Image by Dmitry Ulitin on Unsplash.
If you read articles about getting older, on Medium and elsewhere, many of them begin, “As we get older…” or, “As we age.”E
Inevitably, these articles fit into 2 categories. They’re followed by a statement about something that happens to people at any age. Or they present a phenomenon that happens to some (but not all) people.
The content just spreads stereotypes.
“It happens to everyone, but gets presented as age-related.”
As people age, their bodily systems — including the brain — gradually decline. “Slips of the mind” are associated with getting older. That said, people often experience those same slight memory lapses in their 20s but do not give it a second thought.
These statements would be true if you substituted “Some people…” for “As we age, we….”
“As we age, we have problems with money … something always happens.”
“As we age, things happen to us that are out of our control.”
“As we age, we get lonelier…” Not necessarily! I reviewed the statistics in my book. There aren’t many more lonely people in the upper age brackets.
“It happens to SOME older people, but gets presented as universal.”
For these, I would just say, “Speak for yourself, dude!”
And remember the fallacy. “Most people who do X are older” is not the same as “Most older people do X.”
Example on another topic:
It’s been estimated that 90 percent of lung cancer patients are smokers or ex-smokers.
But on the other side: according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lung cancer develops in around 10 to 20 percent of all smokers.
So if 70% of people with back problems are over 60, you need new information to make statements about the percentage of people over 60 with back problems.
Most statistics on “older people” are half-reported. For instance, a high percentage of Covid deaths were among the elderly; but that didn’t mean most older people got Covid.
Here are some other generalities that might apply to the author of an article. No reason to believe they’d apply to anyone else.
“As we get older, we’re likely to not to be in a hurry”
“As we age, we can laugh at ourselves…”
BOTH
“As we age, our body parts get creaky or just plain wear out.” I know 40-year-olds with hip and knee replacements.
You can also find people north of 70 who are playing sports and running marathons.
Sometimes the author adds a disclaimer.
“OK! I admit not everyone at this age fits the pattern.” So why bring it up?
If you have a unique perspective or way of coping your tips will be relevant to people of almost any age. Start by replacing the word “we” with “I.”
