I was recently sent a link to this video clip from SNL where they imagined Amazon inventing a senior specific Echo.

By Steve Moran

I was recently sent a link to this video clip from SNL where they imagined Amazon inventing a senior specific Echo.  

It has every single senior stereotype there is: 

  • Confusion

  • Forgetfulness

  • Rambling

  • Technology Incompetence

  • Not understanding younger generations 

What makes it funny is this . . . 

  • It is clearly not how seniors really are

  • It is how a few seniors are some of the time

  • It makes fun of the stereotypes

  • The behaviors stereotypically attributed to seniors are actually experienced by people of all ages 

Reading the comments was more fascinating . . .

Do you think it is ageist or not? 

Confounding

With most kinds of prejudice even if it cannot be precisely defined you know it is prejudice when you see it. At least to me I see many things in life like this view where I just don’t quite know. Here is why I think it is such a challenge: 

Humor is how we deal with the scary and the unknown — You might very well be offended by my describing aging as scary and unknown but the stark reality is that at the very end of getting older is dying and there is no denying that truth. We are born to love living and dread death, dying and decline and so those become a kind of scary thing. In addition none of us have ever been older than we are today and getting older represents the unknown.    

So it gets dealt with by using humor the same way medical folks, police and fire professionals do, it is a way to relieve tension and hold those horrible debilitation feelings at bay.    

The Real Problem —  The real is less poking fun at the less desirable parts of aging than it is that there are not enough stories that demonstrate the joys of aging. How the changes actually bring about new and unique opportunities. Senior living is not in the position of doing this alone but we can be a part of the solution by looking for story telling opportunities. 

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