Use it or lose it club

The website www.useitorloseitclub.com has articles aimed at people over the age of 50, covering topics relating to relationships, health, finance, family and lifestyle. It will contain original content, with interviews and photos of inspiring people and experts in various fields of interest to the over 50s.

I plan to make it fun and informative. Its scope is enormous. While it is essentially a blog under different story heads, it is also real journalism with original copy.

I am widely read on lifestyle matters relating to the over 50s, especially the so-called baby boomer generation and, through my work as a newspaper journalist, I have an interesting list of contacts, of people and organisations knowledgeable in topics of interest to that group.

And what a group it is - for it is the first generation of highly educated senior citizens. This generation is more knowledgeable and worldly than their parents and grandparents and more in touch with the younger generation than previous ``oldies''.

The baby boomers in particular is the generation which still runs the show, largely in charge of what people of all generations are reading, watching on television or in the cinemas and seeing in theatres.

People in the 50 to 65 age group see themselves as younger than their parents did at the same age. In fact, they do not really like being called seniors but rather still identify as being middle aged, or mature. Senior citizens sounds so old and they may never concede to being old as long as they have breath.

They grew up as the first generation using the term ``teenager'' - the first group to separate themselves from their parents as they moved into those years between childhood and adulthood, creating the teenage angst which today's teens think they invented but really had its beginnings in the 1950s. Rock 'n' roll started it all, was the beginning of today's music which many seniors find appealing, much to the chagrin of their children.

And who would have thought that the idols of the boomers, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger et al, would be entertaining their children?

The lines between this generation of seniors, the baby boomers, and subsequent generations are not as clear-cut as they were between the boomers and their far more staid parents. Of course, there will always be the generation gap - and baby boomers invented that as well!

So much grist for thought, I hope. I welcome your interest and input.

In the meantime, do take a look at www.useitorloseitclub.com and feel free to add your own thoughts on the subject.