Gen Alpha?

What? We’re going back to the beginning of the alphabet?? I can’t keep track of who is in Gen Z and the only reason I know who millennials are is because it’s right there in the name.  Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, and now Gen Alpha? I guess it would have helped if there were more letters after Z but so be it.

Anyway, the Alphas are those born between 2010 and 2024, the first generation to be born entirely in the 21^st century. Maybe that’s how they got the Alpha handle. They are practically born with smartphones in their hands (and can type on them with 2 thumbs) and have been in front of computer screens or tablets for their entire life. That makes them super-empowered and quite likely to lord it over us until baby boomers are just a memory.

The amount of time they have already spent online will unquestionably exceed all prior generations. This constant exposure to technology is a bit of a social experiment, in that no one knows the consequences of such intensive experience.  Experts surmise that such a concentration could reduce their attention spans and make social interaction problematic.

Oh, and remember the pandemic? So does Gen Alpha and they remember virtual learning and Zooming giving them an unprecedented close-up view of how the educational system has changed. For the better or the worse? Who knows, but Gen Alpha will find that answer. It is predicted that 1 in 2 Gen Alphas will get a university degree. Ironically, many Gen Zers are forgoing college to pursue trades such as plumber, electrician and welder. Wish I could be around to see how that works out.

It’s been said that Gen Z is using technology as “an escape,” while Gen Alpha uses technology “to live and enjoy their life.” Rather than viewing learning and gaming as two separate activities, Gen Alpha sees them as the same thing. You could say they are experiencing gamified learning.

So, our future, in the short time we have left, may ultimately be in the hands of gamers with short attention spans. What could go wrong? At least they are avid environmentalists.

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.

What's The Word?

No seriously. What is the word I was thinking of not more than an hour ago?

Has this happened to you? Does it worry you? Do you think it’s early onset Alzheimer’s?

How do you differentiate normal brain aging from dementia?

I’m glad you asked. Loads of boomers are freaking out when they can’t find the book they had in their hands just minutes earlier. You forgot why you went into the kitchen? We’ve all done that. Can’t find the car fob? No biggie. Finding the fob in the refrigerator and not recognizing what it’s used for? Uh-oh. Senior moments can morph into Alzheimer’s but you need to know the difference between that and normal cognitive aging.

Normal cognitive aging starts at age 40 and affects 3 areas of cognition, and they can shift at different rates.

Processing speed is how long it takes you to see something, think about what it is and respond.

Crystalized intelligence is the knowledge, vocabulary and skills you’ve acquired over a lifetime of experience and education.

Memory is the ability to recollect from your past and learn new information now.

In normal brain aging, the crystalized intelligence stays intact. However, processing slows down – as much as 50 percent by age 80. Memory decreases as well and can fluctuate from one day to the next.

Forty percent of us will experience memory impairment by age 65, but not go on to develop dementia. You might not be able to retrieve someone’s name when you see them but you still recognize that you know them.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a term to describe more significant memory loss. About 16 to 20 percent of Americans over 60 have MCI and about 10 to 20 percent of them develop dementia each year.

Want to check for MCI?  Take the free Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE), developed by Ohio State University. It won’t give you your results but you will probably have a pretty good idea how you performed. If you’ve been able to understand what you’ve read here, odds are you don’t have MCI.

Want to help prevent MCI? There’s lots of steps you can take. Aerobic exercise and lifting weights aids your brain. Treat your blood pressure and other medical issues. Stimulate your brain with games and puzzles. Try continuing your education. Have a sense of purpose. Socialize often. Get treatment for depression.

None of these things will guarantee you will be MCI free or not succumb to Alzheimer’s, but doing nothing won’t help either. Just don’t forget to do them!

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.

Myth vs Truth

In case you missed it, we’re approaching “peak 65” which marks the ascension of the youngest baby boomers turning 65. Why is that a big deal? For one thing, it may set off a huge wave of retirements. Good, say younger workers. Get out of our way so we can take those jobs.

Not so fast. Don’t believe the hype. All baby boomers are not rich. In fact, most of these retirees coming up soon are financially unprepared to stop working. According to the latest analysis, these retiring boomers may risk living in poverty.

