Yeah I'm on a few months break from working and the most unexpected downside is the uptick in existential dread I've experienced.
Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
71–80 of 292 posts
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#72Not only early retirement but any kind of retirement that gets the retiree in a mode that they don't have to try anymore will result in cognitive decline. I am seeing this in my dad who has been retired for ten years now. Throughout his work life he was a sharp hard working banker. Now he uses his age and retirement as an excuse for not trying. Just yesterday he wanted me to order something for him from Amazon. I tol…
I have noticed the same thing, but not from age, instead I attribute it to ux/ui.
People used to know how to type a url into an address bar. If they didnt type it correctly it didnt work. They knew how to type an email address. Now for the life of people, its actually uncomfortable to type example.com without a space into an address bar and go directly to a site and not to google. They purposely put a space between the words because they only know how to search for terms. (This could also be a semi-unconscious learned safety behavior to avoid typos in domains.) The same applies to autocomplete in the TO field of email programs. If a name doesnt autopopulate, "well that email must not exist, because autocomplete isnt suggesting their name."
As fields started thinking more for us, and the raw structure of paths has become more and more hidden (websites to apps, chrome overall shrinking and hiding protocols), I dont think its fair to attribute "well I cant find the url" to cognitive decline. Our interfaces are purpose hiding this stuff and making us depend more and more on fuzzy representations of structure.
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no doubt that people decline cognitively in their old age. I don't think this study's saying that all cognitive decline is due to retirement. People get old and their bodies and brains deteriorate. To my mind the question is whether the rate of decline can be reduced by keeping mentally active.
People's cognitive decline statistically starts as early as 40. You can see that from the age distribution of biggest discoveries in physics and mathematics. You can also see that from the HR policies of the software companies.
And maybe a lot earlier than that;
> researchers have discovered that Alzheimer’s Disease is preceded by DECADES of gradually worsening glucose hypometabolism.
> Brain glucose metabolism can be reduced by as much as 25% long before any memory problems become obvious. As a psychiatrist who specializes in the treatment of college students, I find it positively chilling that scientists have found evidence of glucose hypometabolism in the brains of women as young as 24 years old
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/diagnosis-diet/201...
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#74Not only early retirement but any kind of retirement that gets the retiree in a mode that they don't have to try anymore will result in cognitive decline. I am seeing this in my dad who has been retired for ten years now. Throughout his work life he was a sharp hard working banker. Now he uses his age and retirement as an excuse for not trying. Just yesterday he wanted me to order something for him from Amazon. I tol…
To be fair, working with text is really hard on mobile and has regressed a long way from general purpose computers like the pc. To undo you have to shake the fucking thing, and text selection takes time and patience (if you can select the text at all!)
In iOS 13 it's worse, because they just changed all of it up. Now shaking and the old gestures for moving the cursor or getting the copy/paste menu don't work either. Instead it's three-finger directional swipes and pinches and long-touching a caret to pick it up and whatnot.
There are a couple of problems with that. One is that now instead of coordinating one finger you have to coordinate three, which may not be as easy for someone older. To be fair I think all of the gestures do have a simpler secondary alternative somewhere, but that brings the next issue.
iOS (and everyone else) quit documenting stuff a long time ago aside from in help snippets, over the idea that everything was "discoverable."
Aside from the core issue of expecting a user to "discover" complex and rarely-used gestures with no affordances, what happens when you "discover" they don't work anymore?
I guess you get to discover the help entry via Google, or find it in a Tom's Guide "35 things you didn't know you could do..." type article...once you finally realize they changed and that it isn't just you screwing it up.
We really need to create the equivalent of CUA for phone interfaces. Prior to that being broadly adopted, we had to deal with all kinds of variant menu structures and shortcuts in DOS-based and early GUI apps. After that, it was easy to move between things and (eliminating the entire freaking menu bar aside) things have stayed pretty stable since.
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#75I'd still love to take that risk...
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#76Sitting around May Speed Up Cognitive Decline. Both my Grandfathers retired shortly before seventy. One sat down in his Chair and did not get up. He ignored his health, and passed within 10 years. The other is highly active in his community and church, still gardens, and travels constantly. He is in his mid 80s with no sign of slowing down. Barring a major health incident, he will live well into his 90s like his moth…
How do you know the first one that sat around already had bad cellular health and that's why he was less active?
Likewise, maybe the latter had great cellular health and it enabled him to be more active without feeling awful.
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no doubt that people decline cognitively in their old age. I don't think this study's saying that all cognitive decline is due to retirement. People get old and their bodies and brains deteriorate. To my mind the question is whether the rate of decline can be reduced by keeping mentally active.
People's cognitive decline statistically starts as early as 40. You can see that from the age distribution of biggest discoveries in physics and mathematics. You can also see that from the HR policies of the software companies.
HR policies are often most influenced by consideration of salary size.
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Correlation is not causation.
It doesnt, but it sometimes can be a big clue. What other factors can explain, that old people dont make so many breakthroughs? (If hes correct)
Lack of testosterone because they already have a mate.
There is a lot of science to back this up. That getting married and/or having kids is what marks a man's decline in innovative output, because they no longer have to impress potential mates.
But it's also correlative and not causative, and assumes most men make the breakthroughs, which has been traditionally true but almost certainly because of some other factor than just gender.
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, working with text is really hard on mobile and has regressed a long way from general purpose computers like the pc. To undo you have to shake the fucking thing, and text selection takes time and patience (if you can select the text at all!)
In iOS 13 it's worse, because they just changed all of it up. Now shaking and the old gestures for moving the cursor or getting the copy/paste menu don't work either. Instead it's three-finger directional swipes and pinches and long-touching a caret to pick it up and whatnot. There are a couple of problems with that. One is that now instead of coordinating one finger you have to coordinate three, which may not be as…
> Instead it's three-finger directional swipes and pinches and long-touching a caret to pick it up and whatnot.
Wait hold up. I've been on iOS13 for months now and been super frustrated with what I thought was a buggy copy/paste.
Are you telling me I was just doing it wrong?!
Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study
#80Not only early retirement but any kind of retirement that gets the retiree in a mode that they don't have to try anymore will result in cognitive decline. I am seeing this in my dad who has been retired for ten years now. Throughout his work life he was a sharp hard working banker. Now he uses his age and retirement as an excuse for not trying. Just yesterday he wanted me to order something for him from Amazon. I tol…
I guess this is why you should work less hard and do more to cultivate hobbies. I can’t imagine retiring and doing nothing. So many projects.
I totally agree. I have so many interests and so little time. I can't wait until I can retire so that I can focus on the things that really interest me. I'm hoping to form groups of like minded people with similar hobbies. I envision my future as one of those old dudes playing chess in the park, except chess would be replaced with one of my many interests.