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To me, these kinds of cultural markers, as well as each individual's own life circumstances, really serve as more of an "identification proxy" than age alone.
I'll be 32 next month. I'm living in my hometown, but I lived out of the area for five years in my 20s. I'm single with no kids. I've done quite a bit of travel.
Many of the folks I grew up with have several kids and have comfortably settled into middle age. I'm not like that yet. I won't have much in common with a kid right out of high school, but I don't have much in common with a 32 year old mom of three kids who married her high school sweetheart and has remained here in nowhere Tennessee ever since. That person just seems much older than I do.
Same. I moved back there and worked through my twenties, before moving away at 30. Nearly all my peers were in starter marriages, or newly out of said starter marriages, kids, the whole ball of wax. I dated casually, but mostly flew solo, traveled, etc. I married on my 37th birthday, and my husband and I have traveled around the world (he's Navy, so we've done our travel both for work and fun, and will continue to do so). We have two babies, now, and no sign of slowing down. I have a very different life than most of my hometown peers.
With all due respect I think you don't know a damned bit about me.
You're probably one of those fossilized young people who see all senior citizens as the same. Good luck with your limited social life.
Not really. And I didn't make a single assumption about you.
I made an assumption that no matter how active you are, no matter how self-described atypical, there are those around you who see you as just another a senior citizen, no matter what. That has nothing to do with you or your reality, but with others' perception.
But it's funny how you made inaccurate assumptions about me, so kudos for the illustration!
I think this is the kind of out-of-touch attitude the OP is identifying. Access to and understanding of the internet and smartphones are, at this point, required for mainstream employment. While they can make certain tasks easier (and can be fun!), they also bring new challenges and expenses. The only way the "silver spoon" analogy works is if the people are being required to purchase the silver spoons themselves, and the spoons had teeth and might bite you at any moment.
OK...you´re right about my attitude towards mobil phones. I think smartphones are wittless digital relics for millenial Neanderthals who seem to lack intelligent speech and the desire to avoid face-to-face contact with humans. I can reach no other conclusion. On the other hand, I am all-in when it comes to computer use.
I'm in my forties and I have zero problem relating to young, or old people, or really, anyone to whom I want to relate.
My secret is that whenever anybody tells me something, I just ask (in various ways), essentially "How do you feel about that?"
If I pay too much attention to the narrative being delivered, I might not be able to relate, because many people have experiences that are so outside of the realm of my own experience or value system that I wouldn't be able to understand, and thus might get defensive or argumentative or bored.
But if someone tells me how they FEEL about what is going on...I can always relate. Because I have felt grief and joy and rage and revengeful and helpless and contented and happy and yearning and pessimism and frustration and excited and hopeful and controlling and resistant; whatever someone is feeling, I too, have felt exactly those feelings...so I just relate to people on those terms.
OK...you´re right about my attitude towards mobil phones. I think smartphones are wittless digital relics for millenial Neanderthals who seem to lack intelligent speech and the desire to avoid face-to-face contact with humans. I can reach no other conclusion. On the other hand, I am all-in when it comes to computer use.
Smartphones are just computers with a phone built in. It's an artificial distinction.
I made an assumption that no matter how active you are, no matter how self-described atypical, there are those around you who see you as just another a senior citizen, no matter what. That has nothing to do with you or your reality, but with others' perception.
You don't know me, your perceptions are wrong. The only case you would be right is if you observed me when I wasn't interacting with people. Even at that I look far younger than my age. I work out at LA Fitness and dress young.
I'm tired of arguing with you. End of discussion. I don't really care what you think.
Mileage really varies. There are a lot of variables involved. Region, industry, level of education, etc.
Obviously. And that logic applies to all generations. Nobody is special here. Although I do have a bias towards the "Greatest Generation" given their resilience in overcoming the Great Depression and Second World War.
At what point do young people start relating to older people?
While I empathize with older people and the issues that impact them, the harsh reality is that we don't need to. And yes, this will ultimately apply to me when I get up there in years. It's a sad reality of the aging process.
Younger people need to be focused on the ever evolving landscape that is before them. Times change. Technology changes. Norms change. We're too busy trying to stay ahead of the curve for the several years of productivity that we have left in life.
That's why I take it with a grain of salt when a 75 year old is pontificating on what it takes to be successful in your career over at the Work & Employment sub. While you can extract little nuggets of wisdom here and there, the reality is that the career landscape that the 75 year old experienced is vastly different from the one that the 25 year old is experiencing. Over at W&E, there is an elderly gentleman who boasts about his days being a successful furniture sales man who made approximately $150k in today's dollars. Additionally, when I had just graduated college 10 years ago, my grandparents would tell me to go door to door at businesses and apply for jobs in person in order to be successful. But that's not really how it works anymore, in most cases.
That said, when election season is upon us, I do my best to consider my choices ramifications on all demographics, not just mine.
I could relate to kids all the way until texting/smartphones took over everything. Now it seems young people are spread too thin to really relate to. In other words they are multitasking so much with their phones, that I lose interest as they are just scattered. I noticed I no longer go out to eat much at all because the young people waiting on you seem so distracted that I would prefer to enter my order via a screen, so I know at least the cook can read it, provided he/she isn't too busy with social media.
Yep, I could relate in my 40's, but now I think young people are just too far into their fake living via smartphones. It is like a virtual living instead of dancing and having fun with people with them. I even see kids in groups walking around with smartphones and not really paying attention to one and other. I don't think I have interest in that kind of thing, so I'm out.
To be frank, I stopped relating to people my own age when I was a teenager....
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