Technologies of the Future

I’ve been taking a social entrepreneurship course that meets weekly to discuss social innovations around the world. Today we discussed social ventures “homegrown” from Stanford University. A panel of four came to speak to us about their various social innovations and share the successes and difficulties they have faced. One panel member in particular, Matthew Callaghan, discussed OneBreath, an organization that was formed to combat the great number of deaths caused by lack of a ventilator and prepare developing nations for pandemics. The disposable, portable ventilator costs a mere $75.

It’s absolutely fascinating how such a simple innovation can transform the lives of people across the globe. What new pieces of technology will surface within the next few decades? Few years? Few months? The potential to better the lives of the suffering seems limitless.

For pressing, severe illnesses, it’s crucial that we dedicate time and energy to research and innovation. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, we’re about to crack that code and take great strides in preventing, if not curing, the disease. Exactly when we will reach that point remains uncertain; but the entire world is waiting impatiently…

The Job of Dying

"By then, he knew he was dying,
he seemed to approach it as a job to be done
which he knew how to do."

What does a daughter see as she watches her father die? Does she see the death of a hero in terminus?  Or does the superhuman qualities of her father never fade?

In her poetry anthology The Father, Sharon Olds chronicles her observations of her father's death from cancer. An outsider looking in, she portrays her father with worship of how he carries himself during his last days. She tells of his stoicism, his dominance, his strength - qualities that do not leave him even as he approaches his end.

Through her work, masculinity is portrayed never to fade. Indeed, when a man keeps his masculinity even in the face of death, Olds explains that he gains additional respect and reverence by keeping his image even as evening falls.

If a TV show presented you with two characters - a beautiful young lady and a "grotesque" old witch - who would you most like to be? The book Contemporary youth culture an international encyclopedia shed interesting light on the presentation of social roles to young viewers. They suggested that by contrasting a positively portrayed young figure with a negatively portrayed old one, teenagers are more likely to emulate the young one. Samantha from the TV show Bewitched is a young witch that is attractive, and not 100% girly (which is a good thing, apparently). She exerts control over her man: he is literally under her spell! This control shows she is powerful, and everyone loves power! Endora's positive qualities on the other hand seem absent - she is an old witch who always fails to break up Samatha's relationship. The young witch gets love and the old witch has no control over it. Again, we see it is clear who the better role model is for helpless teenagers. Being young and powerful seems definitely more appealing than being an old failure.

1) Witness Something Magnificent

Do you remember The Bucket List? I remember cheering Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman on as they fulfilled their wildest dreams in the movie: racing cars, hiking the great wonders, coming to accept death with dignity. What better lives could there have been than theirs?

Who didn't come out of that movie thinking that the life of the terminally ill should end just as satisfyingly? The men never lost their sense of humor, never lost their heroic place, never failed to show their strength - even in spite of their flaws. Even with their prognosis, their masculinity was not even a question. It stayed with them unto death.

Should a man keep his masculinity to keep his image whole, even when he's been determined to be terminally ill? YES, says popular culture. The alternative - any loss of manliness - is no blockbuster film.

An Inescapable Cycle

Generally, people like to think they have control over their own lives. On a broader scale, politicians like to think they have control over the government. But what if all of politics, all of history, is really one big repeating cycle? This is exactly what William Strauss and Neil Howe argue in their groundbreaking book, Generations. Since the Puritan generation in 1584, American history has maintained a four part generational pattern that has dictated crisises, triumphs, and everything in between. The four "generation types" include the following: idealist, reactive, civic, adaptive. In the current cycle, the aging Baby Boomers are the idealists, the disillusioned Generation Xers the reactives, and the Millennials the civics. Any adaptives are virtually toddlers. The pattern repeats, with a crisis at its "rightful" place in each cycle. As I read this historical perspective, I was at first incredulous. The future cannot be predicted. But as I kept reading their explanation, I became more and more convinced. The timing of a massive crisis can "easily" be predicted--though the nature of the crisis cannot. Eerily, this book vaguely predicts the current issues of terrorism and the economy. According to this model, Millennials are like the G.I. Generation--and they made it through their crisis (World War II) with flying colors. Hopefully, the Millennials will do the same.

