On September 26, 2024, the Longevity Project of the Stanford Center on Longevity presented the first in a series of webinars entitled "How Ageism Affects Our Lives." It explored everything from gendered ageism, to ageism in healthcare, to innovations in intergenerational living - plus discussed the roots of ageism in the US and how it is felt across work, healthcare, and community.

An excellent panel of speakers, moderated by Ken Stern, joined in a lively conversation:

• Janine Vanderburg, CEO of Encore Roadmap + Founder/Former Director of Changing the Narrative

• Dr. Sonja Rosen, Chief of Geriatrics at Cedars-Sinai

• Kyrié Carpenter, Co-Founder of Old School Anti-Ageism Clearing House

These are a few of the takeaways from the webinar:

• Everyone at every age is different. Aging may be universal, but the decline during aging is not the same for everyone. In addition, not all older people necessarily think the same way.
• Ageism is a gateway to other "isms." It is good to know and understand other -isms, such as racism and sexism, so you can see people for who they are, not just as a group classification. A common thread that runs through all -isms is unconscious bias.
• Intergenerational experiences are increasingly important as we age. These experiences are particularly helpful when you share common goals and each individual has equal status during interactions.
• Look at every public or government policy with an eye toward ageism and see if ageism plays a role that affects the policy.
• Technology can be a separator of generations. You have to determine if the convenience of using technology is worth the ultimate loss of control you may have. Older people shouldn't automatically think they are stupid when using technology -- it may in fact be that the technology is imperfect and not as user-friendly as it should be.
• Social media has become the cigarettes of this era -- addictive and potentially harmful.

To gain more insights from this webinar, you can view it in its entirety here:

https://www.longevity-project.com/how-ageism-affects-our-lives