#271 “Too Old to Work and Too Young to Die”

(Click here for the song)Throughout our lives we have multiple different identities. We can be “parent” and “spouse”. We can be a neighbour or friend. For most of our lives we have a dominant identity: “employee”. Whether we describe ourself as technician, manager, teacher etc. All other identities are swamped. We call it work-life balance. That is why when we retire it leaves such an identity hole. After retirement it is important to rebuild, restore or recreate a new identity. We should accept Walter Reuther’s challenge. We embody that new identity in our consumption. We enact that identity through the products and experiences that we buy.

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Being a Consumer.

We use material and experiential consumption to enact our personal and collective identities. It is far more than sitting behind the wheel of our new car pretending to be a racing driver. What we eat, wear and the experiences we choose identifies us and our lifestyle. It facilities social differentiation.

Retirement can wipe out an identity that we may have occupied for 40 years. It may be combined with the end of other identities. Children may leave home. Houses may be changed. Friends and family may have died. There is huge pressure to create a replacement identity. Recent studies have shown just how important this can be.

A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research looked at a large US longitudinal data set. The study tracked cognitive ability over time. It also tracked employment history. They found that future cognitive ability was tied to employment. People who stopped work early suffered. Those who stopped work before 65 had a poorer trajectory of cognitive ability. The loss of that “worker” identity had a big effect. “Attitude to ageing” can influence physical and mental health. Having a strong self-identity is part of having a positive attitude towards life and ageing.

The Dimensions of a New Identity

Different individuals build their new identity in different ways. Some go back to the past. To the identities they had before work squeezed out everything else. Whether that was being a musician, a crafts person or involved in some club or society. What may have been suppressed into a “hobby” now returns to center stage. Others truely reinvent themselves and take on a completely new identity.

Some are motivated internally on “self-expression”. On self-discovery or on creating a legacy. On exploring their inner selves. Others focus on affiliation. They may organize family or friends’ events and trips. They create an identity anchored in a particular group of people.

Barriers to a New Identity

Any new identity has an uphill battle against existing societal retirement ideas. Society expects “decline” to be a core aspect of ageing. Society reveres youth and fears dying. Society expects real life loss of physical and mental functionality. The Protestant Work ethic is still strong in Society. It expects productivity even in retirement.

There is a constant gap between these ageist precepts and self-identity. The gap between how others see us (old) and how we feel (young).

The good news is that individuals can still use their consumption to embody their new identities. Since the 1940’s consumption has changed. The variety of products and experiences have exploded. The offers for “retirement” have grown. The real costs have declined. At the same time today’s 65-year-olds have the time and the money to build those new identities.

Barriers to Consumption.

Retirees have the time and the money. They have the motivation to reinvent their identities. They want to be consumers. One thing stands in their way – consumer ageism.

Ageing does mean changes in functional ability. We think nothing of wearing glasses for reading or driving. They represent a loss of visual functionality. Because they mostly “arrive” in our forties we do not associate them with ageing. Loss of other sensory sensitivity comes later. It is progressive. Thresholds rise but idiosyncratically. Loss of high frequency sounds is common. Touch can become less sensitive.

All can be compensated for with good design. Increased lighting helps with vision. As does a larger typeface and high contrast on menus. Background music can be lowered, particularly when the venue gets busy. The keys on the credit card machine can be made larger and spaced further apart. Tables or chairs place further apart to avoid tripping. Most changes will also be viewed positively by non-elder customers. (Especially if they wear glasses !). Most do not cost much to change.

The pressure for productivity on front-line employees is huge. Check out staff in a supermarket are monitored continuously. Self-scanning and automation of all sorts remove people. People who can be part of an identity renaissance. People who can help with the process of co-creating. People who could care.

The Dutch supermarket Jumbo has introduced “chat check-outs”. These are designed to slow down the process and encourage chatting. Not every check out but a few per store. The lanes are specifically introduced to give servers a chance to chat. To reduce customer loneliness. The initial lanes were so popular that they were rolled out across the Netherlands. Jumbo is now introducing “chat corners”. These are areas were customers can grab a coffee and socialize. A deliberate attempt to build care into a productivity driven world.

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