4 ms·

The “I am old” trope is just so uninteresting. To me, it’s a sort of humblebrag - because I’m older than you, my opinions are more valuable. There are infinite

The “I am old” trope is just so uninteresting. To me, it’s a sort of humblebrag - because I’m older than you, my opinions are more valuable. There are infinite things I don’t understand, some because I’m too young, some too old, but mostly just because I haven’t yet gone down that path in life. For what it’s worth, I was born in 1982.

hamburglar 7y ago
> The “I am old” trope is just so uninteresting. To me, it’s a sort of humblebrag I assure you, it isn't. I mean, I'm sure it's uninteresting, but it isn't intended to be a humblebrag. I practically cheered when the OP indicated that they don't understand "stories" because I legitimately don't, but I also have this realization that the reason I don't understand stories is that I'm just kind of inflexible and grumpy about new things at times. That's not admirable. That's not useful. But it's the truth. I truly don't understand why some pictures are shown at the very tippy top of my facebook feed, but I only get to look at them for 10 seconds. Is there a reason for this? Does someone find it beneficial? Do the kids laugh at me for even stopping to think about it? (Yes. Yes they do.) This is not a badge of honor.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- dmje 7y ago
  Yeh, fk "Stories", whatever they are. Actually, also, fk Facebook too. It's not admirable or useful, no. But, I find it's kind of relaxing to have a near total lack of FOMO. I've become the guy I never thought I'd become, but I'm totally comfortable with that. Is this a humblebrag? I have no idea, but it's definitely calming to not have to give a shit about all the new things. I'm 47 (1972) so relate a lot to this guy.
- rimliu 7y ago
  I would not say that I don't understand "stories", but I dislike. The worst thing, there are no stories in "stories".
- jaclaz 7y ago
  As a diversion, JFYI: https://tinyapps.org/blog/200702250700_why_in_my_day.html https://tinyapps.org/blog/200702250700_why_in_my_day.html ... kids today ...
- cambalache 7y ago
  Meh, I am +/- 2 years within the author's age, and although I grumble here and there about young people practices (latinx?? yikes) I think I have an OK understanding of popular culture, including Internet things. Come on: memes, dabbing, dubs,tik tok,fortnite dances, Pewdiepie.Most of them are silly and funny things, not the exact solution of GR for 2 neutron stars colliding. I will admit that there are things I believe, but I am not 100% sure if they are true because of my age. For example, although I hate nostalgia, I am convinced that modern mainstream music, let's say after the 2000s is severely lacking compared to what happened in the previous 60 or so years. There always be great musicians, doing great music, but right now the current popular stuff have been homogenized and sterilized to make it pallatable worlwide.
  - cultus 7y ago
    You really are pretty mistaken on the music (I'm 35). I'm guessing you are just exposed to bad pop acts like Mylie Cyrus. Keep in mind that most popular music in the 1960's and 1970's sucked too. For every Beatles there was 10 Monkees. There's been an incredible amount of innovation in music in the last few years (except rock. It's dead). Creation has been democratized, so there's more people making music than ever before. You just have to know where to look. I listen to KEXP Seattle [0] quite a bit, which is a community-supported station. [0] https://www.kexp.org/ https://www.kexp.org/
    - dctoedt 7y ago
      > For every Beatles there was 10 Monkees. Hey, wait a minute! The Monkees were pretty good for what they were (mass-production pop) — at least in the early days when they were doing Boyce & Hart compositions.
  - conjectures 7y ago
    There is a shedload of good music out there, but the distribution mechanism has changed. If you actively look on Spotify, you'll start to find things. That is unless it's a simple case of the music in [decade I was 13-23] was the best!
- alexilliamson 7y ago
  Just want to add that I'm 28 and have never figured out snapchat/stories. Personally, I'm not sure how to use them, and from other people, I find them SUPER boring.
- emsimot 7y ago
  > but I only get to look at them for 10 seconds You can touch the screen and hold to keep the picture there for longer. If it's like Instagram stories you can tap the far left side of the screen to go backwards as well.
kubanczyk 7y ago
It is interesting. Young people can consume just about anything and it still makes them... better? I guess that's the word. One day you notice that you circle around in brownian motion. I should have started to learn more discrimination techniques years ago. It is so terribly hard to navigate the sea of interesting stuff and find the droplets that are also interesting, but that also have ability to change your mind (think LW and the likes). That's like... the ultimate skill. If it isn't ultimately interesting, then what is?
mnd999 7y ago
