We Haven't Ever Been Happy!

In a recent study by the Pew Research Center, the majority of baby boomers complained of being dissatisfied with, well, dang near everything including optimism about the future. Consultant Mary Furlong, in an article at the Washington Post explained the discontent is a result of being "sandwiched" between two generations - aging parents and children who, even grown, are often living at home. This, from the WP article:

"Nice try, Mary. The Pew study acknowledges many of these (totally valid) points, and it's all very well and good except for this: A recent University of Chicago sociology study compared the results of happiness surveys going back more than 30 years and found that boomers have never been happy. In 2004, 28 percent of respondents born in 1950 considered themselves "very happy," compared with 40.2 percent of those born in 1935. Back in 1972, the figures for those same generations were 28.9 and 35.4."

Furlong continues her point by saying that much of the angst may be due to the lack of hope our generation is feeling right now in comparison to the idealism we once had and the plans to make the world a better place. The boomer's American Dream included happiness as a given and apparently there was bound to be some disappointment.

Room for Improvement

More stats (ugh): women influence 80% of the spending! Hunh?!?! Good grief. However, only 42% of female consumers take environmental and social concerns into consideration while spreading that cash around. That's just not enough! Although experts who study such things believe that the trend towards purchasing responsible goods is gathering speed, it still needs to pick up the pace. Industries, though, have noticed the movement towards sustainability and are eager to assist; Home Depot, Dove, and Toyota have all launched campaigns aimed toward showing their environmentally-sensitive side. There's some great information at this site, saveourplanet.blog.ca. Check it out!

Speaking of Dove, since my life is devoid of television, how about the new ads, aimed at "challenging the stereotypical definition of beauty?" I'll see if I can find something online but let me know your opinions.

Follow the Money

I love this: Fleishman-Hillard, a PR firm located in DC, is the first to focus exclusively on helping companies develop relationships with baby boomers. According to Dave Senay, President and CEO, "the most potent consumer force ever to hit the marketplace is the Baby Boomer generation. They're affluent. They're empowered. They already spend more than 2.1 trillion dollars a year on consumer goods and services. And they're just getting warmed up."

Wow. We continue to daze and amaze.

2.1 trillion. That's a lot of dough. That number reminds me of a column awhile back at salon.com by Farhad Manjoo. He went to the antiwar site 3trillion.org, which was set up to give visitors a chance to virtually spend the money spent on the Iraq war in different ways, and published a list of what he chose. It took him three hours to make his purchases! Among other things he bought Mac Airs and broadband service to every American. Whoo! He also bought a six pack of crew socks. Other shoppers have included Phil Donahue and John Cusak. Go ahead, give it a whirl.

Blue Jean Baby

There's a study for everything these days and this one's kinda fun: baby boomers aren't giving up their blue jeans. Well, duh. Published at cottoninc.com, the "jeaneology" (cute) research found that we own 6.89 pairs of jeans compared with GenX (my daughters-in-law) who own 8.12 and the Greatest Generation (my mom) who owns 5.14. How the jeans fit, apparently, is only slight more important than how they look.  Go figure (pun).

Other research by cottoninc found that we're staying true to our nature in other ways too; most of us check fiber content labels in clothing before we purchase it and 81% (!) are willing to pay more for apparel that's non-synthetic. Boomer Elton John was born in 1947, by the way and wrote the "blue jean baby" lyrics to "Tiny Dancer" in 1971. I'm partial to Ben Fold's remake. Anybody else a BF fan?

Something's Fishy

In our continual quest to stay as healthy and active as possible, baby boomers are increasing the amount of seafood in their diets to as much as twice a week. In a report by the National Fisheries Institute, John Connelly reports that "(A)s baby boomers become increasingly health conscious, they are listening more and more about how to prevent--not just treat disease. Doctors, dieticians and other medical professionals are encouraging Americans to eat fish twice per week because of all of its health benefits. The seafood community is the natural beneficiary of the baby boomers becoming more interested in a healthy lifestyle and diet." 

