fitzgerald, Hemingway. Came of age during the war.

• The G I Generation (born 1901 or 1929 -  1924 -27, those serving in WW II, 1939 - 1945). Living during the Depression. "Sacrifice for the common good."

• The Silent Generation (children of WW I vets or those too young to serve, born 1925 - 1945). They grew up as the suffocated children of war and depression. For a great PPT, with period photos see: Silent Generation. They came of age just too late to be war heroes and too early to be hippies.

Nanny, foster mother to 200 teen girls
 -who gave me a black doll.
She was wise and good-hearted.

• Baby Boomers (post WW II; 1946 - 1955, or 1966 in Canada.) After the vets came home, there was a population boom. Read The Baby Boomers' Tab. 

• Generation Jones (1954 - 1964) Coined by Jonathon Pontell, in a book by the same name. As in 'Keeping up with the Joneses'. Those with maxed credit cards and incredible debt. The flower children of the 60s were truly in their teens and twenties. They are part of the baby Boom generation.

• Gen X'ers (born between 1965 - 1980) - to the decade following the Vietnam War, 1982 max)  Sandwiched between 80 million baby boomers and 78 million millennials, Gen X has just 46 million members. They were feeling left out and Jeff Gordonier ranted in an essay and book " being heard over the media din about boomers and their offspring, Generation Y, or "millennials" as they're now known, isn't just a challenge, it's annoying. He felt overlooked and underappreciated.

Her stitches were tiny and true

• Generation Y (Late 70s to 2000) or Echo Boomers, The Millennials. Selfless or self-absorbed?

 My grandmother was new to electricity and indoor plumbing. My mother was new to going out to work. Our dads didn't talk much about the war. They didn't provide many role models for the dads of our generation. They were there, but they were emotionally inaccessible. I would predict that PTSD is part of what hurt many families in the past. It is a complex weaving of life experiences.

My generation spear-headed the movement for midwives, giving birth with husbands present. My generation of dads changed diapers, and fed expressed breast milk to their children while we were out taking courses to upgrade, doing volunteer work, night shifts, or networking to keep current.

I was upset, as my generation has helped move us into the age of technology.

VW Beetle!
Me and my bro

My video of JB singing M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E to his granddaughter as we Skyped is a classic way we've learned to integrate it into our lives and use it to our advantage.
My generation of parents uses FB to keep in touch with adult children around the world. With extended family, in-laws and step-in-laws, my kids have learned to 'like' my videos and our photos, with settings geared so that 'friends of friends' can view this digital archive of child development. In this way, grandparents in other countries and climes can check in on grandkids!

My son-in-law got on Skype on my computer so that granddaughter could visit with the other grandmother, when they spent two weeks with us.

I'm proud of our generation. We are eating better, exercising, running marathons (well, not me...!), travelling (ditto!), and making a difference in the world helping support one another, and contributing to society.

Public opinion rarely considers the needs of the next generation or the history of the last. It is frequently hampered by myths and misinformation, by stereotypes and shibboleths, and by an inate resistance to innovation. 

   -Theodore C. Sorensen, presidential advisor, lawyer, and writer (1928-2010) 


What are you proud of in your generation?