> To me, it’s a sort of humblebrag - because I’m older than you, my opinions are more valuable. I am getting older too, but I’m constantly learning things from people younger than me - increasingly more so than those older than me. And that’s okay. Sure I’ve done more and seen more but how much of it is actually relevant? Some for sure, but this world changes so fast. Are my opinions valuable? Yes. More so simply because of my age? No.
- allenu 7y ago
  I’m about a year younger than the author of the blog post and I agree with you. This is something that has been scaring me a little in the last year: getting older does not mean life as a whole gets easier. There are just more advanced things that keep you up at night. And yes, the world changes so quickly that you soon realize that you too are becoming irrelevant. What a curse to feel the optimism and specialness of youth only to see it slowly fade away.
- falcolas 7y ago
  I’m not sure that things are actually changing all that quickly. Instead, we’re just watching a pendulum swing from one extreme (control) to another extreme (freedom). And its this repeated movement between the two extremes which are providing our incremental improvements, since we keep the good parts from each end, and use those as the foundation for what the next extreme will look like. Programming provides an interesting microcosm of this, if you look at overall attitudes towards variable typing. What have I learned? Nothing new; “this too shall pass” is a phrase much older than I am. But I’m able to accept it, and take advantage of the gains of the wild pendulum’s swing without being caught up in it myself.
gammadens 7y ago
Ageism cuts in both directions and it's one of the few forms of prejudice society still tolerates for some reason. Imagine this guy's post if you substitute "too old" with "black" or "female" (or "male"). It would be cut down quickly and yet here we are expected to laugh at things. What I hate about ageism most of all is it makes it impossible to have any kind of discussion about the real merits and demerits of things if there's some kind of new versus established nature to it. In certain circles, there seems to be a false, pervasive assumption that what's new and popular among the young is better, and that uptake is just inhibited by creaky old folks; in other circles there seems to be an assumption that's what's old and established among the older crowd is that way because it's superior. The reality is that some established products are established because they are so great; and other products are great because they address limitations of existing products. But once you bring age of critics or advocates into the mix, it's all over because someone starts slyly looking at their pals over their shoulder and dismissing the discourse as due to youth or age. I've been on both sides of this, as someone the same age as the author, and it's infuriating. There are products that my generation grew that I never adopted because of concerns, and now it's the young trendy thing to do to abandon them. There are new products that are overhyped imho because they solve problems that never really existed, but the wheel gets reinvented anyway because of the constant need for people to brand themselves as innovators. On the other hand, there are new products that finally exist that I wish everyone would take up, but don't because of old products that should have never become as popular as they did, or because of the vagaries of network effects, fads, and so on. So this person doesn't get Facebook Stories or whatever the hell it is. Fine. Is there anything wrong with that? No. Can't we talk about that? Why does it have to become about age, even if he's doing it through self-deprecating (humblebragging?) humor?
zackmorris 7y ago
I disagree. I think of it in terms of lives lived within a life. I'd break mine down into: 1) 0-5 Coming into self-awareness (this is like waking up while still drunk or coming down from recreational drugs, as your consciousness reassembles from wherever it was) 2) 6-11 The universe provides for you (mom and dad are god, your needs are mostly provided for and you should do what you're told) 3) 12-17 The face of humanity (you witness the very best and worst that humankind has to offer, through the trials and tribulations of junior high and high school) 4) 18-21 College (thanks I needed that) 5) 22-29 The narcissistic years (I am so miserable, why can't I say no?) 6) 30-39 The long now (how long have I been alive?) 7) 40-49 Death begins at 40 (how could I have just been born?) 8) 50-64 I should feel older (so I've heard) 9) 65+ Unknown (are you me?) There are probably more. All I am saying is that when I hit 40, I realized that I was more than one time period removed from the young graduates just starting their careers around me. I wasn't really their brother anymore, I was their dad or weird uncle at the very least. No more getting invited to parties, no more fashion for me. Just loafers and nutritional supplements to keep me on life support until 2040 when I enter The Matrix or get reincarnated, whichever comes first. For me it's more a case of, I was much older at 18 than I am now, so when young people don't want to hear it from their elders, that's a form of conservative or elderly behavior. It's sophomoric.
- GnarfGnarf 7y ago
  65+: there are only a few years left, very little matters, it's wonderfully liberating.

