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I turned 40 this year. It is definitely a time you start thinking about your past and the future ahead of you. I think about health problems you can develop, li

I turned 40 this year. It is definitely a time you start thinking about your past and the future ahead of you. I think about health problems you can develop, like bad back, bad knees, obesity etc. My dad was very slim and fit in his 30s, but I remember how fat he got in his 40s and how he later developed diabetes because of it. I also really miss the excitement and novelty I felt about things when I was younger. I look at my kids, how the smallest things are so fun and exciting for them. Now so much just feel like so much like "been there, done that". If If watch a movie, it all feels so predictable. If I travel, there doesn't seem like anything ever seems fresh or new anymore. Perhaps because the world has become more similar. You can buy the same stuff anywhere in the world and the same chain stores are all over the world. It also feels like I haven't quite followed up with expectations. When I visit the homes of parents of my kids playmates, their houses look so proper and serious. I feel I can't have people on visit because I still got half assembled 3D printers and robots in the living room. I feel like somebody who doesn't really want to grow up, but everybody is pushing me in that direction, even myself in the sense that I can't feel the same geek appreciating for technology. Technology feels less and less exciting and more like tools with a purpose. They have no intrinsic value as novelties or coolness. Strangely I seem to care way more about people than technology. Do other ex-geeks/present geeks feel this way? Like tech stuff just isn't as interesting anymore. You get more interested in people? I think it is more fun to teach technology or write about it now, than actually doing it.

slfnflctd 8y ago
I am close to 40, and hang out with lots of people older than myself. Health concerns are greater, most of us have at least one new-ish permanent/cyclical ailment. The only way I feel like I can recapture youthful novelty is some kind of drug (beer, legal cannabis, psychiatric meds, etc), or certain kinds of physical/mental exertion. Agree hugely that technology is less exciting and more simply tools, each with lots of complex tradeoffs. An interesting project is only about the tools until you can (as quickly as possible) stop thinking about them to focus only on the project. Projects are life. People are the best projects, because they become 'new project spawn points' (and also for other reasons, heh). When you meet someone who is willing to continually work with you in exploring balanced mutual space to amuse and learn from/with each other, it's golden. Then you can take those skills back to refresh older relationships. We help each other grow, improve, recover and/or adapt, and when the shit hits the fan, nothing else matters more. Everything we love most in life requires other people in some way, they are the source of our core energy, our best protection and more.
groby_b 8y ago
Yes, health starts creeping in - it's inevitable. (I'll be reaching 50 in a year, so I've done that 40's gig almost up to the next promotion ;) But excitement and novelty? Every day. You get more discerning in what you do, but there's plenty of interesting stuff. And yes, people are more interesting than tech - they're slightly less predictable. You might want to question why you litter your living room with it if it doesn't feel interesting, though. FWIW, for me the 40s were about defining who I really am. It's taken a lot of work, but it's given me so much freedom. I know who I am. I don't need to prove myself anymore. I don't need to do things because other people tell me I'll like them. I can make decisions knowing they rest within my values, not pushed by external sources. It sounds like you're starting to look at that question, too. I'd recommend doing it with professional guidance (therapist/life coach/priest/whathaveyou), it's easier that way.
- taurath 8y ago
  I’m in my early 30s and watching how my friends are “progressing” on the novelty curve is interesting, especially as it comes to tech and pastimes. We were all big gamers for a long while, and while I’m much more interested in people they still churn through the games. I kind of wonder if there is a natural point of when it all starts to feel the same, or whether it’s really possible to get be that sense of novelty forever. I guess people can be film buffs all their lives!
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    I'm soon turning 30. I still like games but I can't do the treadmill of new releases anymore; the games I have interest in playing are much fewer and focused in fewer genres. Increasingly I gravitate toward skill-based arcade-style games and competitive games and away from anything with a story and console-style progression.
nvarsj 8y ago
> Strangely I seem to care way more about people than technology. Do other ex-geeks/present geeks feel this way? Like tech stuff just isn't as interesting anymore. You get more interested in people? I think it is more fun to teach technology or write about it now, than actually doing it. Yes! I think there is so little that is truly new, at some point you've "seen it all". It just gets relabled / repackaged over and over again. And the fact that most tech work is ultimately for some boring business goal. Real life and the people in it are way more interesting.

slfnflctd 8y ago

I am close to 40, and hang out with lots of people older than myself. Health concerns are greater, most of us have at least one new-ish permanent/cyclical ailment. The only way I feel like I can recapture youthful novelty is some kind of drug (beer, legal cannabis, psychiatric meds, etc), or certain kinds of physical/mental exertion. Agree hugely that technology is less exciting and more simply tools, each with lots of complex tradeoffs. An interesting project is only about the tools until you can (as quickly as possible) stop thinking about them to focus only on the project. Projects are life. People are the best projects, because they become 'new project spawn points' (and also for other reasons, heh). When you meet someone who is willing to continually work with you in exploring balanced mutual space to amuse and learn from/with each other, it's golden. Then you can take those skills back to refresh older relationships. We help each other grow, improve, recover and/or adapt, and when the shit hits the fan, nothing else matters more. Everything we love most in life requires other people in some way, they are the source of our core energy, our best protection and more.

groby_b 8y ago

Yes, health starts creeping in - it's inevitable. (I'll be reaching 50 in a year, so I've done that 40's gig almost up to the next promotion ;) But excitement and novelty? Every day. You get more discerning in what you do, but there's plenty of interesting stuff. And yes, people are more interesting than tech - they're slightly less predictable. You might want to question why you litter your living room with it if it doesn't feel interesting, though. FWIW, for me the 40s were about defining who I really am. It's taken a lot of work, but it's given me so much freedom. I know who I am. I don't need to prove myself anymore. I don't need to do things because other people tell me I'll like them. I can make decisions knowing they rest within my values, not pushed by external sources. It sounds like you're starting to look at that question, too. I'd recommend doing it with professional guidance (therapist/life coach/priest/whathaveyou), it's easier that way.

taurath 8y ago
I’m in my early 30s and watching how my friends are “progressing” on the novelty curve is interesting, especially as it comes to tech and pastimes. We were all big gamers for a long while, and while I’m much more interested in people they still churn through the games. I kind of wonder if there is a natural point of when it all starts to feel the same, or whether it’s really possible to get be that sense of novelty forever. I guess people can be film buffs all their lives!
- emodendroket 8y ago
  I'm soon turning 30. I still like games but I can't do the treadmill of new releases anymore; the games I have interest in playing are much fewer and focused in fewer genres. Increasingly I gravitate toward skill-based arcade-style games and competitive games and away from anything with a story and console-style progression.

nvarsj 8y ago

> Strangely I seem to care way more about people than technology. Do other ex-geeks/present geeks feel this way? Like tech stuff just isn't as interesting anymore. You get more interested in people? I think it is more fun to teach technology or write about it now, than actually doing it. Yes! I think there is so little that is truly new, at some point you've "seen it all". It just gets relabled / repackaged over and over again. And the fact that most tech work is ultimately for some boring business goal. Real life and the people in it are way more interesting.