Our future
The existence of a human being is like a wild river, we know where starts but we do not know what course will be taking, or where will be ending. For the most part, each individual is born with a “life path” that based on their socioeconomic status and cultural background will dictate their success or failure in life. The one thing that all human beings have in common regardless of socioeconomic status is their life-span, everyone has a beginning and an end. Each person undergoes the same process, they require extra help and support during the first and last years of their life. From conception to birth society expects a baby, communities guide a child into adulthood, and then forgets about the elderly. The future is hard to predict, but as we grow older the fear of retirement, illness and social isolation is inevitable.
First, many people do not want to retire and not because they do not want to, but because they can not afford to live with what social security can give them. It is well known that retirement is not what used to be. Nowadays social security is giving less money, making it harder for
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Although everyone has fear of social isolation, this phenomenon is more common in lower socioeconomic status than middle or upper class. “The differences are not a result of financial status but rather are attributable to the social skills acquired by middle-class people that enables them to develop and maintain friendships more easily” (Sullivan). In the United States are more than 16, 000 nursing home for the elderly. Many residents are very sick and require supervision all the time, being this the main reason as of why their family members have to “enroll them” in a nursing home program. The problem is not being at a nursing home, but the family isolation and abandonment. Our society is changing so fast, that we do not know what the future will look like in six months let alone in 20-30
To be independent and on our own without help. We go to school for normally 16 years to have a career to support ourselves and a family. The average lifespan for humans is around 79 years. It is said that woman normally do outlive men. A fun fact is the longest living person ever recorded was 122 years old!! I chose to write our lifespan development because it is something that interest me. To start out at a single cell and develop into human beings is something that fascinates me.Human's truly are incredible species. All the information I found was so knowledgeable and our textbook does an excellent job describing this chapter. Over the years the life expectancy (in the US) has increased. An interesting fact I found said "The Japanese live the longest and healthiest lives, on average and those with the shortest life expectancies reside in Southern Africa." (http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/10-essential-facts-about-life-expectancy/)As we age and develop, we are constantly learning new things and maturing. Not only do we change physically, but we also change socially. The way we communicate when we areteenagers is very different from the way we will communicate in late adulthood. Our brains areconstantly developing and changing. "Love and work are two key themes that dominate adultdevelopment. Friends continue to be important in adult- hood. Forming a committed, intimate relationship is one important task traditionally associated with early adulthood."(396) As we develop our priorities change. For example, when I was 8 years old all I cared about was cheerleading and playing with my friends. Now that I am almost 20 my main focus is working to pay bills, trying to prepare for marriage and children one day. As my life progresses on I will continue to learn new things and change. The human mind is amazing and so interesting
Hiller, S. M., & Barrow, G. M. (2011). Aging, the individual, and society. (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Prominent musician, Celine Dion, once said, “There’s no such thing is aging, but maturing and knowledge. It’s beautiful, I call that beauty.” To many, growing old is just a natural, beautiful part of life. It is inevitable. It is inescapable. The functionalist perspective of sociology states that the elderly perform a function in order to keep society running with ease. Functionalists focus on the disengagement theory and how people tend to disengage from society as they approach death. Symbolic interactionists focus on how environmental factors and relationships with others affect the aging experience, focusing on the activity theory and the continuity theory (Carl, 2011, p. 220). Conflict theorists focus on the discrepancies that arise between different age groups. They also focus on the economical side of aging and the issues that may arise due to an active elderly population (Carl, 2011, p. 221).
Aging is a phenomena we are all familiar with, a trait characteristic of all humankind, in fact, of all living organisms. What are the effects of aging, especially those which go beyond the biological aspects and effect the social aspects of changing roles, seniority, and treatment of the aged? What was the original human condition before high-tech medical interventions redefined death and dying, before the industrial age changed the nature of the nuclear and extended family? Going back still farther, what can the behavior of chimpanzees tell us about the origins of our responses to the aging of those around us?
