There are so many things which we can focus on in a discussion of what we think things will be like when the current generation of the most economically active people hits the 60+ age. After all, this is the generation which brought about some of the biggest disruptions which go beyond the technology sector, although pretty much everything is tied to the tech sector. Think the likes of AirBnB, Uber, drone technology to deliver anything you order, almost instantly, etc.

Nutrition makes for a particularly interesting angle from which to explore the future of the world as experienced from the point of view of what will be the then 60s-plus club, made up of a generation who are in a sense perhaps still trying to find their feet in a world that has changed a lot within a very short space in time. So many more Millennials are still living with their parents, for instance, while more of them have moved back home after what would have been referred to as the “failure to launch” in previous times.

To put the nutrition discussion into a bit of perspective, this will be a generation of elders who are currently bang in the middle of the on-the-go eating culture. We grab a quick breakfast before going out to work and perhaps even grab a quick lunch so that we can get back to work and complete the day’s work. Our microwave dinners are far from ideal in that they’re shipped in from very far and wide, only to be frozen until it’s time to consume them in the intended convenient manner they were produced for.

In fairness though, the scale does seem to balance out a bit, because of the emergence of social media cultures around nutrition, such as the many foodie bloggers and vloggers coming to the fore. When we do have the opportunity to eat better and really enjoy the dining experience, that appears to be exactly what we do and we call it “doing brunch” or “doing lunch” in addition to enjoying a proper breakfast over the weekends or on our days off. When we’re older that’s probably all we’ll really have time for and, for those people of this generation who are breaking new ground and living out their lives as travel bloggers and such, by the time they’ve reached the 60s-plus club I reckon they will have long since figured out how to eat healthy even if constantly on the road.

So, based on the best scenario which could play out on account of applying the best approach to nutrition available today, what future over 60s could look like brings into view a picture of healthy individuals who don’t quite suffer from all the ailments that come with age to the degree that our predecessors do.

I don’t quite know if we’ll be at the stage where there’s a chip implanted in the gut which collaborates with your smart fridge via the IOT to stock up on the food containing the nutrients you’re clearly deficient in, but that could be a possibility as well.

Anna Jones
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