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Driving a car is a rite of passage in New York State when you're a teenager, a lifeline to a livelihood when you're an adult raising a family, and a means to maintain independence as you age. Handing over the keys, then, is one of the toughest transitions an elderly person will face.

True collectors, whether of teacups or tractor seats, are a breed apart, detached from the rest of us by the intensity of their passions. I once knew an older woman who collected manhole covers, dozens of which hung like works of art on the walls of her garage. You couldn't walk with her along the lane without stopping every 500 feet or so while she bent over and peered down.

"The unconditional love of a pet can do more than keep you company. Pets may also decrease stress, improve heart health, and even help children with their emotional and social skills," according to the National Institutes of Health. Kim Nichols, executive director of the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, weighed in on this topic in a question-and-answer session with The Star.

Community institutions like libraries, museums, and government organizations are offering interesting ways for older adults to find enjoyment, meet new friends, learn about history, and stay physically fit.

OK. I’m 76. Maybe you're 76, too. Surely, somebody out there reading this is 76. Or, older. Or, more likely, younger. So. 76. Not great. I think it was Bette Davis who said, "Old age ain't no place for sissies."

"Aging is different now," said Diane Patrizio, director of human services for East Hampton Town. She points out that the senior center serves people spanning at least two generations, from ages 60 to 100. Some go to Florida for the winter, others are lower-income. Some are frail, but most are active, she said, and "doing really well."

Studies show that social isolation among older adults can cause health problems, and that active seniors often lead happier, healthier lives. For instance, according to the Centers for Disease Control, “Social isolation was associated with about a 50-percent increased risk of dementia and other serious medical conditions.” Fortunately for seniors, South Fork institutions such as libraries, theaters, and health care facilities offer plenty of ways to connect with others — with just a few of their many offerings listed here.

The fellow giving out awards following the U.S. Open said tennis players live longer, as if it were settled science, and perhaps that is true — and I hope it is, for I am a tennis player — though three experts of my acquaintance with whom I spoke recently, all knowledgeable when it comes to tennis and golf, were in agreement that should you be wondering on the eve of your retirement whether to take up golf or tennis, you should take up golf, if for no other reason than it’s easier on the body.

You’ve likely heard of the digital nomad — in case not, it is defined as a person who works remotely while traveling freely, with laptops, smartphones, and Wi-Fi allowing a lifestyle free of a central workplace and even a home base. Untethered by material possessions, the digital nomad is free to pursue the best life, enjoying Instagram-worthy experiences in exotic locales virtually anywhere in the world. But working-age digitized hipsters aren’t the only ones getting in on the fun.

Need help with grocery shopping, library access, transportation to doctor appointments, or household tasks? Here are several resources offered by East Hampton and Southampton Towns for senior citizens.

The time is nearly upon us when many older East End residents pack up their houses and head south for the winter. To Dr. Charles Guida, a practitioner of internal medicine and gerontology since 1996, who also teaches in Stony Brook Medicine’s intern and resident program at its Southampton Hospital campus, The Star posed this question: “Is it safer to be a snowbird?”

Some say passion is impossible to fake, but for some South Fork retirees, it has also proven impossible to ignore, driving each to worlds beyond their fruitful, long-lived, and long-loved careers.

At its most basic, estate planning doesn’t need to be overcomplicated — but that doesn’t mean it’s easy, because it’s emotional, with death and dying looming over the necessary conversations.

The move from brunette to gray hair has become a topic of fascination for me and I’ve since watched others make the change with interest, embracing their natural color.

The residential elevator is gaining popularity on Long Island and on the East End in particular, where aging homeowners are finding that it’s adding years of useful life to houses taller than a single story.

These days, many people are living well into their 80s and 90s. Lois Nesbitt, a longtime yoga instructor and teacher-trainer who lives and works in East Hampton and New York City, specializes in helping older adults maintain their strength, stamina, flexibility, and balance, and has a lot to say about movement for older adults.

At 88, I've been granted tenure in an institution called "old age," a.k.a. "senior citizenship." It resembles a lifetime appointment in a university, where tenure is granted because of your books, articles, the quality of your teaching. But in tenure due to elderliness, the entrance requirements are entropy, chronological time, the density of your complaints, and your bone density. Aging into senior citizenship transforms your transient maladies into thermodynamic decay.

The enthusiastic booksellers at BookHampton in East Hampton Village want readers of all ages to feel inspired, entertained, informed, and enlightened. But for an older demographic, Jesse Bartel, the store manager, has curated a special summer-reading list.

In simpler times, the most prevalent scam to be on the lookout for was the so-called "Nigerian Prince" email scam, in which a fraudster would send out an email that persuaded a potential "mark" — often an older adult — to wire them some money in order to trigger the release of a bigger pot of money that was coming the victim's way. More recently, scammers have gotten menacingly creative and even use technology to take advantage of victims.

An abundance of activities, educational programs, and clubs are aimed at meeting the needs and interests of East Hampton's older residents, Diane Patrizio, the town's director of Human Services, said last month, noting that people 65 and older are projected to outnumber those under 18 by 2034, a first in American history.

This was supposed to be a compendium of not-to-be-missed films from the '30s, '40s, and maybe '50s, but truth be told, excepting maybe for King Kong and Snow White, the 1930s really don't deserve all that much ink. Along with some over-the-top Ziegfeld-y musicals and rudimentary westerns, the Depression-era decade gave us a lot of forgettable flicks designed to arouse social consciousness. Most of them sank like a stone. The '40s were quite another story.

The volunteers of the Springs Library, Meals on Wheels, the food pantry, and other agencies are some of the many faces of dedication to community, speaking to a kind of altruistic giving that Dr. Stephen Post, director of Stony Brook Medicine's Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics, says is the mark of someone who stands to a live a longer, more fulfilling, and happier life. "There's an endless list of benefits that are well studied," Dr. Post told The Star.

A new East Hampton Town senior citizens center on Abraham’s Path in Amagansett took another step toward reality on Tuesday when the architects selected for the project presented updated plans to the town board. Design development and construction documentation will continue for another six months, with hopes of putting the project out to bid in the first half of 2024.

Those coming of age in the 1960s and ‘70s have either arrived at retirement or are about to enter that stage of life soon, comprising a demographic that studies show is both returning to marijuana and trying it for the first time. “It’s the legalization that is piquing people’s curiosity once again,” said David Falkowski, a cannabis expert, grower of industrial hemp, and producer and seller of CBD products. “Old people love weed.”