Maybe we can
figure it out with some help from Mark Penn.
He is a political strategist who ran polls for presidential candidates
and authored the book, “Microtrends Squared.”
During his career, he became aware of information that many other
pollsters, news outlets, and marketers were not paying attention to, much less
analyzing. He is making his own news
nowadays pointing out what he observes and how he interprets it. His book offers many interesting examples of
what he calls microtrends and how they might add up to something bigger in our
future.
For instance,
we consumers, have been given more choices.
From burgers to personalized cosmetics and, of course, Starbucks, we can
have things just the way we want them. Penn
says,
“Something rather surprising happened, however, as consumers
got more choice. It turned out they
found choices they intensely liked, and they stuck with them. More choice ultimately resulted in people
making fewer choices. … Once everyone had the opportunity to choose their
perfect drink at Starbucks, most customers now ask for the ”regular” – the same
grande mocha Frappuccino they get every single day”(8).
We know that
for many seniors, the perception is that people have more choices in activities
on their own at home. But by the time a
person needs long-term care (LTC), that is not really the case any longer. Denial takes over as the person is able to do
less and less. At one facility where I
worked, there was a woman who sat moaning to herself in her wheelchair by the
nurse’s station. A family member told me
that, at home, his mom had basically been lying on the bed all day looking at
the ceiling. He thought maybe she might –finally-
be a candidate for assisted living. I
backed out of the conversation before I said something inappropriate. I don’t make any excuses for LTC. We CAN provide greater quality of life for
many of our residents than what they had been experiencing at home.
But they
reach LTC and suddenly there is a whole activity calendar full of choices. A bit overwhelming, yes? The Starbucks mentality says more choices are
better, but apparently human nature does not.
According to Penn, we will try some new things until we find our
favorite, and then stick with that.
Which brings us to bingo.
Straightforward rules that even someone with pretty advanced dementia
can still command. Happy payoff in
little dopamine bursts as you find each number.
Self-confidence among peers.
Respect from staff – yes, bingo deserves respect. Prizes!
What’s not to like? And the next
thing you know, the commitment to bingo is locked in place. Grande mocha Frappuccino, anyone?
What about
those who never used to play bingo but now will do almost nothing else? It certainly did not show up in their
activity history or MDS. For this, we must
remember the cell phone. Penn describes
the problem created by carefully finding out what people want and then sticking
with it:
“… they will often change their perspective when they see
something new. The big consulting
companies told AT&T that the cell phone would never take off. They were told it was nothing more than a
specialty item—because they were dealing with people as they were, not as they
would be transformed” (343).
Many
researchers have told us that our choices and preferences are affected by our
environment, experiences (new as well as old), and mental/emotional state,
among other things. All this is to say
that people do change. Even seniors in
LTC.
Even you and
I. So, where do you get your news? Penn explains that
“It is a powerful and unexpected result of the world of
microtrends that greater personalization created more polarization” (9).
One of the
other NAAP bloggers, Krista Fischer, ADC, recently shared some ideas on how to
deal with politics in the workplace.
What Penn’s book suggests to me is that the “microtrends” that affect
our politics can also affect our activity calendars in obscure ways.
We are
allowing a whole marketplace of internet providers like Facebook to collect
data about us. Penn describes how that
data helps businesses target their marketing to us individually … to allow us
the maximum of, once again, personalized choices. Back in the day, there were only 3 network
news channels to watch on TV and they were fairly similar because they were
targeting a general population. They
couldn’t afford to offend whole groups of viewers. But with all the cable channels available, and
the ability to target specific groups of viewers profitably, came more
polarized reporting. Hence CNN vs. Fox. People tend to watch one or the other with a
strong preference. If either channel
does try to include thoughtfully opposing viewpoints, many of the viewers will
protest in outrage. If you get your information
from the internet news or social media, it’s even worse. The info bots will ferret out your interests
and selectively feed you news stories that reinforce your opinions so that, in
the process, they can get their ads in front of you. Been Googling heartburn symptoms and
following your side of the latest political debate? Don’t worry.
They’ve got you pegged. You, and
this goes for liberals and conservatives, may have more in common with a
radicalized Muslim teen in Germany than you ever realized.
Penn sums up
his point,
“Perhaps the single greatest issue arising out of the
data-driven society we have built is that, when it comes to news, food, work,
or how we raise our children, more choice has resulted in people making fewer
and fewer choices. This is also maybe
the most difficult issue to correct.
Americans find what they like and cocoon within it, in ways that distort
their views of the rest of the world.
Then these choices reinforce themselves as we repeat them over and over
again”(343).
I like to
think that one of the challenges of my job as an activity professional is to
help people re-think their activity choices.
Some folks, bless their hearts (as we say here in the south), have a
gung-ho attitude and will come out for almost any activity. What would we do without their support? Others, bless their hearts, have cocooned
themselves in ways that distort their views of the world around them. It is difficult to change this choice, but
not impossible.
Oops, now
where did I leave my cell phone? It’s time
for bingo.
© Donna Stuart, ADC July
15, 2018
Penn,
Mark. Microtrends Squared. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018.
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