We explain old age with negative terms and deny acknowledging a natural aging process. We make-up notions about what we think the elderly are like. We conjure false impressions and receive the idea that they are all unproductive, boring, and forgetful. We, the youth, are normal and they, the elderly, are not. Youth perception is not the only cause of the separation between the young and the old.
Society can separate the youth and the elderly.
So our society purposely locks the elderly away from the outside world and youth. This prevents any interaction. Youth as well as the elderly seem to only identify with people of our own age. In effect, we form separate groups. As a volunteer at Knollwood Manor I noticed that the residents would converse often with each other.