Why Are We So Afraid of Getting Older? Make This Make Sense ep12 Ashton Applewhite Getting older is inevitable. So why does our culture treat aging like something to fight, hide, apologize for—or fear? Author and anti-ageism activist Ashton Applewhite joins us to unpack the stereotypes we’ve absorbed about getting older, why ageism affects people of all ages, and how our fear of aging may actually make aging harder. We talk about beauty standards, work, retirement, relationships, health, the billion-dollar anti-aging industry—and what changes when we stop seeing aging as decline and start questioning the story we’ve been sold about it. Topics 🎂 Why we’re afraid of getting older 🧠 The stereotypes we absorb about aging 🚫 What ageism actually looks like 👩 Why ageism hits women differently 💰 The business of “anti-aging” 🪞 Beauty standards and looking “good for your age” ❤️ Relationships, sexuality, and aging 🩺 Aging vs. illness and disability 👵 Why “young at heart” isn’t necessarily a compliment 📱 Ageism in media and popular culture About Ashton Applewhite Ashton Applewhite is an author, activist, and one of the world’s leading voices challenging ageism. She began writing about aging and age bias in 2007, driven by a deceptively simple question: Why is our view of getting older so relentlessly negative when the lived experience is often so different? That question became This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, which the United Nations has credited with helping raise global awareness about ageism and how to dismantle it. She is also the co-founder of the Old School Hub for Age Equity and Ageism Awareness and has spoken about ageism everywhere from universities and community organizations to the Library of Congress, the United Nations, and the TED mainstage. Applewhite’s work has been recognized by the New York Times, NPR, the New Yorker, and the American Society on Aging, and she has been named a fellow by organizations including the Knight Foundation, Yale Law School, and the Royal Society for the Arts. In 2022, the United Nations named her one of its Healthy Ageing 50, recognizing leaders working to make the world a better place to grow older, and in 2026 she received the American Society on Aging’s Ageism & Culture Award. At the heart of her work is a challenge that fits Make This Make Sense perfectly: If growing older is something almost all of us hope to do, why have we been taught to fear it? 🔗 Connect with Ashton https://thischairrocks.com/ https://oldschool.info/ https://ashtonapplewhite.substack.com/ 🔗 Connect with Make This Make Sense If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe for more episodes where we break down the systems, trends, and ideas that shape our everyday lives with experts who make them make sense on Substack, YouTube, Spotify or Apple. And connect with us on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook: @makethismakesensepod NOTE: The views expressed on Make This Make Sense are those of the hosts and guests and do not represent Florida Gulf Coast University or any other institution with which they are affiliated. Copyright © 2026, Make This Make Sense Team. All Rights Reserved. Reuse/remix allowed with attribution. Chapters 0:00:00 Welcome to Make This Make Sense 🎙️ 0:00:27 Meet Ashton Applewhite & Rethinking Everything We Know About Aging 👩🦳 0:03:03 What Is Ageism — And Are We All Doing It? 🧠 0:04:24 Ageism Doesn't Start When You're Old 🎂 0:05:31 How Ageism Changes the Way We See Ourselves 🪞 0:15:10 The Economic Cost of Ageism 💰 0:27:25 How Ashton Became an Anti-Ageism Activist 📚 0:31:45 The Secret to a Good Old Age: Your Social Network 🤝 0:39:30 What We Get Wrong About Nursing Homes & Aging 🏡 0:41:00 Who Profits From Our Fear of Getting Older? 💸 0:46:00 The Perfect Response to “You Look Great for Your Age” 😂 0:48:30 Getting Older Would Make More Sense If... 💡 0:49:00 Ashton’s Resources for Rethinking Ageism 📖 0:52:00 Final Thoughts & Making Aging Make Sense ❤️