Lina Ko August 28th, 2007
I’m delighted to see the publishing industry finally catching up with the visual needs of baby boomers. According to the Calgary Herald, this is the publishing industry’s answer to wide-screen televisions. Esteemed publishing houses such as Penguin Group, Harlequin Enterprises, Random House and HarperCollins have introduced large-print lines designed to appeal to squinting baby boomers who are discovering that standard type is challenging to read.
The new paperback and hardcover books feature bigger types and more generous spacing. Baby boomers are too vain to admit that they can’t make out the type they used to be able to read. Instead, they say bigger print is easier to read in bed, on the treadmill or on the beach.
In 2010, all boomers will have reached that milestone birthday of 45 and many will feel the effects of presbyopia, the inability to focus on objects close up. These numbers add up to an expanding market for easier-to read books, a category in the past limited mostly to senior citizens. Large-print titles used to be more expensive than regular-print books, but that is beginning to change as well.
I don’t need reading glasses for now, but it’s comforting to know that marketers like Amazon.com are featuring a special section of large-print books on its website and HarperCollins Publishers has introduced HarperLuxe, a line of full-sized paperbacks with 14-point size type and wider margins. Boomers can also purchase innovative taller paperbacks about an inch bigger than standard versions to allow for easier-to-read formatting.
Lina Ko August 21st, 2007
When it comes to the topic of whether ageing boomers should seek cosmetic treatment to make themselves look younger and more attractive, there are two schools of thought. According to Nancy Etcoff, author of The Survival Of The Prettiest, there is a compelling argument for why so many cultures are influenced by beauty demonstrated by a series of global scientific studies. Etcoff, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and a practicing psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, examines what it is in our nature that makes us susceptible to beauty; what qualities in people evoke this response; and why sensitivity to beauty crosses all cultures. Beauty is not just vanity, there’s actual science behind it.
German scientists, however, have discovered that the world’s most beautiful woman allowed herself to be sculpted with wrinkles to appear more beautiful. According to their studies, in ancient times, laugh lines and wrinkles around the mouth improved the face of Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen acclaimed as the world’s most beautiful woman. The wrinkles make the image more individual and expressive. It may surprise modern women who go to the cosmetic surgeon to recover that smooth teenage complexion, but wrinkles have always been esteemed as a subtle badge of wisdom.
My personal thoughts have always been it’s really up to the individual. If your self esteem is boosted by how smooth your face is, then you should go seek cosmetic treatment to make you look and feel better. If, on the other hand, boomers are not bothered by their wrinkled faces and are seeking self-fulfillment via their experiences in life, then no cosmetic treatment in the world would give them any satisfaction. Beauty is not in the eyes of the beholder, it’s in how you view and regard yourself!
Lina Ko August 17th, 2007
Earlier this week, I read with interest a news release issued by Retired Worker, the largest employment website in Canada designed for retirees who want to work on a part-time, temporary or contract basis. The release, entitled 50+ Job Seekers Need To Keep Their Appearance As Up-to-date As Their Skills, urges boomer job-seekers to take a good look at themselves in the mirror and make sure that they are dressing for success.
I cannot agree more – whether they are looking to re-enter the workforce or not, retired baby boomers need to exude confidence and look up-to-date. Boomers are often misconceived as ‘over the hill’ with a ‘take-it-easy’ work ethic. They, therefore, need to dress not only for success, but to ‘kill’ in order to encourage employers to focus on their knowledge and experience instead of their age. When interviewing for potential employees, I often look for a ‘killer’ instinct in job candidates – a determination to succeed and a drive to excel in a competitive environment. Why should interviewing boomers be different? Boomers looking for a job should look as well-groomed and polished as their younger counterparts!
Lina Ko August 9th, 2007
With baby boomers ageing and retiring everywhere in the world, the rate of population increase also began to slow. Women in more and more countries started having fewer children. There is now a new global concern – last year, the United Nations said it thought the world’s average fertility would fall below replacement by 2025. The number of people in the world is likely to start falling.
The best way to deal with a smaller population would be to encourage people to work longer, and remove the barriers that prevent them from doing so. Governments should consider raising state pension ages and abandoning mandatory retirement ages. They are bad not just for society, which has to pay the pensions of people who are fully capable but have been put to grass; but also for companies, which would do better to use performance, instead of age, as a criterion for employing people. More immigration, as seen in Canada, would ease labour shortages. Policies to encourage more women into the workplace, through better provisions for child care and parental leave, can also help strike a balance between workers and retirees.
In Canada, we are making slight progress. Provinces like Ontario and Quebec have abandoned mandatory retirement ages. This country has been relying on immigration for a long time to keep its population growing. Our maternity leave of 12 months is probably one of the longest in industrialized countries. However, these are not enough to ensure that our population will not shrink in the future and, if so, may have its implications for the workforce. We should find more ways to motivate boomers to continue working after the traditional retirement age of 65 and use their skills and experience to strengthen our resources.