Can intergenerational friendships solve the loneliness crisis?

1. The May - December effect.

Maybe it’s a little lazy for a newsletter to base its lead item on another newsletter, but we were sufficiently inspired by Chip Conley’s recent post in the Modern Elder Academy blog called?The Reemergence of Intergenerational Friendships?to push aside any qualms. Chip’s column makes the case—a well-founded one—that we as a society should be doing much more to foster intergenerational friendships as a core strategy to address the emerging culture of loneliness and isolation.

But to do so, we will have to overcome what Marc Freedman calls “age apartheid,” the strong tendency in this country to discourage intergenerational friendships and relationships.?Throughout our life, at school, at work and in retirement, we are categorized and funneled into “age appropriate” groups and relationships. It is not outright discouraged but it is certainly unusual for people to have close friendships outside a rather extraordinarily thin age band. As Chip points out, 80% of our friendships are with people within a 10 year age range of our own.

Perhaps that wouldn’t matter so much except that we are in a friendship crisis right now.?Over the last 30 years, Americans’ number of close friends has dropped precipitously. In 1990, 33% of Americans reported that they had 10 or more close friends. In 2021, that figure had declined to just 13%. And perhaps most ominously, the number of people who reported having no close friends had quadrupled, from 3% to 12%. For seniors, nearly one-third report that they haven’t made a new friend in the last decade. It may be the rise of technology, or the decline in civic engagement, but if you want to know the basic facts of the loneliness crisis in America, the story is right there.

The more we do to put people together, including in intergenerational settings as Chip points out, the better the odds we will have of making a dent in the loneliness crisis.

2. Go green.

The idea that parks and green space, especially in urban areas, are good for public health is not a new or particularly surprising idea, but until now it has largely been a matter of faith. But a new study from Northwestern University has?found a statistical link?between access to green space and biological aging. The study, published last month in Science magazine, found that people who live near green spaces were biologically younger by 2.5 years, on average, than those who live near fewer green areas.???

The researchers reached these conclusions by studying DNA methylation-based epigenetic biomarkers—chemical changes in DNA that may influence various age-related health outcomes. Epigenetic age is a biomarker of aging associated with age-related disease and all-cause mortality.

There are some analytical limits of the study, as it?does not fully reflect the impacts of income and residential preference patterns. But the study does demonstrate the specific impact that green space can have on everything from exercise to stress to social capital—and the profound impact on longevity and healthy aging.?

Green Thumb Award of the week:?82-year old Ed Rodriguez,?a volunteer for the Urban Resources Initiative in New Haven, Connecticut, has taken on the task of turning his neighborhood green—and consequently, cooling it down—by planting trees, lots of them. Just this past month, Rodriguez planted his 90th tree in 13 years, marking a significant benchmark in his quest to provide shade and green space for his neighborhood.

3. The September issue.

Historically, the “September Issues” of?outlets such as Vogue, GQ, Glamour and Vanity Fair have held a central role in establishing the fashion and cultural tones for the season, and as a consequence bring outsized attention to their covers. The stars that grace the covers are typically some of the biggest celebrities and trendsetters, so it was a major statement at Vogue this year to feature four age 50+ models on the September cover. Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell are widely-regarded as pioneers of modern modeling and fashion, as their work in the late 80s and early 90s became ubiquitous in pop culture and elevated the quartet as the “original” supermodels. Modeling is not known as a business kind to aging, so it is rather a revelation that a model’s career can span not thirty months, but thirty years.?

It is difficult to think of Vogue as an arbiter of an age revolution but in fact this is not the first time the magazine has departed from the industry’s fascination with young models. This April, Vogue Philippines led with?106-year-old tattoo artist?Apo Whang-Od?and?model?Carmen Dell’Orefice?graced the cover of Vogue Czechoslovakia at 91.

Some have criticized the cover as a publicity stunt, and less than subtly suggested that the magazine?may have airbrushed out the age of the models. A fair complaint, as it’s not particularly helpful to suggest that featuring people in their 50s only works when they look like they are in their 20s. Very few of us in our 50s or 60s are going to look like these supermodels—though, to be fair, we didn’t look much like them when we were in our 20s either. We’ll let others be the cultural arbiters on this, but we see this as a net positive.?Female models and actresses have long faced age discrimination in the workplace, as women do in many fields. Hopefully this cover can be part of a larger trend that highlights the continuing contributions that older women make in the workplace and in public life.?

Which Not-So-Bad Thing surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments!