Well, that boat has sailed.
We’ve managed to cure all number of life-threatening illnesses (admittedly not all) and our life expectancy keeps going up and up, yet incidentally no-one, anywhere, ever, has lived beyond 120 (shut up, Methuselah).
But living longer brings all kinds of conundrums (conundra?) with it. After all, we don’t want to live longer, dribbling our way through re-runs of Golden Girls, do we? We want to be active, lively, still have all our marbles, and yes, possibly still working.
With all the myriad benefits we get from interaction with others, from using our brain for something other than how-the-hell-do-I-turn-this-damn-thing-on; going into work and keeping those cells alive is a must-have. I fully appreciate the current lack of graduate roles out there, and oldies not retiring is not helping that, but if there are knowledge and proficiency to pass on, we should keep the channels open.
Despite the legislation requiring employers to be age-agnostic, there is still a prevailing societal preference for the young vs the old. In a work environment, older people bring incomparable knowhow and experience and usually have a strong work ethic. The argument that older generations cannot handle new technology is not only a sweeping assumption, but it is manifestly untrue as, let’s be honest here, with the rate AI is developing, is any one of us completely in control of it?
There is quite potent evidence to suggest that by retiring later, you die later. This is not a causation, or at least not proven, but it is a strong correlation1. I’m not saying we should all work until we drop, God forbid, but work (even part-time) keeps your mind and body agile and active. Whilst we can still impart sage advice, between toilet breaks, then surely we owe it to ‘them young folk’.
Yes, I am talking ‘bout my generation.
1 Wu et al 2016