hamburglar 7y ago

> The “I am old” trope is just so uninteresting. To me, it’s a sort of humblebrag I assure you, it isn't. I mean, I'm sure it's uninteresting, but it isn't intended to be a humblebrag. I practically cheered when the OP indicated that they don't understand "stories" because I legitimately don't, but I also have this realization that the reason I don't understand stories is that I'm just kind of inflexible and grumpy about new things at times. That's not admirable. That's not useful. But it's the truth. I truly don't understand why some pictures are shown at the very tippy top of my facebook feed, but I only get to look at them for 10 seconds. Is there a reason for this? Does someone find it beneficial? Do the kids laugh at me for even stopping to think about it? (Yes. Yes they do.) This is not a badge of honor.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
dmje 7y ago
Yeh, fk "Stories", whatever they are. Actually, also, fk Facebook too. It's not admirable or useful, no. But, I find it's kind of relaxing to have a near total lack of FOMO. I've become the guy I never thought I'd become, but I'm totally comfortable with that. Is this a humblebrag? I have no idea, but it's definitely calming to not have to give a shit about all the new things. I'm 47 (1972) so relate a lot to this guy.
rimliu 7y ago
I would not say that I don't understand "stories", but I dislike. The worst thing, there are no stories in "stories".
jaclaz 7y ago
As a diversion, JFYI: https://tinyapps.org/blog/200702250700_why_in_my_day.html https://tinyapps.org/blog/200702250700_why_in_my_day.html ... kids today ...
cambalache 7y ago
Meh, I am +/- 2 years within the author's age, and although I grumble here and there about young people practices (latinx?? yikes) I think I have an OK understanding of popular culture, including Internet things. Come on: memes, dabbing, dubs,tik tok,fortnite dances, Pewdiepie.Most of them are silly and funny things, not the exact solution of GR for 2 neutron stars colliding. I will admit that there are things I believe, but I am not 100% sure if they are true because of my age. For example, although I hate nostalgia, I am convinced that modern mainstream music, let's say after the 2000s is severely lacking compared to what happened in the previous 60 or so years. There always be great musicians, doing great music, but right now the current popular stuff have been homogenized and sterilized to make it pallatable worlwide.
- cultus 7y ago
  You really are pretty mistaken on the music (I'm 35). I'm guessing you are just exposed to bad pop acts like Mylie Cyrus. Keep in mind that most popular music in the 1960's and 1970's sucked too. For every Beatles there was 10 Monkees. There's been an incredible amount of innovation in music in the last few years (except rock. It's dead). Creation has been democratized, so there's more people making music than ever before. You just have to know where to look. I listen to KEXP Seattle [0] quite a bit, which is a community-supported station. [0] https://www.kexp.org/ https://www.kexp.org/
  - dctoedt 7y ago
    > For every Beatles there was 10 Monkees. Hey, wait a minute! The Monkees were pretty good for what they were (mass-production pop) — at least in the early days when they were doing Boyce & Hart compositions.
- conjectures 7y ago
  There is a shedload of good music out there, but the distribution mechanism has changed. If you actively look on Spotify, you'll start to find things. That is unless it's a simple case of the music in [decade I was 13-23] was the best!
alexilliamson 7y ago
Just want to add that I'm 28 and have never figured out snapchat/stories. Personally, I'm not sure how to use them, and from other people, I find them SUPER boring.
emsimot 7y ago
> but I only get to look at them for 10 seconds You can touch the screen and hold to keep the picture there for longer. If it's like Instagram stories you can tap the far left side of the screen to go backwards as well.

kubanczyk 7y ago

It is interesting. Young people can consume just about anything and it still makes them... better? I guess that's the word. One day you notice that you circle around in brownian motion. I should have started to learn more discrimination techniques years ago. It is so terribly hard to navigate the sea of interesting stuff and find the droplets that are also interesting, but that also have ability to change your mind (think LW and the likes). That's like... the ultimate skill. If it isn't ultimately interesting, then what is?

