Overview
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ASSIGNMENT: please respond to the three classmate’s post.
Frank:
I absolutely agree with the speaker in this video, which really challenges the way we typically think about aging. I've witnessed ageism everywhere, sometimes unknowingly, even in myself. As a cybersecurity major, my family comes calling anytime something doesn't work with their tech. I used to assume that older people were either slow or uninformed about technology. We seem to have a deeply rooted stereotype that aging equates to decline. That simply isn't true for the majority of people, as the video makes clear. Happiness actually tends to rise with age, and only a small percentage wind up in nursing homes. The idea of social construction is really touched upon. Ageism is something we create and reinforce through our attitudes and the media, just like racism or sexism. According to the video, older people are frequently depicted as pitiful or disabled, which undoubtedly contributes to this unfavorable perception. Direct communication between age groups is one strategy to counter this, as the video suggests. Stereotypes are dispelled when we engage with people of all ages. For instance, a young person may discover that an older coworker is very technologically advanced. Alternatively, if an older person engages in conversation with a teenager, they may find that the teenagers are just always on their phone and will actually care to engage in meaningful conversation. The broad narratives lead people to believe if its true with one its true will all. We are able to see people, not just age groups, thanks to this type of interaction. According to a symbolic interactionist viewpoint, we build and reassemble our conception of age through these discussions. We can create a more inclusive and truthful perception of aging by simply being conscious of our own prejudices. Because it emphasizes that ageism impacts people of all ages and that improving the lives of the elderly benefits everyone
Nathan:
I agree with the speaker's points about how ageism serves only to divide the generations. It takes no time at all online or in conversations with some people around certain topics before somebody's age is brought up or a generation is blamed for something that is relatively out of an individual's control. In my experience, family dinners around the Holidays or Thanksgiving are dominated by discussions of relatives blaming any generation that they are not to blame for the problems we face today. A genuine dialogue could help reduce misunderstandings and assumptions, however, the difficulty I have found is that everybody is willing to have that discussion. That leads to the point I agreed with the most from Ashton Applewhite, that 'seeing groups as other than ourselves' feeds into the difficulty people have in wanting to face the fact that everybody is aging. Applewhite is on the money with pop culture bombarding people with ageist material. The book mentions Activity Theory as a method to keep the older populations engaged with society and bridge the divide between the generations. I agree that this could work well and that it could assist in both sides coming to an understanding. I have a personal story about my Great Grandmother passed earlier this year. For years, she did well socializing with others in a nice retirement home, but once she had to go into a nursing home, her mental and physical health deteriorated rather quickly. Currently, leadership and companies continue to push a divide between generations and benefit greatly from misunderstandings amongst them. The best way to prevent this is to have those difficult conversations and to spend time with people of all ages and backgrounds, to not only assist with their perspective and to share our own so that misunderstandings and assumptions no longer have to happen.
Jennifer:
In the TED Talk, “Let’s End Ageism,” Ashton Applewhite speaks about how unfairly people are treated by society only because of their age. Ageism is known as discrimination based on age, mostly against older people. She mentions that ageism is seen everywhere and I completely agree with her although most people don’t notice it. In her TED talk, Ashton explains that people and society see aging as a bad thing when it is something normal which happens to everyone. I’ve seen ageism happen, especially in many workplaces. Sometimes elderly people are denied jobs because they are “old” and employers think they will be slow paced compared to younger employees. Ageism is also seen in healthcare, for example I completed an internship with a healthcare clinic and I noticed ageism is used when healthcare workers “baby talk” the older patients or talk loud and slow to them as soon as they come in the door. The workers assumed the patients could not understand only because of their age. These ideas are based on stereotypes, not facts. I believe that one way we could help reduce ageism is by making policy changes that help the elderly and make a change in the education system so that more younger people can be aware of the problem. From a sociological point of view, ageism can be explained through conflict theory. This theory says that different groups in society compete for resources and power. Sometimes, younger people are given more opportunities, while older people are pushed aside, even if they’re just as capable. Overall, I truly believe that Applewhite’s message is very important. Aging is natural and we will all go through it at some point. By changing the way society sees and thinks about old people we are helping them by being equal to everyone.