Age, they say, is nothing but a number. Of course, it’s a little more than that, but when it comes to dating it should never hold you back. One of the greatest tragedies of modern discourse is the tendency to throw away or ignore the needs of the older generation. Love, companionship and sex are all things that 60 plus daters desire, but so often we’re told that it’s simply not acceptable that that’s the case.
Well, stuff that.
With advancement in medical sciences, with better availability of medical care and also with more awareness to lead a better life, people are living longer. More than that though, with the democratisation of technology, more and more of us are getting online and finding love with mature online dating websites.
Twenties used to be considered to be the ideal time for dating. Today, it doesn’t really matter how old you are. There will be many people in your age or generation who would be looking for a date and possibly a new relationship.
Let us look at some of the many factors that have contributed
- First is of course health and long life. Not even a century ago, the world was plagued by wars. Millions of people from various countries died on innumerable battlefields at a tender age. They did not get to see their forties, fifties or sixties. With catastrophic wars being a thing of the past, young men and women get to live a more normal life.Also, most health problems have a solution today. Apart from the few incurable diseases, health concerns are rarely fatal now. Besides, advanced medical care can pre-empt ailments through diagnoses and people are prescribed diets, medications and a certain lifestyle to ensure that some impending health concerns are averted or delayed. There was a time when a person aged seventy or eighty would raise sighs of surprise. Today, people aged eighty and healthy or crossing the threshold of ninety and heading for a century is not rare or uncommon.
- Since people are living long and are healthy, they can always date. But being around is not the only reason why over sixty dating has sped up. There are many pragmatic factors, some of which are not very desirable or pleasant. Divorce is one of the primary reasons why over sixty dating has become so common. With close to half of the adult population in America divorced or heading for a divorce, there are more single adults than ever before. These men and women may start dating immediately but that is unlikely when there are kids and responsibilities.In thousands of cases, men and women start to focus on their careers and kids. By the time kids grow up and one accumulates a certain amount of money to consider their lives a tad secured financially, one is fifty or older. By middle age, one attains financial freedom. We are not talking about millionaires or billionaires here, although there are many rich people who amass their fortune after they turn fifty or sixty. When kids have grown up, careers are done with, one has sufficient money and no partner or spouse; it is obvious that the person would look for someone, more of a friend or companion than a casual date.
- The third set of reasons why over sixty dating is in vogue has to do with how a person looks and their sexual health. Today, cases of erectile dysfunction or infertility are not taboo any more, simply because there are medical cures for the same.People aged sixty and above are also looking better, thanks to more awareness, exercise, healthy diets and albeit cosmetic products and also surgeries. When a man or woman is good looking, has money, is done with all responsibilities and has plenty of free time to live life, why shouldn’t that man or woman find a date and go around and have fun?
Apart from the factors or reasons mentioned above, there is another reality that has triggered over sixty dating. That factor is psychological.
Living alone in twenties or thirties is hard enough but one still has their professional world, hopes of meeting new people and possibly finding that one special person and there is a lot of activity around to get engrossed in. When someone is sixty or above, there is little to look around for or forward to; kids have moved out and working somewhere, some may even have grandkids and most sexagenarians have a lot of idle time which is spent alone. Dating can certainly do away with this alone time which is certainly not solitude but undesired loneliness.