By Fiona de Merell, Director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Connecticut, February 20, 2024

As Americans gear up for a grueling election year, we keep seeing articles about “how old is too old” to be president, and whether there should be an age limit on those who hold presidential office. But how old is “too old” when it comes to running for public office, holding a job, managing a company, driving a vehicle, or even raising a child?

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By Dana G. Smith, The New York Times.

Published March 20, 2024; Updated March 25, 2024

Researchers are investigating how our biology changes as we grow older — and whether there are ways to stop it.

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by Dennis Thompson.

COVID-19 lockdowns prompted countless American seniors to become socially isolated.

Now, new research finds that many have still not fully rejoined society.

More than half of older adults still spend more time at home and less time out socializing in public, even though the pandemic has passed, researchers found.

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The researchers also looked at how individual participants’ perceptions of old age changed as they got older. They found that as individuals aged, their perception of the onset of old age was pushed further out. At age 64, the average participant said old age started at 74.7. At age 74, they said old age started at 76.8. On average, the perceived onset of old age increased by about one year for every four to five years of actual aging.

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By Marcus Wettstein et al, American Psychological Association.

This article provides a detailed report on recent research that people are considering old age to commence at older ages.

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What years are baby boomers? Here's how old this generation is in 2023. By Claire Mulroy, USA Today, March 1, 2023

Helpful info about Baby Boomers—and the Baby Boom cohort.

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Boomers and Millenials: Boomers seem to have traded in the child-raising village for traveling. Now millennial parents say they have no one to support them. A report from Business Insider, December 7, 2023.

Millennials have put off having children, so boomers are the oldest grandparents ever. At the same time, boomers are outspending other generations on travel and dining out. Many millennial parents say they can't get the support they need from their parents.

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Concern about declining levels of volunteering—reported in Axios, December 19,2023; key excerpt:

The share of Americans who give time to soup kitchens, homeless shelters and food pantries is declining…23% of Americans…volunteered in 2021, per the latest census data. That was the lowest share since tracking began in the early 2000s, The Washington Post reports. Nonprofits of all sizes and purposes are in dire need of volunteers — especially during the holidays and winter months. Shelters, mentoring programs and food pantries are shuttering due to the dwindling pool of helpers. Levels of volunteering haven't bounced back from the lows of the pandemic, when lockdowns kept people away.

The Life Span of Loneliness, a video and article from The New York Times, was inspired by Vivek Murthy’s essay on this topic earlier in 2023. Loneliness is a public health emergency—for those who are aging and for everyone else. We have seen in research that isolation is one of the major fears people have as they age.

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It’s time for the country to have an honest conversation about aging.

Open now. A special New York Times section on aging in America touching many topics and issues—and initiating conversation about aging today.

Growing much older is Canada’s new reality, and a non-reversable trend. Let’s embrace it, rebrand what it means to age, and recognize aging as the privilege that it truly is.

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 … we’re witnessing the spread of a new life stage. In the 21st century, another new phase is developing, between the career phase and senescence. People are living longer lives…If these…programs can help older people figure out what a fulfilling life looks like when work and career are no longer in the center, then maybe they’ll have some lessons for the rest of us…Most revolutions come from the young. Is it possible that the one we need now will be driven by the old?

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