Thursday, January 10, 2013

Are We Being Lumped?


Posts and comments on a blog hosted by Ronni Bennett (www.timegoesby.net) frequently bemoan thoughtless or derogatory attitudes and labels related to people in my age group. Ms. Bennett goes to war with those who would call us geezers, old folks, or seniors, or ignore us altogether. I agree that “elders” is a nicer term, and we do not deserve to be depicted as useless fools by those less experienced in the ways of the world.

Obviously, I don’t mind being called a “geezer.” And I think “fully mature adult” might be even more positive than “elder,” although that whimsical label suffers from a lack of brevity. Despite those minor differences, I agree with Ms. Bennett that we older people don’t get all the respect in the public arena that we deserve.

One of those annoying pop-ups perhaps is (or is not) an example. An unwanted e-ad lately has been interrupting my screen-viewing pleasure by saying people can make connections with single members of the opposite sex in the small town nearest my home. They can choose from four age categories: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, and 50+.

“Fifty+” covers a lot of territory. Is there an insinuation that we elders all morph into the same social and sexual condition after 50?  Is there an assumption that single elders have little interest in new contacts with available members of the opposite sex? Or am I an old geezer over-reacting?

4 comments:

JHawk23 said...

Probably they're just defining their desired "demographic," GG.

Similarly, my wife and I often note how ads, sales, television shows, and lord knows what else, are all pitched to (and designed for) less mature age groups. The conventional wisdom is they want the younger folks who "have money to spend" but in fact, geezers tend to have more disposable income.

I think it's more that they want to pitch to the trendy ... if a young good-looking 20-something is using an iPad, that's positive publicity; if I'm shown using it, who cares? But "that's life."

schmidleysscribblins,wordpress.com said...

I don't have time or energy anymore to worry about what other people think. Younger folks at work never saw me as "one of them" and thought I was the same age as their parents. So what.

I like being a senior. When I was 15 I could hardly wait to be a senior.

As for dating services, I don't understand. Even if I was single i would not do it. Too many crazy people like my EX out there. He prefers to hit on young girls, however (according to my daughter) and his new younger (stupid?) wife "took his computer away from him."

Dianne

Anonymous said...

I'm just happy being an 'old git'. :-)

Kay Dennison said...

I agree. That said, I've noticed that 'fully mature adults' are pretty rare. :)