I never thought "retirement" would become a challenge ...

[John From Detroit]

I joined the electrical workers union in 1972. My knees gave out on me in 1989 so I retired. I worked for 17 years and I have been retired for 34 years. My Dr told me I would die around age 50 but he appears to have been wrong. I have been retired for twice as long as I worked. My monthly checks total more than when I was working.

Reminds me of a college prof I read about. He taught Phys Ed and ran everywhere.
His doctor told him "You keep running like that you will die young"
He told the doctor "I'll bet you $10.00 that in 10 years I'm in better shape than you"
Doc took the bet

Alas 10 years later he was unable to collect the ten bucks.. The doc... died.

 

[UTTransplant]

I keep track of days with my handy dandy pill container that is labeled LOL! Actually it is my phone that keeps my calendar. I have alarms set to remind me of things, and if it isn’t in my calendar, it doesn’t get done. That is pretty much the same as when I was working, but there are fewer things that need done these days. But physically things do go downhill. My days of wilderness canoeing are over. I can no longer hike for 5-7 miles with a light pack on my back. But I can still drive the motorhome, still see beauty, still do my hobbies. But I definitely see doctors more often than my previous once a year physical!

 

[TheBar]

Actually it is my phone that keeps my calendar. I have alarms set to remind me of things, and if it isn’t in my calendar, it doesn’t get done.

Smart phones benefit seniors more than any other age group. The phone replaces the memory that fails with age. What is the day, date, and time? Just press the power button. At the doctors office I have my phone ready to put in our next appointment. I'd lose the paper card reminder before I got to the car. Once I get too old to read the screen I can use voice control to put in any reminders, alarms, plus read and reply to emails/text messages, and of course, this forum And when it becomes legal here the phone map will take my self driving car anywhere I want to go. Except they say neural implants will replace phones.

 

[UTTransplant]

Smart phones benefit seniors more than any other age group. The phone replaces the memory that fails with age.

Ha Ha H! But I relied on my phone (or computer or my electronic calendar I used to carry way before cell phones (can’t remember the brand name) for many, many years. I was a project manager and program manager in my last 30 years at work, and it was mostly back to back meetings or meeting prep. If it wasn’t in my calendar at work, it still didn’t exist even 30 years ago.

 

[TheBar]

Ha Ha H! But I relied on my phone (or computer or my electronic calendar I used to carry way before cell phones (can’t remember the brand name) for many, many years. I was a project manager and program manager in my last 30 years at work, and it was mostly back to back meetings or meeting prep. If it wasn’t in my calendar at work, it still didn’t exist even 30 years ago.

Same here. But when my first smart phone started synchronizing the calendar and emails with my computer at work it was revolutionary. Like sitting in a doctor's office and being able to reply to my work emails. Or checking to see what I needed to do next after leaving the doctor's office.

Before retirement I did and still do keep notes and a list of to-do tasks in Outlook so I can stay organized on my phone and home computer.

 

[garyb1st]

Been retired for 22 years. I haven't worn a watch for 20 years. If I need to know what time it is, I look at my phone.

It's my memory that concerns me. I keep loosing things. For example, the other day I was talking to my daughter and I wanted to know what time it was. I looked all over my desk and finally asked my wife if she could fine it. She laughed and said, "it's in your hand".

 

[Cmprman]

 

[Larry N.]

Smart phones benefit seniors more than any other age group. The phone replaces the memory that fails with age.

Perhaps that's true for many, and while that's fine if you always keep that phone with you, unless I'm away from the house that phone is unlikely to be immediately accessible, perhaps on a dresser or tabletop in another part of the house. So I've never developed the habit of looking at my phone to check out times or dates -- I'm as likely to walk into the other room to the computer as I am to go find my phone (pocket computer, really, for me -- phone use rarely) in order to check the calendar. I almost never check time with it, however, even if it's in my pocket. My wrist watch works fine for that.

