How To Overcome The Age Trap, Abbie Richie of Senior Savvy

The Delicious Story

Even as baby boomers march by the millions into older age, redefining what it means to be old, we still struggle as a culture by limiting beliefs about seniors. And of all the fiction about aging, one devastating falsehood that seems to stick is that elders can't learn new things, including technology.
In this episode of #thedeliciousstory, we chat with Senior Savvy's expert Abbie Richie who busts the myth that seniors can't learn tech. Abbie shares her inspiring story of helping seasoned adults everywhere frolic on the internet to connect and live productively in the new age of aging.
AN ARCHAIC NOTION OF AGE
It's not just our society that has trapped seniors into the confines of antiquated ideas about aging. The lie has been thousands of years in the making; perhaps ageism fallacies can be traced back far into the depths of human history. Notably, a view of aging surfaced with the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BCE - 322 BCE). He likened the aging brain to a wax tablet that cools with age, becoming rigid and brittle to forming new concepts.
Fast forward nearly a couple of millennia to 1523, when the idiom "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" first appeared in a book about animal husbandry. The literal meaning was that it is hard (but not impossible) to train an older dog new tricks and procedures. We naturally are drawn to catchy quotes and sayings, especially if they encapsulate a grain of truth.
In 1546 when the "old dog" phrase appeared in John Heywood's proverb collection, it was sold to our collective brain and has been circulating in our shared truisms lexicon ever since! The old dog principle is a perfect example of how history never wholly dies, even if we lose track of it.
SENIORS CAN BE TECH-SAVVY
We are learning new things about ourselves and the world each day, no matter our age. Those who are savvy and want to age well do themselves a favor by putting in efforts to gain new knowledge with intention. Not just occasionally, but regularly.
It's good for your brain to acquire new information. To resist learning simply because of the 'age excuse' is to give in to a self-defeating stereotype and promulgates the concept.
Per the BBC, "The Amazing Fertility of the Older Mind," David Robson cites a study at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For this study, participants memorized a list of items that they then compared and referenced with a table of word pairings. Adults over the age of 60 were "more reluctant to rely on their memory, preferring instead to laboriously cross-reference the two tables, even though it took significantly more time. For some reason, they weren't confident that they had learned the pairs accurately.
This distrust of self has looped over into tech learning as an older adult, too. The issue proves worse likely because seniors compare their ability to learn against younger generations' second nature tech know-how.
The comparison is a false paradigm, however. Younger people grew up with 21st-century technology, while older people have had to incorporate it later. After all, if you're over the age of 50, you were full-blown adulting when home computers and cell phones burgeoned in the 1980s and '90s.
As Abbie points out, older people can feel lost in the language of technology not because they can't learn it, but because it seems foreign, not understanding some basics about the context of use or steps. Abbie explains that it's most helpful for older adults to start with a base of why and move on from there. Her point is to shift from a can't learn mindset to how-to learn instead.
CRUSTACEANS AS FOOD
As with all episodes of The Delicious Story, I asked our interesting person Abbie to share her memorable meal story. If you're a lobster lover, you'll particularly enjoy her tale.
I like the idea of lobster more than the prospect of preparing it. In her telling, Abbie takes on the task of cooking lobster full-on, which you'll find heroic.
The talk of lobsters launched my musings. When did humans determine these strange exoskeleton prehistoric-looking creatures of the sea were edible in the first place?
Per History.com, the European settlers in North America found lobsters washed up on shore in piles. The crustaceans were so plentiful they provided a common source of protein. The abundance of Lobsters also made for great fertilizer in settler's gardens.
Lobster was considered common food in many regions for centuries and did not become popular in the U.S. until the early 19th century when trapping and adequate transportation developed. By the time of WWII, lobster was considered a delicacy.
YOU'RE NEW OLD BRAIN
There is probably a metaphor somewhere between the subject of lobsters and older brains, and it may be about longevity. Lobsters live for a long time. The oldest one documented was nearly 100 years old, found in Novia Scotia, twice the lifespan of an average Maine lobster.
Of course, older adults aren't just interested in living longer but also living well. So the benefits of continued learning are also helping keep the brain strong and cognitively active for the long haul.
And when it comes to learning technology, one silver lining is that tech helps keep us connected. Hopefully, as more people are vaccinated, and COVID infection rates go down, we won't need to rely on our Zoom and Facetime for contacting friends and family. But it's good to know we have the options and know-how to use tech tools just the same.
Technology isn't going away even if you can manage to avoid using it. No matter your age, you can learn, and the adventure of being a lifetime student is finding the path that helps you best incorporate new information.
Just because we age doesn't mean we're ready to be pushed by the wayside in the world. All learning –and learning technology in particular –assures we will remain vital and relevant even as we grow older.