Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am getting older. Well, not that old, but still in my mid 50's and things seem different, but are they? I remember "the good old days" before computers, social media, hype and more, BUT there might be more than meets the eye here. What do I have left? 20? 30? 40? (doubtful) years left and they are not like my 30's and 40's as far s quality, that I know. Anyway, I am complaining about young people with their smartphones and the fact they can't seem to concentrate, but wait. Is it because I am getting closer to death? Do I want to think it is worse because it will make it easier on ME? Will it be easier because I feel things have gotten worse? I don't know if things have actually gotten worse. Actually, things are SUPER easy these days. Why do I want to look at the future in a negative manner? I think it is because I am older and don't have as many years left as a 20 year old. Am I right?
Why complaining about young people? Its not their fault they have all this tech and phones. Blame those tech companies instead for pushing their bs on us. You didn't have that stuff back then obviously so you cant miss what you didn't have.
Why complaining about young people? Its not their fault they have all this tech and phones. Blame those tech companies instead for pushing their bs on us. You didn't have that stuff back then obviously so you cant miss what you didn't have.
I so remember the days before computers and cell phones,microwaves,etc and give a big NoThanks. I love the conveniences that have come with technology.
Part of the "good ole days" is that once we put some distance between ourselves and our past, the problems of our past don't seem as bad because we know how everything ends up. Part of what causes stress is fear of the unknown. Looking back it doesn't seem as bad because we know the worst case scenario (usually) did NOT happen. In addition, we tend to forget mundane annoyance in life. For instance, right now, one of the major things holding me back is a stupid decision I made in 2014 to buy an expensive car. I'm basically living for this car payment in a town I can't stand living in. It's a tragedy and is a major source of anxiety for me right now but 10-15 years from now it's probably not going to be something I dwell on a whole lot. It will be a lesson learned and you can believe I'll never make that mistake again.
My grandmother used to hate it when people talked about "the good old days". She pointed out that back then, your house was hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and the outhouse had an odor that was carried in the wind. She and my grandfather embraced every new technology that came along, and were actually the first in their small town to own a television set.
I'm 61, and I do feel that in many ways life was simpler "back then". Neighborhood kids played outside until dark, and we didn't need twenty forms of identification to buy cold medicine.
However, life was also simpler for me personally because I didn't have all of the adult concerns that I do today. I like modern technology, but I have learned to use it to my advantage. I do worry about future generations, but I also keep in mind that my grandparents and parents also used to express concerns about "what this world is becoming".
I think it's normal to feel at least a bit out of place in the "modern" world as we age. The key is to adapt and not paint a false picture of how wonderful life used to be.
Among family and friends, I am notoriously hard to reach *immediately.* I prefer it that way and don't allow anyone to shame me for it, not even employers.
If your need was that great, either it should have been planned out [by them] better or someone else could have fulfilled it. I am not on-call to anyone with a fleeting desire to talk and/or meet up. You don't get to cancel at the last minute because something better popped up. I am not able to help at the last minute because you planned poorly. I am perfectly okay with "missing out" on some excursion because you couldn't get hold of me. People know that my cell is a way to communicate but not an instant-access line. I've had people show up at my house *angry* that I didn't answer because I was out in the yard. "Why is your phone not on you- that's the WHOLE POINT of a cell phone?!" No- that's *your* point, not mine.
When others visit and hear the phone ring, they get anxious when I don't answer it. They'll rip my cell from the charger and run out with my phone so I can answer it. No. I'm good. I'll get to it later.
Geez - live a little. :P
My guess is that no one has you as their emergency contact!
There was a song from the musical Laguardia which had this refrain, "Waiting for ships that never come in, a girl is likely to miss the boat." The past is dead and cast in concrete - it ain't coming back, the future never never arrives. What you have is today, the rest is BS right up there with the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny....fantasies.
I don't think it's about living in the past nor wishing for the past. It's more like my brother and I (62 and 56) commenting to each other on how much better trick-or-treat was when we were kids, while we walk around with his grandkids on Halloween. It IS lame now compared to then. It's not wishing for the past for us so much as wishing it was still that way for the little ones in our family now.
I think the perception that "times are getting worse" has to do with the incredible amount of information we are bombarded with on a daily basis nowadays, and the news fear mongering and doom and gloom attitude.
