I marked an anniversary of my birth recently, and moved into an entirely new demographic box.
Marketing people like boxes and putting people in boxes, and notice when people inconveniently change which box they were allocated.
I used to sit in one box. A box that defined me by my age, and what other people thought I was interested in.
I was thought to be preparing my children for higher education while paying off my mortgage and pension plan. I was thought to be a middle manager in a white colour office with a salary to match.
I was middle-class, and expected to have middle class interests. A visit to the theatre, the movies occasionally, the odd sporting event. Marketing people decided that restaurants featured large in my life.
But I have jumped boxes. My age has reached a point where the number is too high for the computer driven society to accept my existence in their demographic.
Overnight, I dropped the kids off at university, paid off the mortgage and discovered the delights of holidays to Tuscany and cruise ships.
One day I liked sports, the next morning, I preferred to spend my money on flights to Italy.
Such is how the databases work.
When I fill in a form on a website when it asks my age, it takes that little bit longer to scroll down the list of age ranges. I am one agglomeration of ages further down the html code that defines my presumed existence.
A select box option further away from school leaver and one bit closer to the box marked “65+”, the all encompassing catch-all for “old people, tea and cakes”
No longer can I select the option on the website that says just about passes for decent looking in a dimly lit room, and now I am firmly in the box marked “wrinkles under the suit”.
The database has declared what I am interested in, and I better comply, for the next ten years will be marked by what the database says I ought to be interested in.
What a nuisance I must be, to be so contrary to the whims of the database and dare to live my own life.
Happy Birthday Ian.
Happy Birthday Ian.
I understand you very well. I turned 55 in July. Four days later I visited a medieval fair. For the first time in my life I did not have to pay the full price for the ticket because I got a senior citizen discount!!!
Hope I used the right term. Englidh id not my first language.
Forget the boxes. Use the advantages you can get and most important: ENJOY LIFE!
Happy Birthday Ian , hope it was an good one !
Happy (40th?). Wait until you move into the 50+ bracket. You will find yourself in life’s retirement room with charities chasing you to make bequests and funeral planning to do.
I’m a bit depressed now.
Why get in such a state about age? I got my Freedom Pass on my 60th birthday and have now had it for ten years and one day! I love it. I take every “Senior” discount I can. I rejoice in my retirement, which is busy and active, I give thanks to God for my continued good health, and I care less than I ever did if people think me odd or daft for my interest in buses, trains and little Citroen cars and take a perverse delight in not doing what is expected of an old age pensioner. A friend has recently packed up and moved from a retirement home to a house in the country – at the age of 98! That gives me great encouragement and hope for the next 25 years or so!