mnd999 7y ago

> To me, it’s a sort of humblebrag - because I’m older than you, my opinions are more valuable. I am getting older too, but I’m constantly learning things from people younger than me - increasingly more so than those older than me. And that’s okay. Sure I’ve done more and seen more but how much of it is actually relevant? Some for sure, but this world changes so fast. Are my opinions valuable? Yes. More so simply because of my age? No.

allenu 7y ago
I’m about a year younger than the author of the blog post and I agree with you. This is something that has been scaring me a little in the last year: getting older does not mean life as a whole gets easier. There are just more advanced things that keep you up at night. And yes, the world changes so quickly that you soon realize that you too are becoming irrelevant. What a curse to feel the optimism and specialness of youth only to see it slowly fade away.
falcolas 7y ago
I’m not sure that things are actually changing all that quickly. Instead, we’re just watching a pendulum swing from one extreme (control) to another extreme (freedom). And its this repeated movement between the two extremes which are providing our incremental improvements, since we keep the good parts from each end, and use those as the foundation for what the next extreme will look like. Programming provides an interesting microcosm of this, if you look at overall attitudes towards variable typing. What have I learned? Nothing new; “this too shall pass” is a phrase much older than I am. But I’m able to accept it, and take advantage of the gains of the wild pendulum’s swing without being caught up in it myself.

gammadens 7y ago

Ageism cuts in both directions and it's one of the few forms of prejudice society still tolerates for some reason. Imagine this guy's post if you substitute "too old" with "black" or "female" (or "male"). It would be cut down quickly and yet here we are expected to laugh at things. What I hate about ageism most of all is it makes it impossible to have any kind of discussion about the real merits and demerits of things if there's some kind of new versus established nature to it. In certain circles, there seems to be a false, pervasive assumption that what's new and popular among the young is better, and that uptake is just inhibited by creaky old folks; in other circles there seems to be an assumption that's what's old and established among the older crowd is that way because it's superior. The reality is that some established products are established because they are so great; and other products are great because they address limitations of existing products. But once you bring age of critics or advocates into the mix, it's all over because someone starts slyly looking at their pals over their shoulder and dismissing the discourse as due to youth or age. I've been on both sides of this, as someone the same age as the author, and it's infuriating. There are products that my generation grew that I never adopted because of concerns, and now it's the young trendy thing to do to abandon them. There are new products that are overhyped imho because they solve problems that never really existed, but the wheel gets reinvented anyway because of the constant need for people to brand themselves as innovators. On the other hand, there are new products that finally exist that I wish everyone would take up, but don't because of old products that should have never become as popular as they did, or because of the vagaries of network effects, fads, and so on. So this person doesn't get Facebook Stories or whatever the hell it is. Fine. Is there anything wrong with that? No. Can't we talk about that? Why does it have to become about age, even if he's doing it through self-deprecating (humblebragging?) humor?

zackmorris 7y ago

I disagree. I think of it in terms of lives lived within a life. I'd break mine down into: 1) 0-5 Coming into self-awareness (this is like waking up while still drunk or coming down from recreational drugs, as your consciousness reassembles from wherever it was) 2) 6-11 The universe provides for you (mom and dad are god, your needs are mostly provided for and you should do what you're told) 3) 12-17 The face of humanity (you witness the very best and worst that humankind has to offer, through the trials and tribulations of junior high and high school) 4) 18-21 College (thanks I needed that) 5) 22-29 The narcissistic years (I am so miserable, why can't I say no?) 6) 30-39 The long now (how long have I been alive?) 7) 40-49 Death begins at 40 (how could I have just been born?) 8) 50-64 I should feel older (so I've heard) 9) 65+ Unknown (are you me?) There are probably more. All I am saying is that when I hit 40, I realized that I was more than one time period removed from the young graduates just starting their careers around me. I wasn't really their brother anymore, I was their dad or weird uncle at the very least. No more getting invited to parties, no more fashion for me. Just loafers and nutritional supplements to keep me on life support until 2040 when I enter The Matrix or get reincarnated, whichever comes first. For me it's more a case of, I was much older at 18 than I am now, so when young people don't want to hear it from their elders, that's a form of conservative or elderly behavior. It's sophomoric.

GnarfGnarf 7y ago
65+: there are only a few years left, very little matters, it's wonderfully liberating.