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- 《Time》時代雜誌歐洲總編輯梅爾，以長達30年新聞工作資歷，長期觀察社會變遷，首度精闢剖析社會趨勢：逆齡現象（Amortality）。她研究發現，拜科技所賜，近百年來已開發國家的平均壽命增加30歲，雖然人口老化是無法遏止的趨勢，到2050年，全球將有超過五分之一的人口超過六十歲，這是從已開發國家到新興經濟中產階級，最大規模的遷徙。在健康飲食、長壽科技、健身保持活力等趨勢下，這群人卻愈活愈年輕，他們對於結婚生子、愛情、宗教、工作、心理健康和消費習慣，也與傳統世代大不同！不但勇於突破常規，也更樂於追求自我、盡情享受人生。除了國際統計數據與權威媒體引文外，全書援用大量歐美名人金句與案例，如：瑪丹娜、艾爾頓‧強、史汀、黛安娜王妃、伍迪‧艾倫、梅莉‧史翠普等人，廣泛且深入討論逆齡現象。他們不是盲目地相信青春永駐，而是更願意以健康的心態，對生活與冒險充滿熱情。不管壽命數字是多少，生活方式永遠選擇青春！這股重新定義年齡的浪潮，正快速改變我們對工作、生活與消費的選擇！如果不了解這個改變生活價值觀與消費態度的新趨勢，將是地球上最落伍的族群。《逆齡社會》的各面向：對於繁衍下一代：就像《精選完美男》的珍妮佛‧安妮絲頓，或是《備胎女王》的珍妮佛‧羅培茲，挑戰大自然的繁衍法則，不照傳統婚姻生子制度，甚至像艾爾頓‧強克服性別問題，一求體驗為人父母的人生經驗。對於愛情：敢為愛情冒險，雖然離婚痛苦，但一旦愛情變調或人生規劃改變，會勇於另尋真愛。即便高齡也如此，如美國前副總統高爾夫婦在結婚 40 年後分手，但也有破百歲還甜蜜新婚的史上最熟齡新娘與新郎。此外，由於流行文化與藍色小藥丸等藥物研發，年輕人與年長者對性生活的圓滿，也比以往更加重視。對於宗教信仰：從單一宗教信仰，變成廣義的精神慰藉。無論是為死亡做準備或重視生命，都期望度過一個更有意義、更快樂的人生。對於心理上的需求：講求自我認同，會像戴安娜王妃和凱特‧摩絲等好萊塢名人般，善於借用心理治療，來獲得心靈上的解放。逆齡族相信：外表年輕，心理也要健康！對於工作：追求不停歇的生活，不是用另一種形式延長工作生涯，如成為「熟齡創業家」（olderpreneurs）等，就是開發多元興趣、安排豐富活動，來填補第二人生。對於消費：相較於縮衣節食的傳統老世代，逆齡族更樂於消費，會購買諸如旅遊、汽車和娛樂服務等商品。對逆齡族而言，消費有趣的不是在買到完美物品，而是追求完美物品時的過程。所以，旅行要活動滿檔才好玩，蘋果產品等新潮科技是他們的最愛。無論你是不是逆齡族，人生是一趟無法回頭的單行道，健康與活力是享受人生的關鍵。書中附逆齡測驗：你趕上愈活愈年輕的生活態度了嗎？青春推薦本書從模糊的年齡定義、年齡混淆的年代所呈現的社會現象，談到許多逆齡的精采人生。它讓我們改變傳統的思維，讓我們有機會擺脫年齡的枷鎖，把握當下、永遠向前，創造精采人生。──巨大集團董事長 劉金標
amortality In the state or act of death; lifeless, inanimate; figuratively spiritless, dejected.
Does your real age match the age you feel?
When do we reach middle age? When, if ever, are we old?
The way we age and the way we perceive age has changed radically. As we embrace new experiences, relationships and gadgets, we barely stop to look at our watches let alone consider whether our behaviour is 'age appropriate'.
In this provocative and timely book, Catherine Mayer looks at the forces that created amortality - the term she coined to describe the phenomenon of living agelessly. As she follows this social epidemic through generations and across continents, she reveals its profound impact on society, our careers, our families and ourselves.
Why be defined by numbers?
Are you amortal?
The way we age and the way we perceive age has changed radically. As we embrace new experiences, relationships and gadgets, we barely stop to look at our watches let alone consider whether our behaviour is 'age appropriate'.
In this provocative and timely book, Catherine Mayer looks at the forces that created amortality - the term she coined to describe the phenomenon of living agelessly. As she follows this social epidemic through generations and across continents, she reveals its profound impact on society, our careers, our families and ourselves.
Why be defined by numbers?
Are you amortal?
Amortality
If one place on earth has vanquished nature and stopped the clocks, it is Las
Vegas. Built on land without water or any reliable resource apart from the
blazing sun, the resort entombs visitors in the permanent, cool, jangling dusk
of hotel casinos. Its skyscape positions ancient Egypt near Renaissance Venice
and fin de siècle Paris. I had come to this confected city to find out if the
Cenegenics Medical Institute, "the world's largest age-management practice,"
could subvert the laws of human biology with similar ease. First I had to locate
Cenegenics, and though you might think it would be easy to spot a building
described by its tenants as "quite a lot like the White House," the cab driver
took more than a few passes before we were able to pick out the right White
House from the rows of White Houses that have sprouted in the Nevada desert.
