Out with Commitment, in with Enrichment

We’ve spent the last year exploring the ways older adults want to enhance love, work, and friendship in their later years. As we looked back at the many things we’ve learned from our community, a common thread emerged across these themes — we found that older adults want easy to schedule, spontaneous, and opt-in ways to socialize, explore new curiosities, and fill their time in meaningful ways.

Featured feedback

“In later life we have the freedom to do what we want, when we want, and how we want to”

Members of our community have shared with us that later life can feel like entering a new stage where you have the opportunity to re-prioritize yourself again. Older adults tend to have less formal responsibilities such as raising families, completing education, or climbing career ladders, which in turn offers more space for them to do what they choose. For some, this may look like reconnecting with old friends, picking up new hobbies, learning a new skill, or getting back into the dating scene. We heard that some view more free time as a blank slate ripe with unlimited opportunity and others feel like it’s unfamiliar territory with no clear path for how one will fill their time.

Why it matters

Regardless of what older adults may be looking to do with their time in later life, they want to stay open to opportunity and not be weighed down by hectic schedules or mindless consumption. Older adults have earned this special time in their lives and want to find and do the things that offer joy and stimulation. We continue to hear that as we grow older our curiosity only expands, and with more time to nurture it, older adults want to test out new interests and socialize with like-minded people on their own time and in the ways that matter to them.

What we’re learning

Older adults want to fill their time in meaningful ways, without being overcommitted.

Although older adults may have more space to pursue their own interests in later life, they also appreciate efficiency and experiences that are worthy of their time. We’ve learned that events, courses, or gatherings that require advance booking or extended time commitments are less desirable because they detract from the flexibility that older adults appreciate in later life. Older adults are looking for products and services which remove tedious and time consuming components and foster enrichment over busyness. They value meaningful engagement and therefore prioritize experiences that offer joy, authentic connection and intellectual stimulation, and appreciate services which curate relevant opportunities to explore their interests.

The opportunity

When designing for older adults, build for flexibility and enrichment.

Older adults want services that help contribute to a flexible lifestyle, that allow them to be available to new opportunities that may arise. Design for this by offering curated and flexible opportunities to engage in activities, combined with low commitment scheduling services which centralize information and offerings relevant to the older adult user.

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