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Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

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Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#121

Post by chimpburger »

meerita wrote: post #69
monster_group wrote: post #9

Not 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…

Maybe your father will be sharp in other things not computing. I will have good level of computing when i reach +75 but well, maybe newer concepts will escape me a little bit but maybe i have other skills that are even more sharper than you can imagine.

There haven't been any fundamentally new concepts in computing for decades

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#123

Post by netsharc »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #35
RaiseProfits wrote: post #30

Earlier 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!)

Shake to undo and also shake to report a problem and also shake to report abuse . It does different things in different contexts. I can see how this could be confusing. vs. Right click > copy; right click > paste ctrl / cmd -c; ctrl / cmd -v Which, in my experience, are (almost?) universal. If your a keyboard native like me, you probably find text entry and editing on mobile fucking sucks .

Apple mice only had 1 button because they said they didn't want to confuse people. And nowadays? Multi fingered gestures, long presses, etc. What a shit show!

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#124

Post by geoelectric »

jedberg wrote: post #79
geoelectric wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?!

https://www.imore.com/how-use-text-editing-gestures-iphone-i...

Afraid so, but there you go. Only reason I found out earlier is I lucked across it in my news feed so don't feel too bad. It's pretty obnoxious they didn't have a transition period where both sets of gestures worked.

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#125

Post by AnimalMuppet »

chimpburger wrote: post #121
meerita wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe your father will be sharp in other things not computing. I will have good level of computing when i reach +75 but well, maybe newer concepts will escape me a little bit but maybe i have other skills that are even more sharper than you can imagine.

There haven't been any fundamentally new concepts in computing for decades

Yes and no. Your statement is true about under-the-hood stuff, but false about user interfaces. Your phone interface is not like Windows 95, still less like a green screen terminal talking to a mainframe.

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#126

Post by hombre_fatal »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #60
monster_group wrote: post #9

Not 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.

Also, I realized slowly over the last six years how important it is to develop hobbies beyond just writing software. Sucks to have all your eggs in that basket and then burn out or decide it's a waste of time (which I consider every time I take acid or as my social life expands): now what?

Learning a new language was my gateway drug into trying different things for a change.

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#127

Post by stevesimmons »

hunta2097 wrote: post #120
q5jwB6bD wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I also have this intention. I am about 15-20 years from retirement but I have palpable fears that I will forsake my dreams of doing something creative, falling into the rut that I've seen my older relatives and friends follow. You do meet the odd creative and intelligent senior but they are the minority. I hope I fall into that category when I retire!

I hope to emulate my father. He worked til 70. Then went back to university to study a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. After a few months off, he got bored, and has just started back doing a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering. He will be 77 when he finishes.

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#128

Post by electronWizard »

q5jwB6bD wrote: post #80
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Retiree robot wars

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#129

Post by Fr0styMatt88 »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #46
dexwiz wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its definitely anecdata. My surviving Grandfather has lost two wives (both active as he was) to cancer, so his life style alone does not confer longevity. That does not mean the will to live is not real, and those without out it fade much faster.

And sometimes you have poor genes for atherosclerosis. Exercise is still a miracle drug, but I think the young underestimate the physical disabilities that inevitably come with age. The will to live may be correlated with mean survival years because of the same underlying health issues.

That’s a really good point. I can’t imagine someone’s will to live staying strong if they’re in constant severe pain from accumulated bone/joint/nerve issues.

My dad lead a VERY active lifestyle - triathlons, squash, swimming, working on building sites, etc. What reward did he get for all that exercise and activity? Replacement hips, painful knees and developing spinal issues (spinal stenosis I think, but can’t quite remember off the top of my head) that he’s been told to live with until he can’t stand the pain anymore because surgery is incredibly risky and might not help or make things worse.

He does have great cardiovascular health though and he still works at his own business, learned how to use an iPhone, etc. Still walks a ridiculous number of steps a day that puts me to shame. The mechanical issues do make it more difficult than it used to be for him though.

Re: Early Retirement May Speed Up Cognitive Decline: Study

#130

Post by noodle »

ruminasean wrote: post #25

My experience with both my parents was "I retired and I don't want to use my brain anymore," and they have both definitely experienced decline since retirement. Some of my friends' parents, however, have adopted more of a "I'm retired and now I can dedicate all my brainpower to these special projects I've always wanted to focus my energy on." These people have mostly declined not at all or very little. I think the an…

> I think the answer is not to retire and go rot in a chair while taking 5 naps a day.

Yeah agreed. I think the key to retirement - both early and standard aged - is that you don't stop doing stuff. You just get to do the stuff you really want to be doing. If all you do for the remainder of your life is park yourself on the couch and watch TV, yeah of course your both mental and physical health is going to decline.

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