The meaning of age has become elusive, visual clues untrustworthy. Children dress like louche adults. Their parents slouch around in hoodies and sneakers. Rising phalanxes of Dorian Grays rely on exercise, diet and cosmetic procedures to remain transcendentally youthful, while glowing teens and 20-somethings are propelled by some of those same procedures into a semblance of premature aging.
The rules of age-appropriate behavior that used to be reliably drummed into us by parents and teachers, church and state, no longer hold sway. But we haven't lost faith; we've just transferred it, to scientists and celebrities. Hollywood is the home of amortality, the music industry its outreach program. "I think you should just keep going while you can, doing what you like," Mick Jagger observed at 66, ignoring his pronouncement in May 1975 that he'd rather be dead than be singing "Satisfaction" at — or presumably long after — 45. (See how to live 100 years.)
Doing what you like might include adopting children at 49 and 50, like Madonna; becoming a first-time dad at 62, like Elton John; preparing to marry a woman 60 years younger than yourself, like Hugh Hefner; or, like Jagger himself, reversing the traditional order of marriage and bachelorhood. These are amortal choices. But amortality is not invariably synonymous with extended youth. Meryl Streep represents a different expression of amortality, a true agelessness. And Woody Allen exhibits one of the classic symptoms of amortality, constructing a personal and professional life full of distractions. He never rests. He has turned out at least one film a year for all but three of the last 40 years and performs regularly with a jazz band. As he told an interviewer, "When you're worried about this joke, and this costume, and this wig, and that location and the dailies, you're not worried about death and the brevity of life."
The defining characteristic of amortals is that they live the same way, at the same pitch, doing and consuming much the same things, from their late teens right up until death. They rarely ask themselves if their behavior is age-appropriate, because that concept has little meaning for them. They don't structure their lives around the inevitability of death, because they prefer to ignore it. Instead, they continue to chase aspirations and covet new goods and services. Amortals assume all options are always open. They postpone retirement by choice, not just necessity; one of the reasons the American Association of Retired Persons changed its name to AARP was that many in its demographic were, in fact, still working. And they're having children later than ever — and often relying on fertility treatments to do so.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2065254,00.html#ixzz27CBf2eFj
That's the Vegas paradox: despite the
mind-boggling range of architectural styles and eras represented, there's a
remarkable uniformity to it all. The residents are similarly homogeneous.
Perma-tanned and toned, many of them sport a uniface common to both genders and
across the income range, from bellhops to casino owners. The uniface is defined
by absences: its eyebrows have been plucked, threaded or waxed into submission;
its fine little nose is free from bumps and bulges. Above all, it looks neither
young nor old. It is ageless. It is amortal. (See portraits of centenarians.)
Amortality — the term I coined for the burgeoning trend of living agelessly —
is a product of the world many of us now inhabit, a sprawl of virtual Las
Vegases, devoid of history and shorn of landmarks that might provide guidelines
for what is expected of us as the years pass. Youth used to be our last hurrah
before the onset of maturity and eventual dotage, each milestone — childhood,
adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, retirement, golden years, decline —
benchmarked against a series of culturally determined ideals. But as our life
spans have lengthened — across the developed world, we are now living 30 years
longer than we were at the beginning of the 20th century — the ages of man have
started to elide. If you doubt that statement, think how hard it is to answer
the following questions: What's the best age to have children? Or to settle down
with a life partner? Or to retire? When might a woman consider herself
middle-aged — at 40, 50, 60? Does that differ for a man? The meaning of age has become elusive, visual clues untrustworthy. Children dress like louche adults. Their parents slouch around in hoodies and sneakers. Rising phalanxes of Dorian Grays rely on exercise, diet and cosmetic procedures to remain transcendentally youthful, while glowing teens and 20-somethings are propelled by some of those same procedures into a semblance of premature aging.
The rules of age-appropriate behavior that used to be reliably drummed into us by parents and teachers, church and state, no longer hold sway. But we haven't lost faith; we've just transferred it, to scientists and celebrities. Hollywood is the home of amortality, the music industry its outreach program. "I think you should just keep going while you can, doing what you like," Mick Jagger observed at 66, ignoring his pronouncement in May 1975 that he'd rather be dead than be singing "Satisfaction" at — or presumably long after — 45. (See how to live 100 years.)
Doing what you like might include adopting children at 49 and 50, like Madonna; becoming a first-time dad at 62, like Elton John; preparing to marry a woman 60 years younger than yourself, like Hugh Hefner; or, like Jagger himself, reversing the traditional order of marriage and bachelorhood. These are amortal choices. But amortality is not invariably synonymous with extended youth. Meryl Streep represents a different expression of amortality, a true agelessness. And Woody Allen exhibits one of the classic symptoms of amortality, constructing a personal and professional life full of distractions. He never rests. He has turned out at least one film a year for all but three of the last 40 years and performs regularly with a jazz band. As he told an interviewer, "When you're worried about this joke, and this costume, and this wig, and that location and the dailies, you're not worried about death and the brevity of life."
The defining characteristic of amortals is that they live the same way, at the same pitch, doing and consuming much the same things, from their late teens right up until death. They rarely ask themselves if their behavior is age-appropriate, because that concept has little meaning for them. They don't structure their lives around the inevitability of death, because they prefer to ignore it. Instead, they continue to chase aspirations and covet new goods and services. Amortals assume all options are always open. They postpone retirement by choice, not just necessity; one of the reasons the American Association of Retired Persons changed its name to AARP was that many in its demographic were, in fact, still working. And they're having children later than ever — and often relying on fertility treatments to do so.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2065254,00.html#ixzz27CBf2eFj
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