The Future of Aging: Pandemic edition. Part 2 of 6 - The Identity of Aging

This blog is part 2 of a 6-part series entitled ‘The Future of Aging: Pandemic Edition’. Follow along as we explore how the ~20 shifts across 5 themes in our new book, Future of Aging, have fared post COVID-19. The inaugural blog to set up the series is here, and Chapter 1 (Community) is here, as well as appraisals of Chapter 1 (Community), Chapter 2 (Healthcare), Chapter 3 (Technology), and Chapter 4 (Economy).

Quick recap of The Future of Aging book

Our book is a culmination of more than a year of research and discovery of several hundred ‘signals’ that suggest that almost everything we think, know and believe about aging in the future, will be nothing like it has been in the past. We packaged those signals into 5 emergent themes, organized into 5 chapters:

1.    Community

2.    Healthcare Interventions

3.    Gerontechnologies

4.    The Economy

5. Identity of Aging

This blog goes deeper into the shifts we explored in Chapter 5: The Identity of Aging

What has changed across the 4 shifts underpinning the future of aging & identity?

Recall, this chapter explored 4 shifts that are reframing social and policy constructs of aging:

If a society is measured by ‘how it cares for its older citizens’ (WHO, 2019), then we collectively earned a failing grade here. Overall compared to the pre-COVID trajectory, I gave this theme a RED appraisal (that is, negative progress).

If a society is measured by ‘how it cares for its older citizens’ (WHO, 2019), then we collectively earned a failing grade here.

The underlying forces shaping a new identity of aging are unfading. However, when the pandemic hit, momentum towards this future identity was overtaken by stronger, entrenched, decades-old systems and social constructs that reinforce ageism.

Thousands of citizens and dozens of international scholars and experts have described how the pandemic exposed how little we value older people, and set anti-ageist movements back significantly. Some notable regressions:

• Vulgar concepts emerged such as the social media hashtag #BoomerRemover
• Higher morbidity and mortality rates amongst older adults created behaviours of normalizing the devastating outcomes of the virus, and acceptance that it merely accelerated the inevitable
• Age became interchangeable with risk of death from the pandemic, even though the real correlation is the level of frailty and illness, irrespective of age

That said, if we further unpack each of the 4 shifts, there are nuanced differences in the impact of COVID-19:

The first shift about reinvention & recreation in late life gets a RED because such aspirations ground to a halt during the pandemic and might not recover for a year or more. The second shift describing a more impactful and necessary role for accumulated wisdom has also stagnated, but not as much. The third shift around less conformists enactments of gender and sexuality is neutral, while the fourth shift describing a reorientation around end of life journeys has regressed significantly given the disproportionate and inhumane death toll and experiences the pandemic has caused.

While things mostly went backwards, there are some silver linings

A few notable, positive things happened over the past few months that might not have transpired had the pandemic not brought issues around the identity of aging to the forefront. Similar to how you sometimes need to fall to the bottom of the pool to push yourself back up, these modest but powerful changes may be momentum boosters that could end up overcoming the negative progress:

• Intergenerational solidarity strengthened, as we more “fully realize that an able-bodied condition is ever so temporary” [REF]. Examples abound of youth helping aging and isolated adults in their communities with upkeep of their homes, delivering food and groceries, and regularly checking in to maintain connection and ensure they are aware of resources available.
• Grassroots movements such as Future of Worth?and Nextraordinary? continued to take hold without being held back by the pandemic, leveraging digital platforms to keep things moving forward. Major Canadian bank RBC also doubled down on the recently launched Boomerang platform to connect seniors around sharing latent skills. These movements are formally - and at scale - opening up possibilities for aging adults to expand and apply their wisdom in entirely new ways.
• Traditional approaches to planning and managing for the end of life exploded with innovation given constraints of in-person contact. This has opened up windows for people to try different ways to deal with the remains, announce someone's passing, have a 'funeral' service, and memorialize, meeting people where their values and interests lie. Virtual obituaries, drive-in funerals and "funerals by Zoom" are now the standard. People can choose things like what their last Tweet will be, what music to play, and whether to have their remains pounded into diamonds. The cohort of startups offering modern and highly tailored end of life planning experiences -such as Cake and Lantern - are experiencing unprecedented demand for their services. There is a growing chorus suggesting that the pandemic "will be the event that turns end-of-life planning into a common part of adulthood" [REF].

Looking ahead: Adjusting Your Pathway Towards the Future of Aging

The Future of Aging book provides an evidence-based, comprehensive roadmap to guide anyone who has a stake in policies, products or services for an aging society. I’ve highlighted above how the terrain for the Future of the Identity of Aging has been altered by the global COVID-19 pandemic. There have been some roadblocks, a few detours, and some entirely new laneways have opened up. But the journey remains the same. The call to action now for citizens and innovators in this space is to be aware of how the shifts have changed, so you can adjust – and in some cases pivot – your work now so you can ‘future-proof’ for tomorrow. Our aging population depends on you.

For the other insights and commentary about the Future of Aging book, visit our blog site.