Index Age in the media Conclusion References Aging is a constant for every person. People experienced the joy and excitement of youth before they were condemned to the horrors of being frail and old. Or rather, popular media wanted people to believe this about aging. To be sure, such perceptions were mostly false, simply myths and usually harmful stereotypes. While there were some positive stereotypes that portrayed elders as a wealth of wisdom and leaders of society, there were even more negative stereotypes that were harmful to society. Ageism was a disease that afflicted many cultures. One in four Canadians between the ages of 20 and 75 admitted to treating someone differently because they were older (Revera, 2016). The idea that older people were useless and incompetent robbed an entire generation of people of years of their lives. This essay will examine how popular culture portrays older adults in the media and the effects of the “useless and incompetent” stereotype in mental, physical, and social aspects. This essay will also explain why nurses have a duty to combat this stereotype and intervene to create a difference in healthcare settings. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Ageism in the Media Consumerism was obsessed with young people, even older people (Kleyman, 2017). The older adults consisted of the Third and Fourth Ages. Old age was the era of a person's life when he or she was financially secure and healthy with little or no responsibilities. On the other hand, the Fourth Age was associated with the deterioration of health and the inevitability of death. Ageism has created a further age divide in popular culture. The Third Age was seen simply as an older youth, while the Fourth Age was further isolated by the loss of pleasure and autonomy. This led to pervasive stereotypes within popular culture that portrayed older adults as superfluous and incompetent. For example, anti-aging culture was a market that fed on the stereotype that older people are useless and therefore undesirable. Success was linked to the image of a young and slim appearance (de Mendonça, 2016). Anti-aging has affected more women than men, both because they are the target market, but also because statistically women live longer than men. The old, wrinkled woman's face often had negative connotations in the media, causing people to internalize these harmful messages. This unattractive image of an aging body has led to the isolation of the elderly in society (de Mendonça). Although there were representations of older adults that showed aging as positive rather than negative, the representation was unrealistic and unattainable, especially for those from low-income families. However, the negative image of the elderly has created an environment that has fostered discrimination, creating lasting effects in older adults and throughout society. Negative perceptions of older adults were not only reinforced by younger people, but also by older adults themselves. This internalized ageism has been detrimental to the mental health of older adults. In Canada, 51% of seniors aged 77 and older believe they cannot do activities on their own. Furthermore, one in four people from the same population reported that people made decisions for them without asking for their input because of their age (Revera, 2016). This feeling of hopelessness and worthlessness has created a higher risk of psychopathologies such as depressionin the elderly. For example, studies have shown that depression in later life was associated with the inability to perform activities of daily living and negative self-critical perceptions (Han & Richardson, 2015). Having their ability to make decisions taken away can worsen mental health. Loss of control, lack of purpose and hopelessness were all related to suicidal behavior. usually seen in older adults who refuse treatment in favor of death to escape a meaningless life. Ageism has also created worse outcomes for older adults in minority communities. For example, queer older adults already had a high rate of depression and suicide due to their gender and sexuality. However, ageism was still prevalent within the community. Programs within LGBTQ communities were often targeted at queer youth, leaving older adults with a lack of resources and worse outcomes. Furthermore, older adults within the queer community were still suffering from the effects of ageism experienced by the rest of the population. The public also had a tendency to erase queer elders and ignore their lived experiences, dismissing them as irrelevant. This isolation and erasure due to a lack of meaning in youth culture has created a population of older adults who are highly at risk for mental health issues. In addition to mental health effects, age stress has also caused health effects related to chronic disease. For example, stress that comes with age could lead to fatal cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke. Additionally, learned desperation due to age has also created unhealthy behaviors in older adults. For example, after life-threatening events, such as an acute myocardial infarction, older adults with negative perceptions about age showed less improvement than older adults with positive beliefs about age (Brenner, 2017). Nurses and other healthcare workers have also played a role in the harmful physical effects of ageism. Older people often had their concerns ignored and received fewer routine screenings than younger people. Older adults also received less aggressive treatments than younger people, resulting in worse outcomes. Finally, while older adults were one of the populations in need of greater health incentives, program budgets were typically allocated to younger populations, leading older adults with fewer resources to better physical health. Older adults suffered from stereotypes within the workforce and their home lives. First, due to the useless and incompetent stereotype, older people have more difficulty finding work than younger people. As the workforce rapidly evolves technologically, employers tend to believe that older adults are averse to or incapable of learning new skills. Older people were also seen as less productive and lacking stamina. For example, older adults running for public office were often asked whether they had the stamina to lead, despite their years of experience (Raynor, 2015). The elderly were also socially excluded from domestic life and many of them suffered from elder abuse. In the United States of America, one in ten adults aged 60 and over has experienced abuse. Many have been neglected, exploited, and physically harmed due to the perception of being worthless and incompetent (Blancato & Ponder, 2015). This view of incompetence also extended to the healthcare context in the form of elder language, a form of communication that infantilized and degraded older adults. The simplification of concepts, the high-pitched voice and terms of endearment like “honey” or “honey” wereall aspects of the language of the elderly. While many professionals intended no ill will towards this practice, the elders' language remained offensive and damaging to the elder's self-image. Not only does elder language diminish the elder's intellect, thus providing the stereotype of incompetence, but it also diminishes the elder's self-esteem and sense of independence. Therefore, healthcare providers put older adults at risk for mental health problems, such as depression and suicidal behavior. Ageism has created harmful social environments throughout society. Nurses should create programs and incentives to combat the effects of age discrimination. While internalized ageism was apparently a major cause of health problems among older adults, upstream solutions that combat ageism in healthcare and society will create a better impact. Nurses have a duty to ensure the safety of the entire population, therefore they must support the end of ageism. Nurses can start in the workplace by critically reflecting on their own biases and analyzing how these change their practice. Nurses should always provide culturally competent care, so their biases should not influence the treatment of older adults. Nurses should also teach nursing students about elderspeak and the harmful effects that come with the practice before entering the healthcare setting. Nurses should also conduct programs within the healthcare system to inform the interprofessional healthcare team about the language of older adults. Programs with occupational therapists who trained people to speak to older adults with respect rather than elder speak have created better outcomes for patients, so similar programs may prove useful in the future. Nurses should also defend ageism in the media. Programs that raise awareness about the effects of antiaging products on mental perceptions of aging could help the public understand that aging is not undesirable. Additionally, public health nurses could create programs that challenge negative stereotypes about aging within the community. For example, programs that encourage healthy behaviors in older adults without the obsession with looking young can increase positive views of aging within the community. Furthermore, nurses should defend institutionalized ageism by encouraging health systems to allocate more money to preventative primary health care for older adults. This ensures better mental and physical outcomes for seniors. Finally, nurses should support an inclusive workforce that recruits and retains older employees. This includes providing them with the same level of education and resources as the rest of the population. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Conclusion Although the popular media has forgotten that seniors are people, nurses are not. Ageism is a pervasive aspect of many cultures that negatively affects older adults mentally, physically, and socially. Nurses have a duty to protect older adults and implement anti-ageism interventions. While ageism can be difficult to completely eradicate, nurses can help reduce its effects in the workplace and community. Nurses should teach the world again about the limitless capabilities of the elderly and challenge those who continue to echo the false “useless and incompetent” image that the media wants to portray./10.1080/13607863.2017.1304522