In the aggregate, boomers are rich, or at least the wealthiest slice of the generation. That is if they are White and have a college degree. Boomers who are women, people of color and who only have a high school education are lagging way behind and will soon realize that their resources are inadequate for retirement. How bad off are they? One in four workers nearing retirement have zero dollars in savings. And with little time to make up that shortfall, their situation only grows worse.

We are facing that all too familiar situation where the common misconception is that all baby boomers are filthy rich slugs who are sucking the economy dry while younger workers suffer. The reality plays out much differently. Peak boomers with only a high school degree have saved a median of $75,300 for retirement, compared with $591,158 for college graduates. Social Security is designed to replace only 40% of a person’s working income, while the average benefit is about $23,000 per year — far from enough to provide a comfortable retirement.

The only upside is that younger workers such as Gen X, millennial and even younger workers will finally get what they have been clamoring for – the vacated jobs of baby boomers. The hidden cost of this labor transfer may be higher social security taxes to support struggling boomers.

You can’t say you didn’t see this coming if you read this or followed the news. Boomer poverty is in our near future and it’s real.

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.

Close Enough

Being late is just rude. If you agree to meet someone and you set a time, then they show up 10 minutes late, why wouldn’t you be miffed. It’s rude for one thing and it shows a lack of respect. You got there at the agreed upon time but they kept you waiting.

This won’t come as a shock to many baby boomers, but many Gen Zers believe showing up ten minutes late is as good as being on time. Seriously. Almost half – 46 per cent – of those aged 16 to 26 believe that being between five and ten minutes late is perfectly acceptable, just as good as being punctual.

[Brief sidenote here: The original meaning of punctual described a puncture made by a surgeon. The word has meant lots of other things through the centuries, usually involving being precise about small points. And today punctuality is all about time; a punctual train or a punctual payment or a punctual person shows up “on the dot.]

Well, if Gen Z truly believes 10 minutes late is on time, that’s a hell of a way to run a railroad. Hold on. Maybe Gen Zers are running the trains! The times on the schedules are more aspirational than real. And if the train leaves 10 minutes late, is it really late or as good as punctual?

Baby boomer bosses have zero tolerance for tardiness, research reveals. Well yeah. We may have a lot of faults but we always make it a priority to be on time. Tolerance for tardiness decreases with age, however. Around 39 per cent of millennials (ages 27 to 42) forgive friends or colleagues for being up to ten minutes behind schedule, dropping to 26 per cent for Generation X (43 to 58) and 20 per cent for Baby Boomers (59 and over).

Seven out of ten Boomers said they have zero tolerance for any level of tardiness, with 69 per cent saying ‘late is late’. Just 21 per cent of Gen Z agreed with that.

As the British poet and essayist Charles Lamb said, “I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.” If there’s a better tee shirt for your favorite Gen Zer, I haven’t seen it yet.

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.

Roots. Not the Movie

When I say roots, I mean the one that rhymes with boots, not puts. And my roots were firmly established sometime around 1955 give or take a few years. Like all children of the 50s, I played outdoors all afternoon and all-day Saturday without a care in the world. Apparently my mother and father were not worried either, because they never asked where I was or what I was doing. I can only surmise that nothing bad seemed to ever happen, so why would they worry? They children of today will never know how idyllic that world was.

Most of the time I was playing with other kids in the neighborhood, either in our backyards or down the street where there were acres of open land and even a small pond. Playtime nirvana it was.

But back then you had to root for a baseball team and I chose the Brooklyn Dodgers. Or they chose me. I think the appearance of Jackie Robinson sewed it up for me. Black athletes and white athletes playing sports together. Something told me this was right thing to do and this was the way it should be. Then much later along came a Brooklyn born Jewish pitcher by the name of Sandy Koufax and he was a rising star. To top it off, in one of most important playoff games, he sat out because it fell on one of high holy days (Yom Kippur to be exact). That was only a month after he had pitched a perfect game, so I think his talent was unassailable at that point.

Plenty of school mates were New York Yankee fans, but I just knew the Brooklyn Bums were my kind of team. I wasn’t too disappointed when they moved to Los Angeles. After all, they had palm trees there so it couldn’t be all bad.