Overly Connected

So, as an experiment of sorts I searched "millennial generation" on Google Images, and this is the first result. Huh. Obviously, Millennials have a reputation for being rather obsessed with social networking. But this representation also implies the presence of extreme stress in the modern adolescent. Is this stress caused by being overly connected via technology? Are the very tools that supposedly make life easier stressing us out? It certainly seems that way. When I get back to my dorm, I first check my phone to make sure no one has called or texted. Then I check all three of my e-mail accounts and reply as necessary. Then I check Facebook to make sure no one has sent me a message or tagged a picture of me I don't like. And then I can start on homework in peace. I'm not even on MySpace or Twitter; I'm not very tech-oriented. My routine sounds a little ridiculous, but I am sure that many of my peers have similar ones. The stress factor comes in when you are supposed to know something (via e-mail, text, etc.) and you don't and someone gets frustrated.

When examining the "unraveling" aspect of this picture, I also began thinking about if actually our generation's "obsession" with sites like Facebook and Twitter is actually only a way to deal with ever-increasing societal pressure to succeed. With college admissions more competitive than ever, scholarships more and more prized, and jobs few and far between, today's young people are more stressed than ever. So maybe they use Facebook and the like to relax, at least for a bit. For some, it indeed becomes an obsession. How can society reconcile the success and overall welfare of its young people? Is it even possible?

The Upside of Grief

"What do we know, or think we know, about the way we respond when a loved one dies?"

I chanced upon this article while browsing through the New York Times's "New Old Age" blog.

In reading that opening line, I immediately thought of the way people expect us to act after the death of a loved one. It's healthy to express emotion, but try to avoid emotional outbursts in public places, like school or work. Don't try to feign happiness, but steer away from outright depression.

Paula Span, the author of the article, offers similar reasons in the paragraph following her thought-provoking opening question. However, she attempts to provide different answers to the question after reviewing the book "The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tell us About Life after Loss."

Rather than encouraging those who have lost loved ones to put on a smile and get over it, the author of "The Other Side of Sadness" suggests that it is good, and in fact, healthy to have a period of intense grieving over the loss of a loved one as long as you attempt to lead a balanced life in the process. Bonnano (the author) defines a balanced life as one filled with attempts to achieve happiness as well as allowing oneself to feel upset.

While Bonnano's suggestions were interesting, this article intrigued me because it made me think about society's expectations for those who are grieving. What is the socially acceptable period of mourning? How do we expect people to act after the loss of a loved one and why?

Boston's Quarter-Life Crisis

Out of all the newspaper articles I've read on the quarter-life crisis, Meredith Goldstein's Boston Globe article was by far the best in capturing it. While Goldstein mainly focuses on Bostonians' perspectives of quarter-age angst (it is a Boston newspaper after all), she uses psychologists' and authors' opinions to paint a well-rounded picture of what twenty-somethings are facing today.

The most striking part of the article comes in the beginning, where Goldstein describes a party that her interviewees are hosting. The theme of the costume party was to dress up as what you wished you had been by the time you turned 25. People disguised themselves as "working professionals, artists, poets, and musicians" according to Goldstein.

I think this party truly encapsulates the idea of the quarter-life crisis. There is something distressing in the fact that twenty-year-olds are dreaming of obtaining realistic jobs, like working professionals, as compared to the dream jobs everyone had as little kids, which were more akin to astronauts and movie stars. However, there is also something self-indulgent in throwing a party to celebrate your lack of success. This article made me question: how valid is the quarter-life crisis? Additionally, does the quarter-life crisis come with any benefits? Can we skip the mid-life crisis if we start questioning our life decisions in our early twenties?

WE Are the Future

TODAY'S YOUNG PEOPLE WILL SAVE THE WORLD!!! This is essentially the message of Eric Greenberg and Karl Weber's love letter to the Millennial Generation, Generation We. In this almost outrageously optimistic outlook on today's young people, Greenberg and Weber predict that the Millennials (the generation born between 1982 and 2003) will create lasting global peace, save the planet from imminent environmental doom, and balance the budget by raising corporate taxes and cutting defense spending (easily due to global peace). Sound like a tall order? Well, it should be no problem for today's amazing youth. Interestingly, the "Millennial Agenda" as defined by Greenberg and Weber bears an uncanny resemblance to the far left agenda in the United States. Maybe that is a coincidence.

It is a given that youth, especially today's youth, lean heavily to the left politically. This is nothing new. While the authors of Generation We try to explain why today's teens are different, their arguments fall short. Yes, youth are liberal. Their overwhelming support for President Obama proves this to be true. But will this political orientation stay with them as they age? And futhermore, does a liberal nation really equate with the sort of utopia Greenberg and Weber predict? Maybe, but they need to do a little bit more work to prove this.

