Title: At 90, She’s Designing Tech For Aging Boomers
Context: Design isn’t always about what you can prove, sometimes it’s simply about what you know.
Synopsis: This rapidly changing, tech obsessed, innovation-centric culture in which we live is unquestionably a young person’s game. Youth drives our societal wants and whims as those of us over the age of 25 count down the days until we get downsized and are shuttled off to some remote retirement community to live out our remaining days crocheting on golf courses. Never mind that the fastest growing age demographic are seniors. Forget about all of the valuable knowledge and experience locked up in those grizzled noggins. Who cares about the value of contextual perspective and time-proven wisdom when one blooms brightly with the flower of youth? Apocryphally, the Eskimo people would place those past their prime on ice flows to quite literally sail off into the sunset, instead today we sign them up for Facebook and have our meaningful conversations elsewhere. We can—and should—do better. Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it, so let us cherish those who have not while we still can.
Best Bit: “Beskind says as she gets older and faces new problems in the world, she’s thankful she’s a designer. ‘It makes aging more tolerable, more enjoyable,’ she says.”
via npr.org
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