That Moment You Realised You're Old

[AmayaOnnaOtaku]

When everything you loved as a child is rebooted and brought back. Also, if you remember 8-tracks

 

[Underground Man]

I roll my eyes whenever someone on Escapist talks about being old. Especially since a healthy proportion of you were apparently born in the 90s.

Chill with the obsession over age. Trust me, we're all on that long slog toward the grave. No need to nitpick about who is first in line.

 

[For.I.Am.Mad]

When I look at the TV ratings and realize I'm no longer part of the 18-26 key target demographic.

 

[Captain_Pancreas]

I'm only 19 so hardly that old really but with the rate technology has advanced during my life it really hammers home the age gaps. There's been several moments

1) At work dealing with a kids birthday party and the mum asks the kids to give her their phones to look after. Out of fifteen, eight year old kids not one of them doesnt hand over a phone, not only that every single one of them is a smartphone. I didn't even have my first phone until I was 10. And I was the only person I knew with one, it was also just one my dad didn't want any more. these kids had all clearly had the phones for a good while. I found myself absolutely shocked.

2) Another major moment was watching my 5 year old cousin play games on the internet. Not only did he fully understand the controls he could also navigate the webpages. I was baffled by anything computer like until I was about 9 personally. And even then it was only crappy dial-up anyway. These moments made me feel like a relic of a time long since passed.

EDIT: Also just a few weeks back when I was sat with friends having a discussion about the awesomeness of cartoons from our childhood and then realising none of them were still on anymore, but rather had all been pushed aside for these cartoons full of colours with none of the humour and enough flashing lights to put off an epileptic from watching

 

[Jazoni89]

Everyone over a certain age has that moment. The clarifying sudden moment when you realise "Holy shit. I'm an adult."

For me, I always used to state it was when my younger cousin asked me who Kurt Cobain was, but honestly, that's a bunch of bull. I didn't feel particularly grown up that day, I just thought "What the hell is with this kid?" and then promptly burned him a mixed cd of Nirvana, Metallica and Iron Maiden just to teach him a lesson.

No, my clarifying moment came this very evening when in quick succession, I returned home to my new flat from the shop with a crate of beer under my arm to be accosted by a pair of small children trying to trick-or-treat me while their mother escorted them to a party. I humourously offered them some of my beer, to which his mother and I had what could only be described as an "Adult Laugh". You know the one, the sort of forced laugh parents always churn out when they attempt small talk while waiting for their kids to inevitibly fall and hurt themselves at the park.

Questioning whether or not I had the right to still ocassionaly enjoy old reruns of Tom and Jerry, I returned home and settled in for a quiet evening of alcohlism, WoW and checking facebook during mana breaks. It was there I realised just how many friends I have (mostly within a year or two of my own age at least) complaining about how annoying their parents were. I gazed around my delightfully empty living room, strewn with takeaway wrappers, dvds, half painted Warhammer models and my pet tortoise, and realised that, holy crapsticks, here I am 400 miles away from my family, supported entirely on my own income and with nobody telling me to get a reasonable amount of sleep or clean my room.

I. Am. Old.

Um... I'm three years older than you.

Your young as all hell, and I'm still young as well.

Best make the most of it, because life is too short to worry that you are "too old" because you will be old once you stop worrying about it.

 

[Ensiferum]

When I had to look up "dubstep" on wikipedia.

 

[Icaruss]

When i gave my nephew a long, mindless, lecture/rant on how much better cartoons were when i was a kid.They were.Toonami kicks the piss out of everything on the air now.I'm 23.

 

[Uncreation]

When I look at the TV ratings and realize I'm no longer part of the 18-26 key target demographic.

Wait! I'm still part of that demographic! YESSS!! Well... for another half year or so anyway... I guess i better enjoy it while i still can.

Oh, and on topic: when i turned 26.

 

[adrakonis]

Having to walk with a walking cane... I felt old, although I only had to do it because of an injury.

 

[Dectomax]

I realised I had no new age to look forward to. I'm old enough to drink and that's the last thing of freedom I am afforded.
Also, when I realised that knowing the connection between these two objects is not common knowledge.

Sweet mother of god...I'm only 19 and I remember that technique as a kid. HELL DO I FEEL OLD?!

For me, I suppose it was only recently when I started thinking about turning 20. The thought that I'm no longer a "teen" kinda creeped me out a bit. Then I realised soon I'd be moving out and heading to Uni and I had to stop and think for a moment. Life goes fast!

 

[Mister Eff]

Going bald is a big one. At the ripe old age of 21. Thinking "damn kids" almost every day when out and about. Moving out from my family's place to live in London.

But the biggest one I only realised a month or so ago was that people now treat me like an adult

That was a weird experience for me. But also quite nice.

 

[Sonicron]

It was three years ago.
When I turned 21 four years ago, my best friend told me that from this point onward time would be rushing by like a ************ and I'd be forgetting about even my own birthday somewhere down the line.
I was laughing then.
Cue my 22nd birthday, and I was so swamped with course work I only noticed what day it was when my dad called to congratulate me at 10 in the evening. I swear I felt my ass growing wrinkles that very moment. -.-

 

[Dr Namgge]

Going bald is a big one. At the ripe old age of 21. Thinking "damn kids" almost every day when out and about. Moving out from my family's place to live in London.

But the biggest one I only realised a month or so ago was that people now treat me like an adult

That was a weird experience for me. But also quite nice.

You there, stop being similar to me.

Realising that birthdays have gone from "awesome, I'm older. Now I can do more stuff!" to "Oh no, I'm older, why haven't I done stuff yet?"

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I'm a secondary teacher.

This year I'm teaching 7th grade American History (12 and 13-year-olds).

When I calculated when they were born and realized that they born around the time Zelda: Ocarina of Time came out, whereas I was born around the time the original Zelda came out...that's when I realized I was old.

(For the record, I don't actually think I'm old and have a sour disposition against the stigma that surrounds aging, but that moment and others like it made me FEEL old, which is, I think, the point of this thread.)

 

[immortalfrieza]

I'm only 24, and I definitely started feeling old years ago, when I was watching T.V. and playing video games these days and started comparing them to what I used to see, and realized just how much better they used to be. This became most glaringly obvious when things get remade and turn out much worse than the originals (I'm looking at YOU Dragonball Kai!) When I noticed this, my first thought, no kidding, was "in my day entertainment was a LOT better." My second thought was "did I just think that? Great. I feel like an old man".

 

[Nathan Dewar]

You know your old, when u can smell old man pee leakage on you underwear. Thats the truth son.

 

[Vicarious Reality]

Depressing thread is depressing

Naught but a few moments when i asked myself:
Why are these young people enjoying this cheap art?
Why does my neck hurt?
WHY IS IT SO COLD IN HERE?
Why do i feel horrible after eating all this nearly flavourless candy?
Why can't i see this weird tractor my friend tells me to look at far away?
Why am i suddenly repulsed by my parents?
Why am i bored with this amazing item that i am now responsible/rich enough to own?

But the horrible constant realization of being old is when i think, why am i not having as much fun as i used to when i did this same thing before?
So i do crazier and crazier shit every day just to feel alive.

 

[Smeggs]

The first time I got pissed off at a group of little punk teenagers.

Goddamn teenagers with their Lady Goo-Gahs and Justin Beavers and their...their Ponies.