Successful Aging: The Role of Communication
- beckgarya
- Feb 20, 2016
- 3 min read
When we think of "aging" we likely think of celebrating or dreading birthdays, milestone dates (e.g., 13, 18, 21, 30, 40, 50, 65), and the elusive when can I afford to retire? Or maybe we think of the physiological and very visual appearances that change over time (as like the image associated with this blog post).
While the images above may be a bit startling or sobering to consider, they represent the natural wear and tear that occurs to a body physiologically over years of use. A more nuanced coversation about phsycial changes and the impact of healthy diet and exercise are perhaps too outside of the scope of this post. We can all acknowledge that this transformation is a part of life.
Instead, looking at the picture again, the focus here shifts to how does our communication change? In what ways does our communicaiton contribute to successful personal evolution throughout those years? In the picture, what can we expect in the social world of the first male image that is fundamentally different from the 3rd, or the 6th?
The Lifespan and Digital Communication MA degree at Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA) is one of the places in the country with dedicated graduate study in the subject. Our students investigate questions like the ones above, and how social interaction with each other, our families, and digital media shapes our understandings of the aging process.
There are also key faculty across the country directing their own programs and lines of research in communication in aging. Howard Giles at University of California, Santa Barbara is just one of the leaders.
In an article I found this past December, Giles is an author along with primary author Craig Fowler and Jessica Gasiorek in a study that examines how communication contributes to "aging well." Aging well is framed here as a host of positive feelings about aging, and one's own responses to the process of getting older. Of a range of communication behaviors that were assumed to contirbute to aging well, three of the seven measured contributed significantly:
Expressed Optimism: Communication that suggests that aging is something an opportunity for growth and opportunity, and verbalizing this (consistently) to others.
Planning for Care: Taking with others about life changes, potential health issues, and enduring care arrangements (challenging, and often assumed there is understanding across family members).
Using Comm. Technology: Using social media, email, and other forms of computer-mediated communication to stay involved and connected in the lives of your family and friends. Not just as a recipient, but interactively.
What's facinating to me is that 2 out of the 3 of these communication behaviors can be practiced throughout the lifespan. Expressing optimism in general, or more specifically about each passing year is a healthy way to approach a natural process. Staying connected (as opposed to socially isolated) is a way to feel connnected to additional personal relationships as well as stay meaningfully involved in others lives.
Planning for care sounds like more of a unique older lifespan phenomena. Many younger people across the lifespan don't experience more serious health concerns or have the acculated resources to require planning until later in life. This does suggest that we should want a life that we'll want to plan to perserve, or prepare to keep as long as we are able (e.g., as opposed to finding ourselves in a mess that others need to act on our behalf to clean up). We also want to not be a burden our relatives, and severely impact their options in life for our choices.
So what does that mean? It could mean making smarter financial decisions (e.g., limiting debt, investing wisely, retirement planning) and investing in our own health at younger ages, to preserve our mobility and functioning as long as possible.
Granted that's going to look differently for different people, and have different implications based on your family structure and personal preferences. However, knowing that the three communication behaviors above matter serves to reinforce positive aspects of our relating to others, both now and across our lifespans.
References
Fowler, C., Gasiorek, J. & Giles, H. (2015). The role of communication in aging well: Introducing the communicative ecology model of successful aging. Communication Monographs, 82, 4, 431-457.
Picture Credit: http://www.brucesallan.com
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