I used to keep a small calendar book in my pocket before we had cell phones, but don't even need that very much any more.

 

[Laura & Charles]

In addition to date, day of week, what I came into a room for, etc. As full timers in our 10th year, we migrate north and south to stay in reasonably moderate climes. I often have to stop and think about what season it is. It often begins while driving and wondering if I’ll be encountering school buses. At first, what day of the week, next what month/season.
We both retired about a year ago, and the other things mentioned here have gotten worse. But not knowing the season has been ongoing for a while now.

 

[ziplock]

Time used to be important to me. Now time is important to me.

 

[Babe2201]

Is that really a bad thing? I would think as long as you get to any appointments, events, or family related things does it really make a difference if you don't know what day it is most of the time?

 

[Isaac-1]

Smartphones are great for reading fine print, way better than a magnifying glass

 

[TonyL]

Just think back to when you were only 15. If someone told you then half of what has actually happened since, you would think they'd read too many sci-fi comics

 

[Larry N.]

Just think back to when you were only 15. If someone told you then half of what has actually happened since, you would think they'd read too many sci-fi comics

When I was 15 there weren't many (if any) sci-fi comics, though sci-fi books were common. But not everything today would be a complete surprise to one who'd read Heinlein- his Space Cadet, for example, had what were essentially cell phones**, his The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress had a computer that came to "life," much smarter than today's so-called AI, and that's just one far sighted author and only a couple of items in a couple of his novels. And a few early movies, such as Forbidden Planet, had some interesting thoughts too.

Still, your point is well-taken since so few (comparatively) folks back then read sci-fi or gave much thought to an actual future such as we have experienced.

Curiously I had an interesting conversation many years back that's a bit related: In the late '70s a friend and I each got a TRS-80, and we messed around with learning Basic and machine language, as well as digging into the innards, functionally speaking. One day he and I were at our kitchen table chatting about the future of computers and we postulated that one day there'd be computers with color, much higher resolution and much more that would describe typical computers of the '90s. DW scoffed at this, saying it wasn't possible. By the late '80s she'd seen the Amiga and the earl;y PCs and admitted she'd been very surprised when this all actually happened.

---

** From Wikipedia:
The novel contains an early description of a mobile phone:

Matt dug a candy bar out of his pouch, split it and gave half to Jarman, who accepted it gratefully. "You're a pal, Matt, I've been living on my own fat ever since breakfast -- and that's risky. Say, your telephone is sounding."Oh!" Matt fumbled in his pouch and got out his phone. "Hello?"

The phone "was limited by its short range to the neighborhood of an earth-side [i.e. terrestrial] relay office". A cadet avoids having to talk to his family while traveling by packing his phone in luggage.

 

[LarsMac]

Another reason I keep track of days of the week,
Most BarBQ places are closed on Mondays. At least the really good ones.

 

[Isaac-1]

Another reason I keep track of days of the week,
Most BarBQ places are closed on Mondays. At least the really good ones.

That must be a Colorado thing, down here the good ones are only open Thurs-Saturday, maybe Wednesday-Saturday

 

[woof-n]

I have been retired for 7 years. I can't say that this is the best time of my life, but I don't remember a better time. My biggest surprise in retirement is the pain. Everything else I had planned for.

 

[RNS1]

I just cant get the hang of my phone/puter as an appt reminder, still write it in on the paper calendar.

 

[NY_Dutch]

My wife and I use Google's calendar on both of our laptops and phones. The calendars on all four devices are synchronized, so we always know what the other has coming up. We haven't found the Google calendar difficult to learn and use. We also have tracking enabled on each other's Google maps, so we can always tell where the other one is. We're seldom apart anymore, but my wife still likes the security of tracking me when I run to the store or something.

 

[Wasillaguy]

I set reminders for appointments etc. in my calendar but in the notation of what the alarm is for I often type in something cryptic, so I will know what it means but any data scraping programs will not know how to categorize it.