Meet Stanley Blum. He’s 94 years old. He survived the Great Depression, World War II and 35 years in the shoe industry. Today — as a poet, painter and seeker — Blum has finally manifested his true inner self. He is engaged in a creative whirlwind of self-discovery that took off at age 80 and grows more textured and vibrant...
Trendpost
Outsourcing for boomers: The extended work force is here to stay. Freelancing is expected to grow sharply in the immediate years ahead. Opportunities are ripe for boomers, including writers, artists, information technology experts, market analysts, educators and financial experts. More and more boomers will enter this arena. Community causes: Community causes that are supported by organized groups, foundations and events...
Older adults come of age in social media
Not long ago, older folks were ridiculed as being technologically too clueless to program the clock on a DVD player. Now people 55 and older are the fastest-growing group adopting social media: more than 43 percent of Americans 65 and older are using Facebook and its cohorts, compared to just 1 percent in 2008. The Pew Internet and American Life...
How to reach “Baby Boomers”
People over 55 don’t think of themselves as being old and don’t like to be reminded that they are. Use the term “Baby Boomers” to address the “new old.” The word “seniors” is now more often applied to people in their early to mid-70s and “elders” to people in their late 70s and beyond. Don’t assume that people who are...
Digital learning’s golden era
If you can recall the Golden Era of comic books or remember a time before anti-smoking laws all but obliterated matchbook advertising, you may have been tempted to learn to draw at home. The Famous Artists School was, perhaps, the most well known of all the correspondence schools. It offered an art and illustration course that anyone, anywhere could take...
Digital Learning Trendposts
• Professional education courses — Teacher re-certification programs and professional development courses will be made available in record numbers.• Summer school — Rather than sit in a brick-and-mortar classroom, high schoolers who need to re-take a class to recover credit can take the course online, whether through their local school or via an accredited online provider. Students can also advance...
Our Top Trends for 2013, revisited
When we launched a series of improvements to our Trends Journal last summer, we promised you we would hold ourselves accountable for the forecasts we made and the quality and accuracy of our analyses. Here’s a look back at what we forecast a year ago and how we did. — Trends Research Institute staff The 1st Great War of the...
Grim trend lines with glimmers of opportunity
This is my 34th year of forecasting trends. For the past dozen or so, when analyzing the trends that would shape much of the year ahead, I would say, “How sad, the future looks less promising than the past.” Unfortunately, I’ve been right. Each year ends worse than the year before. And I’m not alone. Along with indisputable socioeconomic statistics and hard geopolitical...
Benghazi Jane
From what I understand , “Benghazi Jane” (Hillary) could have,but didn’t, run to the defense of her friend,the Libyan Ambassador, and 3 others,resulting in their murders. How can we trust her to defend Americans, if she’s elected President?? As I see it, she has had remarkably undistinguished accomplishments as Secretary of State. BTW, I love how you talk…my family roots...