Before the internet and 24 hour news channels, if you didn't read about it in the local paper, hear it from a friend or see it on the 5 o'clock news, you didn't know it happened. You were limited to the information that could be dispersed in your local community, skewing your perception of the rest of the world. Basically there's a world outside of Mayberry (the town you live in), people just didn't think about it before because they weren't "aware" of what happened outside of it.
Someone once made the analogy of "It's like getting a job in the ER and thinking people are all of a sudden more accident prone". Not true, it's just more front and center and you're more aware of it now.
People are also so quick to forget history. I hear it all the time, people act like "all this stuff that's happening is new and scary and it's never happened before". Uhh, what? Although I'm only 23 years old, history is one of my favorite subjects to read and learn about, and I see the same things being replayed over and over and over again. Can't tell you how many times I've watched old news broadcasts from the 50's, 60's and 70's and thought "Wow, this is the same type of crap that's happening today, just with different people and in different places." Never have truer words been spoken than "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."
I'll use Russia as an example. We've been in a peeing match with Russia since after WWII, fighting proxy wars all over the middle east and the world, avoiding directly attacking one another out of fear of starting WW3. Doesn't anybody remember the nuclear arms race? The Cuban missile crisis? The Berlin Wall? The list goes on and on, with each country trying to outdo one another and prove who's got the bigger cojones.
Does Russia have spies over hear trying to influence American decisions? Of course! But it's nothing new, just like we have ours over there and throughout the world. Pretending like it's never happened before and like it's somehow now "new and scary" is frankly laughable.
Also can't forget about the rose colored glasses of nostalgia skewing your perception, as we tend to overlook lots of the bad and emphasize the good. Kind of like taking all the timeless "classic" movies and saying "Movies were so much better back in the day compared to now". Yes, there were lots of great movies made back then, but there were MANY more that were mediocre or utter crap and have been lost to time, just like today.
IMO it's all about perception.
Talking about which (perception)...for 23 you have a very keen sense!
We know too much now. We have more things to worry about. Who sat around fifty years ago and worried about getting flesh eating bacteria? Or getting a brain eating ameba from swimming in the local pond? The things we worried about then were more concrete and close to home: a decent paycheck, acne, a roof that didn't leak, a Saturday night date not showing up.
I used to love riding the rollercoaster at the fair. Now if I got on, I'd worry about the damn thing going off the rails and that takes all the fun out of it.
I am getting older. Well, not that old, but still in my mid 50's and things seem different, but are they? I remember "the good old days" before computers, social media, hype and more, BUT there might be more than meets the eye here. What do I have left? 20? 30? 40? (doubtful) years left and they are not like my 30's and 40's as far s quality, that I know. Anyway, I am complaining about young people with their smartphones and the fact they can't seem to concentrate, but wait. Is it because I am getting closer to death? Do I want to think it is worse because it will make it easier on ME? Will it be easier because I feel things have gotten worse? I don't know if things have actually gotten worse. Actually, things are SUPER easy these days. Why do I want to look at the future in a negative manner? I think it is because I am older and don't have as many years left as a 20 year old. Am I right?
The facts are clear. Our brains and bodies start a decline very early....mid-20's in some measurable stats. Einstein himself never came up with anything revolutionary after 30.
While we know this conceptually, it's not until about 50 that we see it for the truth it is. Thinking people DO start understanding their own mortality and quite soon you will find a lot of your healthy friends and family telling you "I just got a heart stent put in" and stuff like that.....
My dad, 87, just commented to me that the whole idea of the Golden Years must be a ruse set up to make people work away the best years of their life...thinking something better will be coming later. It rarely does.
Stress and responsibilities are much harder to bear at an advanced age. When you are younger they motivate you..to fix things, solve things, etc.
When you are older, they raise your blood pressure and you realize there is nothing you can do to "save" many situations.
I think we had the right idea - we sold our physical businesses (a mom and pop store) when I was 48...I had a popular internet site and some income from royalties from the sale, etc...so, in effect, I've had more time to do just as I feel (and also be there for tragedy in the family, etc.) since then.
Now it's almost 19 years later. I really doubt that in another 19 I'll still be playing tennis and sailing, but who knows? Time is certainly fleeting...that's for sure.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
