1 . It is commonplace to come across instances of students or young professionals of the same age groups renting together.     1     More young adults are now choosing intergenerational housing arrangements, living with people in their 60s and 70s.

Intergenerational housing whereby Gen Zers and Millennials rent a room from an elderly homeowner is not limited to a particular region.     2    

In recent years, the high cost of living makes it nearly impossible for young adults to find affordable accommodations in major urban areas.     3     In fact, many universities develop such intergenerational housing programs. For example, Des Moines-based Drake University offers its music students a chance to live rent-free at one regional senior living center, provided they perform certain chores for the elderly residents.

    4     Many feel staying with seniors helps them learn life lessons, such as financial and home ownership responsibilities. They find the arrangement great for studying and decompressing (解压) after work as the homes are usually quiet and orderly. They also find such arrangements much better than staying with a loud, dirty roommate!

The elderly find renting their homes to young people a win-win proposition. They have someone able and energetic for company and the additional income helps them offset (抵消) the cost of home ownership.     5    

2 . One third of adults over 65 in America have never used the Internet, and half don’t even have Internet access at home. In San Francisco, “the center of tech”, 40% of older adults do not have basic digital literacy skills.

This situation is becoming appalling as over 10,000 Americans turn 65 every single day. By 2050,22% of Americans will be 65 or older. Meanwhile, technology is developing very fast. This means that a large number of people will be unable to proficiently use emergent technology.

Many people believe that seniors aren’t required to participate in our tech future because they’ll be retired and relaxed soon. But this is the farthest thing from the truth. Baby boomers are currently experiencing a different boom: With more people getting older than ever before, their life expediencies are also increasing dramatically. With medical advancements, the number of American people projected to live into their 90’s has doubled since 1965.

However, they don’t have strong financial or educational support. This is not a problem; it’s a crisis. More than half of employees over 50 have been laid off in what’s being called ”forced retirement“. And few organizations are actively helping older employees make the transition from full-time jobs to part-time ones. For those fortunate enough to be employed, 3 out of 5 older workers experience prejudice.

The easiest solution is to teach digital literacy. If baby boomers want to survive the forthcoming retirement crisis, they should get enough digital knowledge and skills to operate today’s tools and tomorrow’s platforms. With every crisis comes an opportunity. Tutoring, customer service, editing, research, book-keeping, and other virtual assistance-based work open the doors. But again, digital knowledge is first required to live in our high-tech society and gig economy. So try to get more online and navigate the growing number of sites and apps.