The Notebook: Love, Aging, and Denial

"A classic tear-jerker." Shebah Ronay, News of the World
"It breaks my heart." Tv Choice

Would The Notebook not be the perfect movie to watch as a class? With Alzheimer's disease as my research focus, I vote this "tear-jerker" as the perfect conclusion to our course. Although I've already seen it a number of times, I think the themes of love, aging, and denial never become "old." This movie truly reflects the ideas covered in my Texts in Conversation essay as well.

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling portray the tensions of life brilliantly, contributing to an almost tangible feeling of sorrow when the extended family visits the elderly couple at a nursing home in the second half of the movie. Gena Rowlands and James Garner highlight the strain the disease brings to relatives; the decision to place Rowlands in a nursing home was most likely a difficult one to make. The family stands in foggy confusion as the physical appearance of Rowlands masks her memory and mental capacity.

Centenarian Offsprings continue: Peronality matters

So in one of my previous blogs I mentioned that centenarian offsprings inherit a higher health benefit but they also inherit personality traits that are closely connected to longevity. Researchers from Boston University have acquired data that links Big Five personality traits: neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, with longevity. They results showed that centenarian offspring ranked low in neuroticism and very high in extroversion. They infer that centenarians with high extroversion characteristics are more able to control their stress levels in life and have an easier time forming relationships with people as well as living independently.

I find this study fascinating because this realm of psychogerontology is relatively recent. There's many holes and gaps in this study that researchers are in the midst of filling and discovering. People constantly believe longevity is a result of a healthy way of life, which is true; however, to attain a healthy way of life first starts with one's mentality and attitude towards life and oneself.

Ancient, Active, and Alive

Who said life as an old person was boring and miserable? Running, dancing, karate, and lifting? If they want to, they can.

During my first week researching, I ran across some of these images of centenarians engaging in quite physically demanding activities. There is one Okinawan centenarian working her field of purple yams, another centenarian man running on the track, and another Japanese woman lifting weights with a group of other elderly women. These images defy our preconceived notions of what elderly people can and cannot do. When I first think of 80 or 90 year old people, I imagine them to be hunched over on their walking aides taking trembling strides every 10 seconds. Centenarians, on the other hand, stay active and carry themselves with confidence and power.

Take a second and see what pops into your head first when you think of the elderly.

Centenarians are a special group of people and they maintain this youthful lifestyle of staying active through also keeping a youthful personality. They are extroverts, optimists, and conscientious as Margaret Kern and Howard Friedman explain in their study about the relationship between conscientious individuals and longevity. Kern and Fiedman conclude that personality does in fact affect individual's longevity as for those who stay positive and upbeat exert themselves into social and physical activities which in turn keep their mental stability positive.

An Aging Population

The mortality rates of the entire population are falling: we're an aging nation, which means we'll be facing some major changes within the upcoming decades. According to "Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease" edited by Vinod Kumar and Carl Eisdorfer, it has been projected that ten million people will have either Alzheimer's disease or a similar dementia by 2040. More explicitly stated, about one in every thirty Americans will have dementia at that point.

So what are the major implications of such drastic numbers?

Not only will our health care system absorb a shock, but caregivers will also experience tremors. Family members, who provide a majority of the care for individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease, confront a great change in lifestyle upon the diagnosis of a loved one. As family roles, decision-making processes, and relationships alter, they serve as the ultimate foundation, fighting the grief of the disease. How they manage to cope with the decline of a loved one is another matter.

Thank you, Grey's Anatomy!

My favorite part of writing this paper so far has been being able to analyze the characters of one of my favorite TV shows, Grey's Anatomy. Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia is a contemporary book that, in one of its chapters, analyzes popular television characters and their impact on young females. As I have learned through my research process, female roles have developed significantly in recent times. Instead of idolizing depictions of pure girly-ness, we seem to place greater value on women that possess masculine assertiveness on top of their femininity. In Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Christina Yang serves as the most "powerful" female role because she encapsulates that balance between manly power and sexiness. The other stars of the show seem to be less powerful because they lack assertiveness and always seem to succumb to their romances, which lead them to perform poorly at work. A balance of assertiveness, power, and sex-appeal seems desirable to a young woman because that role “becomes a marker granting the girl/woman a form of sexualized power without which she is in danger of slipping into dangerous forms of androgeny and masculinity”: how can teens resist that role?! So thanks to this book source, I've made my hours of watching Grey's Anatomy all the more enriching - enriching to personal entertainment as well as to my research!