I continued to be a Dodger fan right up to and through puberty, and then as one would expect, baseball took a backseat to girls and cars, the twin obsession of many adolescents. However, to this day I believe that my fascination with and support for my Dodger team taught me some valuable lessons about what it meant to be a righteous human being. And here's a note to warm a Dodger fan's heart: an original Topps Sandy Koufax baseball card goes for over $1,200 now!

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that's not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.

Should I Stay or Should I Go

That’s the big boomer dilemma. Should you stay or should you go. (Apologies to The Clash, 1982) Age in place or head for the hills. Not hills really; more like swanky assisted living (swanky…there’s a word nobody uses anymore, especially not when referring to average assisted living digs).

Where do you want to live in your “golden years?”  Aging in place has a multitude of pluses. It’s familiar. Your friends and family may be nearby. You’re surrounded by accustomed stores and services. But what aging in place really comes down to is maintaining a sense of independence.

Why then would you move into an assisted living residence? For many boomers, moving now, before it’s a necessity, puts them ahead of the game when the day comes that they need more medical care and caregiving assistance thereby maintaining the quality of life they want.

If you are going to stay where you are, it will most likely require some modifications to bathrooms, kitchens and lighting. A two-story house isn’t going to cut it, so that might necessitate a move to one-floor living. Three-thousand square foot homes are out of the question. Down-sizing is a must. You will also need to start acquiring a corps of workers to get your groceries, mow your grass, shovel the snow and take care of the mechanical infrastructure. Most important of all, you will want to be locking down a caregiver arrangement since that will be essential to aging in place.

Self-sufficient types may not want to hear it, but if you are hellbent on living independently, you will need to weigh the risks. The time will come when you must balance your personal freedom against your safety and health needs.

Aging in place often comes with a level of social isolation that may appear attractive to iconoclasts but if you’ve read any of the stories about hoarders who live in dreadful conditions, it should give you pause. Twenty-four seven me-time has the potential to obliterate common sense.

Lastly, how much does it cost to age in place? How much you got? It may take more dollars than you think depending upon how long you live. I don’t have the stats at hand, but one thing is clear: most people are living many years longer than their than their forebears.

The Clash didn’t have the answer and neither do I.

Darling, you got to let me know
Should I stay, or should I go?
If you say that you are mine
I’ll be here till the end of time
So you got to let me know
Should I stay, or should I go?

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.

Attention

Editor's Note: I wrote this back in 2016 but nothing's changed, only gotten worse.

So I’m having drinks with good friends at a new microbrewery…

Wait, is that my niece’s new profile picture? Cute.

Anyway, you were saying how there are so many of these new brewpubs cropping up and…

Dogs on trampolines! So funny. The boxer looks like he just discovered he has four feet. Hysterical.

So these brewpubs are like everywhere. It seems like a new one opens every week. What’s up with that anyway?

Oh, look! Here’s that picture of us at the beach that I posted a year ago today. Great memories.

I’m thinking that this artisanal beer thing has got to level off. There just are not enough beer drinkers to support this many breweries, don’t you think?

Wait, look at this! Who knew you could dice an onion like that? I’ve got to try it.

Now if there was a bar that specialized in margaritas….that I would definitely go to, wouldn’t you?

This is hysterical….a picture from my high school class. I don’t even want to know what they look like now.

But where was I? Margaritas, yes. Imagine a bar that only serves different kinds of margaritas. And maybe mezcal tastings too. That would be great.

Hey! Is this Vladimir Putin riding a tricycle bare chested? That’s very cool Photoshop work.

Have you ever had mezcal? I read that it could be the next big thing. Bigger than tequila. Only there may not be enough to go around. They make it in really small batches.

Ha! This cat is afraid of seeing its reflection in the mirror. Funny!

Maybe we should just go to Mexico, you know, go to the source and get some mezcal before they ship it to the states.

Huh? I don’t get these Yoko Ono quotes, do you? They go right over my head.

I hear that Oaxaca is one of the best places to go to try these small batch mezcals.

Listen to this! Do you believe this kid is seven years old and he can play the drums like that. Unbelievable!

Well it was great seeing you again. Think about the Mexico mezcal trip. It could be a lot of fun.

OMG! Look at these tacos!

According to a 2015 Nielsen survey, 52 percent of Baby Boomers (ages 50-63) and 42% of Silent Generation (ages 65+) respondents say they use technology during mealtime.

Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. You can also visit his author page here. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that's not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.