I highly recommend reading Marc E. Agronin’s article, “Old Age, From Youth’s Narrow Prism”, which a friend of mine forwarded to me after reading it and thinking of Life’s Waltz. As a doctor, he writes about how our (and his, as it’s a first-person story) perspective and presumptions about old age were upended when he visited a newly widowed woman of 93 years of age at a nursing home in Miami. It’s brief, and it’s spot on, carrying the same message that Life’s Waltz aims to demonstrate.

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In an article at Mashable, a social media news site, they reported that in 2009, whereas Millennials (Ashley and my generation) maintained the same levels of internet/social media (Facebook) site engagement, only increasing by 1% of the demographic, Baby Boomers and Seniors led the pack far and away, with a gigantic 47% of Baby Boomers now maintaining a social media web profile, 73% of those on Facebook. And, of all of the Seniors (older than baby boomers, and the subjects of our documentary) using social media on the internet, 90% are on Facebook. Check out the article for more here: http://mashable.com/2010/01/28/baby-boomers-social-media/.

Do you use any social media sites, such as Facebook? If you’re a Baby Boomer or at least older than us Millennials, how have you found the experience? If you’re a digital native (most Millennials pretty much are – we grew up with the internet for a good enough chunk of our lives for it to be a natural/native thing), how has it been having your family, parents, grandparents, etc. join Facebook and find you in the social media realm? Personally, I’ve discouraged my parents from joining, not because I would care if I were friends with them, but I don’t think they’d get anything out of it. But a few of their friends have friended me on Facebook, which is fine with me; I just warn each of them: “What you are about to experience may shock you.”

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in the news, senior eSource

Self-explanatory: click here for the comic. Sometimes, life inside of a retirement community does take you back to your high school days.

Ceil and Dorothy told us not too long ago of a major spat they got into with another resident at TVN who accused them of stealing her seat at BINGO. In character, and to put it nicely, let’s just say Ceil told her no. “You’re in my seat!” I remember saying that way back when. Guess I’d better get ready to start saying it again in about 60 years.

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As summarized in a recent article from the Dallas Morning News, seniors are getting online. The Baby Boomer demographic saw the greatest percentage increase in online use since 2005, from about 25% to 45%, and as they get online more and more into retirement communities and become “seniors”, the use of the internet and social media is only going to keep growing. The article talks about communities in Dallas that are getting their residents onto the web. As you may know, for instance, one of our main characters, Sam, is on Facebook. Whenever we talk about it, he says, “I get on Facebook, but I have no clue what I’m doing on it!” Of course, that joke is betrayed by the fact that every now and again he writes on my wall and sends me a message. Did you see the video of us helping Sam sign up for Facebook?

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Looks like the senior bowling scene is about to get a brand new ball…

And I bet if Jared and I introduced the Wii to TVN, some of the folks over there would LOVE it.

Here’s to the lady featured in the article and her 213 scores (my bowling scores are almost always <100)!

Feel free to share any stories of your grandparents or of seniors you know who are engaging in technology.

Does your grandpa email?

Does your great aunt have a Blackberry?

Is Ethel, your 80 year old neighbor, using a GPS box in the car?

How do you perceive seniors in our increasingly techno-fied world with all of the ever-emerging technologies? Are these technologies really user friendly or are they just for the young whippersnappers?

in the news, senior recreation

We don’t have any showgirls in our film, but this woman is worth noting. 85 years old and still dancing in the Palm Spring Follies!

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in the news, senior eSource, senior recreation

We have a tendency to mourn death in America. Of course, it’s the loss of someone very meaningful to other people, but though I tend to fear death myself because life can be so glorious, a person’s death can also be a time to celebrate that person. Such could be said of Henry Allingham, the world’s oldest man, at 113, who just passed away. He was one of three surviving British First World War veterans. Read about him here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5856015/Worlds-oldest-man-Henry-Allingham-dies.html At TVN, for instance, there’s about a 4 or 5 to 1 (or steeper) ratio of women to men, so biologically speaking, to live to 113 truly is remarkable. When Sam first came to visit TVN and then came down to dinner on the first evening, he recalls being immediately struck by the sheer number of women all around him. For Sam, maybe it was heaven. Sounds similar to Mr. Allingham in some ways, who (to quote directly from the article): “He jokingly attributed his longevity to ‘cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women’.” Rest in peace, Henry.

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Not to be a bit of a downer, but here’s a relevant though unfortunate article on how seniors are having to try to go back to work as well: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090610/us_nm/us_usa_jobs_elderly. In fact, we’ve witnessed at TVN how some people have apparently had to leave (as is natural but, again, unfortunate) because they could no longer afford to live there considering the economy. I suppose people often think of seniors as a totally separate population, but going back to work because of a recession at 81 years of age is about as real and mainstream as it gets, right now.

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