Age and generational discrimination are problems in our society. There are a lot of stereotypes associated with older adults. There’s common stereotypes that we spread about older adults not being able to drive “proper” or fast, there’s also a lot of age-based discrimination in the work-place, some older adults are treated horrible and might be discriminated against in nursing homes or hospitals.
I think that a lot of things contribute to generational/age discrimination and the spreading of these stereotypes. I think the biggest thing right now that contributes to this discrimination is social media platforms. It’s very easy to spread stereotypes over Facebook or Twitter that some might believe is harmless. We learn stereotypes from others. As a society, we can look at trends or norms that would influence how we see people. If we pay attention to what others are spewing on the internet or listen to what our friends/family have to say about a certain subject we can become bias and conform to their beliefs, this is typically how societies work together to spread stereotypes and prejudice which lead to any kind of discrimination.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that discrimination will ever completely cease. However, I do believe that we can reduce its prevalence by doing individual research or education. I can say personally that I’ve learned a lot about healthy aging through research. By educating myself in this subject, I have been able to eliminate some beliefs that I had before about aging. I believe that if we all educate ourselves a little more on society patterns and the ideas of healthy aging, we can stop some of the spread of stereotypes and it can slow down forms of discrimination. I believe that one other thing we can do is to just be cautious on social media. Not everything on Facebook or Twitter is factual and it definitely CAN be harmful to people.
Conversations on Healthy Aging 
I like how you mentioned social media as being a form of communication we use to spread this idea of age discrimination. People of influence can use this and swiftly change someone’s idea of someone else. People are very negative and it is sad to see that there most likely will not be a crazy difference in how people treat others, but I like how you showed some hope in your last paragraph that we can keep spreading rays of hope by doing what we can to change it. I think if we simply realized how much each of us has gone through then we would respect each other so much more.
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