I was born at the beginning of the “Baby Boomer” generation in 1946. Almost exactly nine months following World War II, “the cry of the baby was heard across the land,” as historian Landon Jones later described the trend. More babies were born in 1946 than ever before: 3.4 million, 20% more than in 1945. This was the beginning of the so-called “baby boom.” In 1947, another 3.8 million babies were born; 3.9 million more in 1952, and more than 4 million were born every year from 1954 to 1964, when the boom finally tapered off. By then, there were 76.4 million baby boomers in the U.S., making up nearly 40% of the nation’s population. In the west, baby boomers comprised the first generation to grow up with television, shows like the popular …show more content…
Does turning 70 mean that it’s time to give up on living? Does it mean losing interest in the things that have heretofore been the source of passion and aliveness? Does it mean that we’re swept into the corner, left to gather mold and dust until we finally fade away? What exactly is this aging business all about anyway? I can tell you this, as I am quickly approaching my 70th year, like everything else in life, getting older is exactly what we tell ourselves it is, no more and no less. If we buy into the cultural stereotype of aging, then it probably means all of the above and we will march right to the rocking chair of life, and promptly fall asleep. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. I believe we can age gracefully, not fighting or denying the fact, and take a brief turn in the rocking chair, put our feet up and take a little time out. At 70, one has earned regular time
Aging is inevitable. The process looks different on all of us and is dependent upon certain factors including; how well we take care of our health regarding exercise, diet, and the support we get from others. In society aging has a negative connotation because we are led to believe we are less likely to be able to be independent, self-sufficient, and have less social support. Pixar’s UP is a great movie that exemplifies the aging process and two key concepts; ageism and chronological age vs. functional age as it relates to societal beliefs, pressures, and effects.
Everything was starting to settle down after World War II and the Korean War having all the men return home to either see there beautiful wife or gorgeous women if the men were still single. Men coming home started the baby boom. Even the teenagers and young adults participated in the baby boomed as young as 15 years of age. By the year 1958, 15-19 year olds hit almost 100,000 births in the United States (Teen birthrate chart). From 1945-1965 the population of babies took a huge spick reaching over 4,000 births per thousand. People finally settled down after the two wars and started thinking about their future in having a family hence the baby boom (U.S. Census Bureau
So in conclusion attitudes towards aging has not really changed through the ages. We all want to grow old gracefully and live to a ripe old age. Maybe someday we will beat that sphinx's
World War II brought peace and economic prosperity to the Allied nations, which allowed for the fertility rate in North America to increase. This caused an explosion in the population of the U.S. especially, with around 78 million babies born by the end of the 1940s-1960s, according to Colombia Dictionary. Similarly, Canada experienced a surge of 479,000 babies following the 1950s (Henripin, Krotki 1). A large population amounts to a shift in demographics, and subsequently the social system of North America started to change gradually in order to adapt to the new baby boom generation. As a result of a new economic affluence in the continent, North American society became materialistic and consumerism seized a big part of the economy (Owram 309). Children became an important demographic for companies, leading to the toy industry benefitting and expanding (Gillion 5). Technology advanced considerably, too: in the 1950s, the television became a ground-breaking medium that helped people spread ideas, see what was going on in their country and the rest of the world, much like what the printing press did for the Renaissance. Although the post-WWII baby boom only occurred in a few countries, namely the U.S. and Canada, this time period transformed the West and the world immensely—the areas of life that were affected during the baby boom went on to greatly influence later generations and decades due to the change and reform it yielded, which replaced the outdated and unethical traditions of the old West and the world.
The elderly vary in their feelings and attitudes about growing older. A member of the older community shared that the worst thing about growing old is that there is not much future in it. However, she looks on the bright side and comments
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Baby Boomers are those who were born from 1946 to 1964 post World War II.
Everyone will grow old, as the aging process of the human body is inevitable. However, each day in our life can bring on new adventures, new friends, and knowledge of the world a round us. Yet, many people have negative views towards those who are considered older adults and thus, have a negative belief on the aging process as a whole. Throughout the quarter, COMM 119 has taught us why there is this negative stigma around the aging process and specially, on older adults as a group. This paper will address my stereotypical views of the aging process before COMM 119, the effect of improperly discussing death and dying, as well as what it means to be a successful ager. Understanding these topics have helped me realize that my viewpoints of elder
In the United States, the term Baby Boomers commonly applied to people with birth years after World War II and before the Vietnam War. A large part of the cause of the Baby Boom was an after effect of World War II where the bombed out cities and fractured economies increased the needs for goods and services in unprecedented peacetime amounts. America cranked up the exports and supplied the "free world" with goods to rebuild its own economies. Furthermore, in the U.S. the G.I. Bill enabled record numbers of individuals to attend college and obtain, perhaps in most cases, the second college degree in their extended families. This led to an increase in education and granted higher incomes to families allowing them the resources to produce more children. (Wikipedia)
Growing up as a millennial, I have always looked to the works of the baby boomers. Not only have the baby boomers paved the way for my generation, but they have also laid a foundation. As a result, this proves that the baby boomers have had a tremendous impact and vital value on the lives of the millennial generation. With that being said, the baby boomers deserve to be respected and should continue to be the idols of the present and future society. Unfortunately, sometimes that is not always the case. For instance, “some writers have been harshly critical of boomers as a group, describing them as selfish” (Moody and Sasser 2015, 455). That is to say, not everyone agrees that the boomers have had a positive impact on the American society. On
The baby boomer generation is rapidly hitting 65, the age in which a person is
“With age comes wisdom”, “as you age you get wiser”, and “I’m not older I’m wiser”. These are just a few quotes that I have heard throughout my twenty-four years of life by family members who are forty and older. Back then I never knew what they meant, but now I am starting to see that those quotes had more meaning than I thought. When you age you are said to have a sense of wisdom because of how long you have been on this earth. You have witnessed things that younger generations have only heard or read about. Some people view aging as a bad thing because of the medical issues that occur during that process. This medical issue changes a person outlook on ages because they see aging as a scary point in their life instead of viewing it as a memorable
The baby boomers lived during the post-war and cold war era. The post-war era was was a prosperous time in America where unemployment was at a record low of around 2%. Many baby boomers were born into ‘nuclear families’, which were families that had 2.5 kids, a mother, a father, and a cookie-cutter neighborhood home. They also group up with ‘American family values’, which they still exhibit today. They also group up during the cold war, which means that they lived during the red scare, when the american population was petrified of the Soviet Union and communist-friendly ideals. As a result, many baby
The baby boom generation triggered rapid growth of televisions in Canada. They were the first generation to be raised on TV’s. During the 40’s a few families had TV’s because they were really expensive. Only dramas with the top actors were aired for the wealthy. However, in the 50’s when boomers demand for television while living in the suburban, they became cheaper. They entered homes of middle class families. New types of shows were created that related to common people like comedy, action and game shows. “Ad...
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.