Most long-term care facilities have a nice, caring environment. Most facilities have exceptionally trained personnel caring for that family member’s needs and concerns. Being within the nursing field one notices the morale and the health of these forgotten individuals declining rapidly with no family bonds to connect to anymore. The nursing staff and facilities members, attempt to replace the bonds lost between resident and family. The bonds formed with staff and resident, are not equal to seeing a grandchild at holidays, and being included at that special family reunion. It is understandable some family units don t carry the tight connections other ily units share. Family support systems most require on admittance to semiprivate, busy nursing home settings are lost. Surroundings of this...
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
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
This reflection paper is based on the life history interview conducted on me and a 78-year-old woman who is soon going to celebrate her 79th birthday on Sep 21st. I would call her with a fictitious name “Smita” in the entire paper to maintain and protect her privacy. The interview was about our life. It was divided into six major life categories: childhood, adulthood, identity, the present, aging, and life lessons. Having an opportunity to interview a 78-year-old woman and writing this reflective paper about the life history and experiences had made me realize that I have a lot to learn about the stages of human life. Every individual lives are different and it varies tremendously. As an interviewee my goal was to collect the details of life, different stories, and experiences that makes our life unique from the rest of the people.
Active ageing does not stop when elderly people retire, as they can remain active through their families, peers and communities. Active ageing aims to allow elderly people to realise and bring awareness to their own psychological, physical and mental well-being. As the goal of active ageing is the autonomy and independence of elderly people (Alexandre, Cordeiro, & Ramos, 2009). Ageing is a continuing life cycle, it is an ongoing developmental event that brings about certain changes in one’s own psychological and physical state. It is a time in one's own life where an elderly individual reminisces and reflects, basks and lives on previous accomplishments and begins to finish his life cycle.
Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life.
Retirement is one of the most important crossroads we face in life. It involves a fundamental change in lifestyle, one that calls for a totally new outlook on how we approach each day. All our lives we have been conditioned to think in terms of saving for our retirement years. Society has created this mystique about this time in our lives when we magically transform into different people with different lives when really we are the same people with different day to day lives. According to Medina, (2012) planning for retirement isn’t a "walk in the park" because for many people, debts are high while income is low.
To remain competitive and employable in the twenty-first century workplace, society today must conform to the changing demands. Technology is one of the principal driving forces of the future; it is transforming our lives and shaping our future at rates unprecedented in history, with profound implications, which we cannot even begin to see or understand.
My ideal future would be being able to travel to places where I’ve been as well as to places where I haven’t been. I’d imagine myself being happy because I’d have everything I’ve ever wanted. Getting married, buying a house- even if it were a small house with only a few bedrooms in a quiet neighbourhood. After buying a house(,) I’d have a child so that I could spoil them the way my parents spoiled me. In my ideal future(,) I would work at home so that I could be able to spend time with my family I would be my own boss. On my spare time that I would have I would start a an animal shelter one in a foreign country I would help stray animals have a home, people who can not afford to have pets could come play with dogs and cats as well as adopt them. I’d also keep myself entertained by being activite and having my own gymnastics gym.
While being social has many benefits to the health of a person, it can have a negative effect if there is any financial stress, increased burdens, or ailing family member or partner (Annear et al., 2012). Caring for others as an elderly person can have both negative and positive effects while providing companionship and a sense of purpose, it can also make the elderly carers life more stressful and can sometimes make the carer feel emotionally isolated (Annear et al., 2012). Joining social groups will get encourage participation and interaction with other members of their social group; this will help in minimising the potential for social isolation and detachment. Barriers to having an active social health are living in rural or remote areas, long distances to services and social networks. It is important for elderly people to feel they still have some form of connection with their friends and family and feel that are still connect to
Now that we have explored my past, present, and future experiences with diversity, it is time to see how they are present within and effect each other. Firstly, let’s look into how my future is present in my past. The most obvious portion of my future that is in my past is my willingness and efforts to love and include everyone and to spread this world view. It took a fellow classmate of mine to demonstrate to my third grade self that we are all human beings and we all deserve to be treated as such. In my future, I aspire to demonstrate this world view to my students and inspire them to treat each other accordingly. This aspiration directly reflects my world view struggles I went through in third grade, for I want to help my students come to