If fresh seafood isn't convenient for you to prepare, Gorton's has a nice lemon herb grilled fillet priced around $4 for two servings and a salmon fillet as well. They also have "beer battered" fillets but that's sort of counter-productive if you're aiming for health benefits. In 2005 seafood consumption was up 4% though it's still lagging way behind the more traditional choices; Americans are still eating 70 pounds of poultry, 65 of beef and 50 of pork per person, per year. Hard to imagine isn't it?

R U Hip 2?

My mom sent me an article from the NYTimes awhile back that was a hoot! Titled "Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK) the writer, Laura M. Holson interviewed parents and children regarding their texting habits. Research by AT&T concluded that about half of parents engaged in text messaging with their kids. Ever helpful, AT&T also offers an online tutorial giving parents an opportunity to hone their texting skills; “Teens may use text language to keep parents in the dark about their conversations by making their comments indecipherable,” the tutorial states. Holson adds,  "Some acronyms meant to alert children to prying eyes are POS (“parent over shoulder”), PRW (“parents are watching”) and KPC (“keeping parents clueless”)."

I resisted it at first but found that some people, especially my guitar students, prefer this method of communication, which in their situation makes sense -- I assume they're sitting in their classrooms when they text me to inquire what their assignment was for the previous week. Chatting on the phone would probably not fly while texting is more discreet. 

Have a Heart

Okay folks, gotta share the good news with the bad. If you're not doing some sort of exercise you're really asking for trouble. I was amazed to see this article at webmd.com regarding heart health and exercise. Apparently, for those who do no exercise at all, their hearts are going to suffer even more than smokers who do exercise. If you need more encouragement consider the stats that show a 50% decrease in heart disease with regular exercise. That's a pretty big number there. Most research shows that even thirty minutes of walking a day will bring improved health and well being. 

Eons and Eons

In an article at smallbiztrends.com called "Reaching Baby Boomers on the Internet," writer Mark J. Miller led me to the eons.com site which is so very cool. Miller shares this information:

"One Boomer-focused site already is leveraging social networking and Web 2.0 technologies. EONS, launched in the summer of 2006 by Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor, is the largest website launch to date that specifically targets the 50+ market. The site's traffic recently topped 500,000 unique visitors per month, and is challenging AARP to be the highest-traffic site for 50+ Americans."

Nice to see a Web 2.0 that boomers are gravitating to though I don't see any indication of much substance available. But that's okay! because there are plenty of great portals for that (have I mentioned salon.com lately?) and it's good to see boomers honing their internet skills and getting "out of the house." 

All-in-all it's a fairly appealing site with all the usuals; "real age" calculators, Goggle ads, online singles invitations and sudoku (a "classic" version in this case), a Tom Hanks trivia quiz and so forth. There appears to be some beautiful photography, member blogs and video, and the like. Groups so far include all the typical categories, health, travel, money etc., with the option to join the ones of your choice once you register (for free). 

Very Cool Arts & Crafts

The site yourdailybreeze.com is a delight. Focusing on arts and crafts,YDB is "a new, artistically-minded and environmentally-inspired blog that encompasses as much eco-information as possible to help you live consciously and in harmony with our Mother Earth." Their products are truly amazing--no recycled toilet paper rolls here--featuring apparel, home furnishings, gifts and over-the-top works of art. This little piece caught my eye. 

A link on their page to dhlovelife reminded me to revisit Daryl Hannah again and see what she's up to. As always, her site is classy and fun and informative. She's a cool kid and, as always, full of hope and inspiration and totally excellent Flash and graphics. Take a look.

Finding Our Roots

If you're at a loss to come up with new and unique travel ideas, amazingdna.com may have a solution. Once you've established your dna (through their handy but not cheap service) they'll assist you in planning a trip to visit the home of your ancestors. In their words: "You (ll) feel a satisfaction and completeness when you participate in the local life, eat their food and see the sights and hear the sounds of what is part of you. You communicate with people who are part of your distant family. You experience the traditions of your ancestors."

In the same vein, visiting ellisisland.org is a fascinating adventure in itself. The site allows you to search for your ancestors by name to see if and when they arrived at Ellis Island. If so, you'll be able to view any recorded information including the date and age at arrival. Upon free registration, you can view details like the passenger's record, the manifest and the ship's name and image. A scanned document reveals the passenger's signature and other information. I found out that my ancestor arrived at age 23 in 1913 from Finland and was 5'11", fair complected with blonde hair and gray eyes and in good health. Oh wait. That's 5 feet eleven and a half inches. Hmm. Attention to detail. I do have that in my dna.

