4 ms·

I know many people in their sixties who choose and want to work, including my parents. They are lucky in being able to choose to work at a reduced level and not

I know many people in their sixties who choose and want to work, including my parents. They are lucky in being able to choose to work at a reduced level and not out of absolute necessity so that changes the implications, but they do not want to retire completely. It's not clear that retirement is particularly healthy, longevity wise.

BobbyJo 5y ago
My grandpa is 89 and refuses not to work. He thinks he'll fall apart once he does.
- Dave_TRS 5y ago
  My grandpa is 94 and still enjoys working. Drives to Home Depot every day to pick up supplies for our family company, and other errands around the city. His view is that he enjoys it and helps him stay active.
foolinaround 5y ago
could it be explained as a generational gap? that generation tied a lot of value to the ability to work. the current generation looks for all possibilities to not work.
- munk-a 5y ago
  If the current generation is looking for all possibilities to not work they're sure doing a crap job at it - the number of people working multiple jobs has shot up... Or did you mean that stereotypical millennials are lazy and thus all young people are lazy?
  - foolinaround 5y ago
    the people working multiple jobs is due to how the jobs have gotten 'securitized' - people have become specialists in low skill jobs, leading to no growth at all. A person who is a Uber driver and a dog sitter is unable to display much skill addition after years on these jobs. i can only quote anecdotal data about the attitude to work among generations. On the other hand, because of the changing nature of the work, it is completely understandable.
- BossingAround 5y ago
  > the current generation looks for all possibilities to not work. You're getting downvoted for this statement, which is utterly ridiculous. From what I see around me, the current generations work as much, if not way more, than previous generations (such as boomers).
  - foolinaround 5y ago
    i differentiated between between people working and people wanting to work. it is also true that if a generation is chronically overworked, they will not be interested at all in working till their death.
BossingAround 5y ago
> It's not clear that retirement is particularly healthy, longevity wise. You're essentially saying that not working may not be healthy. That's one of the strangest things I've read today. You may not view it as "not particularly healthy" because of the frame of reference, not because of "a fact" that not working is unhealthy. If people "retired" at the age of 25, could you reasonably argue that we'd have an unhealthy population?
- Daishiman 5y ago
  > You're essentially saying that not working may not be healthy. That's one of the strangest things I've read today. But it is true. An internal study at a megacorp I worked at showed that people who didn't retire ended up living longer. It makes a ton of sense. Intellectual work keeps your mind stimulated and your body moving. Inaction ends up killing old people.
  - krapp 5y ago
    If anything that proves inactivity is unhealthy, not a life without work. Not all activity has to be done in the service of providing value to a corporation. You can retire and take up fishing or rock climbing, play chess, write a book. This idea that we've been conditioned to, that the only valid life is the life we trade for money, is insidious.
  - BossingAround 5y ago
    > Intellectual work keeps your mind stimulated and your body moving. Inaction ends up killing old people. Nobody argues with this. But thinking that paid work is the only source of mind stimulation and body movement is just silly.

BobbyJo 5y ago

My grandpa is 89 and refuses not to work. He thinks he'll fall apart once he does.

Dave_TRS 5y ago
My grandpa is 94 and still enjoys working. Drives to Home Depot every day to pick up supplies for our family company, and other errands around the city. His view is that he enjoys it and helps him stay active.

foolinaround 5y ago

could it be explained as a generational gap? that generation tied a lot of value to the ability to work. the current generation looks for all possibilities to not work.

munk-a 5y ago
If the current generation is looking for all possibilities to not work they're sure doing a crap job at it - the number of people working multiple jobs has shot up... Or did you mean that stereotypical millennials are lazy and thus all young people are lazy?
- foolinaround 5y ago
  the people working multiple jobs is due to how the jobs have gotten 'securitized' - people have become specialists in low skill jobs, leading to no growth at all. A person who is a Uber driver and a dog sitter is unable to display much skill addition after years on these jobs. i can only quote anecdotal data about the attitude to work among generations. On the other hand, because of the changing nature of the work, it is completely understandable.
BossingAround 5y ago
> the current generation looks for all possibilities to not work. You're getting downvoted for this statement, which is utterly ridiculous. From what I see around me, the current generations work as much, if not way more, than previous generations (such as boomers).
- foolinaround 5y ago
  i differentiated between between people working and people wanting to work. it is also true that if a generation is chronically overworked, they will not be interested at all in working till their death.

BossingAround 5y ago

> It's not clear that retirement is particularly healthy, longevity wise. You're essentially saying that not working may not be healthy. That's one of the strangest things I've read today. You may not view it as "not particularly healthy" because of the frame of reference, not because of "a fact" that not working is unhealthy. If people "retired" at the age of 25, could you reasonably argue that we'd have an unhealthy population?

Daishiman 5y ago
> You're essentially saying that not working may not be healthy. That's one of the strangest things I've read today. But it is true. An internal study at a megacorp I worked at showed that people who didn't retire ended up living longer. It makes a ton of sense. Intellectual work keeps your mind stimulated and your body moving. Inaction ends up killing old people.
- krapp 5y ago
  If anything that proves inactivity is unhealthy, not a life without work. Not all activity has to be done in the service of providing value to a corporation. You can retire and take up fishing or rock climbing, play chess, write a book. This idea that we've been conditioned to, that the only valid life is the life we trade for money, is insidious.
- BossingAround 5y ago
  > Intellectual work keeps your mind stimulated and your body moving. Inaction ends up killing old people. Nobody argues with this. But thinking that paid work is the only source of mind stimulation and body movement is just silly.