Change what it means to age. #DisruptAging

In its mission to help seniors turn their goals and dreams into real possibilities, the nonprofit social welfare organization AARP has created a simple hashtag that tackles the age-old issue of ageism.

In #DisruptAging, the AARP is showing that the way society thinks about aging is outdated.

“Let’s change the stories we tell. Let’s change what it means to age. Let’s #DisruptAging,” the AARP says, in its intro to a new video asking “What is old?” featured on its website and Facebook page.

In the AARP video, the organization asks a small group of millennials in their twenties and thirties to show what they thought “old” looks like, and then introduced them to real “old” people.

The video shows surprising results for the millennials, and helps bridge the age gap and change people’s tendencies toward ageism.

Wikipedia defines ageism, a term coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors and patterned on sexism and racism, as stereotyping and discriminating against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. Digital ageism is a new term that refers to the prejudices faced by older adults in the digital world.

“A few examples of the subtle ways in which digital ageism operates in cultural representations, research, and everyday life: Generational segregation naturalizes youth as digitally adept and the old as digital dunces,” says the Wikipedia page.

The AARP’s #DisruptAging campaign is supported by a debut book by AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins. She wrote “Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age” to explore the process of “owning” one’s age.

“We’ve all seen and heard the slogans: ‘60 is the new 40’ and ‘50 is the new 30’ and so on,’ she says in a press statement. “I think that’s the wrong approach. I like to say that 50 is the new 50! And, I like the looks of it. ‘Disrupt Aging’ is not about denying aging, or defying aging, it’s about owning your age – and creating a bold new path to living your best life at every age.”

Jenkins’ book provides readers practical, hands-on, highly insight on a broad range of key issues while focusing on critical considerations around health, wealth and self.

“The way people are aging is changing – mostly for the better –but negative attitudes about people over a certain age are alive and well,” Jenkins says, in a press statement. “’Disrupt Aging’ is the rallying cry of an emerging movement to change that.”

She suggests seniors make a change by:
• Financing Your Future
• Putting Your Experience to Work, and
Discovering new opportunities for growth, development and engagement.

To learn more about the #DisruptAging conversation visit: www.disruptaging.aarp

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