Framed copies of the historic documents are available for purchase. Also at the site, you can take the citizenship test required of immigrants to see how well you hold up against your ancestors.

We Are What We Read

According to an article at theboomerblog.com, the show of hands at Book Expo America was unanimous when asked about the level of dependence upon the 40+ women as a customer. Primary customer, that is. Hmm. Could have fooled me. If that's the case (and the author, Carol Orsborn asks this very question) then where the heck are all the books we want to read so you can sell them to us? Few and far between some might say. One explanation offered for the lack of quantity is that we're such a "fast-moving" group that it's hard to keep up with where our interests will lie next. Ah...! Ms. Orsborn goes on to say that since we're the largest and most educated group of women ever in this country, anticipating our interests is difficult.

Speaking of books, no time like the present for some shameless self-promotion; I've just completed two (with more to come) manuscripts for Get to the Point Books, a very hip company out of Dallas, Texas, a "premier provider of on-demand situational learning resources." They publish a large range of topics including Competencies and Skills, Coaching and Mentoring and Talent Management. Head on over and download their nifty e-book reader and see for yourself. They have a call-out for authors, too.  

Get Your Groove On Baby

One of the latest business strategies to persuade boomer "technophobes" to buy a cell phone, sign up for service, and actually keep it turned on and not in your briefcase mom! has been developed by jitterbug.com. Now this is an amazing thing. This is really very cool and innovative. Realizing the potential market, jitterbug, in conjunction with Samsung, got back to basics, and is offering phones with bigger buttons, 24/7 live operators and, get this - a dial tone! 

If I were jitterbug, though, I wouldn't label my page "Senior Cell Phones." Um, remember? We boomers aren't going to use that term. And besides, marketing to the real seniors, our parents, will be done by us so keep that in mind y'all. At their site, jitterbug claims their phone service starts at $10 a month and, upon closer examination, I see it actually does, as long as you sign up for a year at a time and are content with 60 minutes a month of talk-time. That wouldn't work for me but certainly would for some folks (like my dad ;)

Our Presence Online

Seems we're not so far behind our GenX friends and family after all, logging on to our computers at about an equal rate. The differences, though, lie in what we're doing on the internet. Mostly, we're seeking out information, the majority of it health-related, using email, and, naturally, doing a bit of shopping. We're not, however, using our computers for social networking; only a third of us visit online communities and a tiny 10 percent have blogs! That's supposedly going to change, though, as more of us become "empty nesters" and look to connect with peers through new avenues. 

At matureresources.org, Rosemary Horner explains one reason why Boomers aren't blogging: they feel it's for "young folks." At her website, bloggingforboomers.com, Horner offers tons of tips and techniques for wanna-be boomer bloggers including a "crash course." Even though a lot of her content seems to be focused on generating traffic to your blog (nothing wrong with that) she has some interesting tips to share. Check it out and send me the link to your blog!

Atta Girl Hillary

I have to introduce my new blog with today's impending news, the speculation that Ms. Clinton will concede tonight, June 3, 2008. I'll be at my studio teaching but will stream her press conference when I return. Not one to cry easily, I will, probably, shed a few this evening. As much as I dig Obama and totally and entirely believe he's the best candidate, I really, really, really wanted Hillary to have done better with her campaign. I like Hillary Clinton. I like her savvy, her smarts and her courage. And I liked the idea of a woman leading the free world. 

There are, though, lots of things I won't miss about Hillary's run for office, specifically the awful misogyny that reared its ugly head. A few weeks ago I read an op-ed by Marie Cocco at the Washington Post which summed it all up for me. I'm not going to set up a hierarchy of bad to even-worse examples but I will say that it'll be a relief to not have to see "Bros not Hos" t-shirts anymore. (It always struck me as interesting that the times I saw those shirts being worn it was by men who don't appear to be the types to consider Obama a "bro.")

It is, though, exciting to consider what lies ahead in Obama's campaign. As a resident of the city in which 75,000 of us gathered to welcome him, undoubtedly the fervor has only begun.