What makes you feel old?

[Bomberman4000]

I have 2 younger cousins named Ashley and Brook. I held them both in the hospital after they were born. As of now, Ashley is a sophomore in college and Brook is a sophomore in high school.

For as far back as I can remember my aunt Karen (their mom obviously) would bring them over to my house on Christmas Eve and they would bring homemade chocolate chip cookies for me and my brother. We would give them some of the treats we had at our house and hang out for a bit.

I started feeling old when Ashley was driving them to the house without my aunt Karen. This year Brook drove. I actually have several relatives that I remember being born who every time I see I feel old.

Here are some more:
- People around here talking about Pokemon being the first game they ever played.

- 10 year olds at the mall with cell phones

- Watching anything on MTV (makes me weep for humanity)

- I've lived in 4 decades. 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's

- I used to work with students born in 1995. When I started meeting them my first thought was "I REMEMBER 1995."

- Opening presents at my grandparent's house goes in order of age. I used to be second (my cousin Walker is 1 year younger than me) out of
anywhere from 10-15 people. This year I was in the SECOND HALF. Gah.

- When someone tells me they haven't seen *TV show I grew up with*

- My truck is now old enough to drive itself.

- I was talking to an old rec baseball coach of mine and realized it'd been 10 years since I became too old to play rec ball.

- My shitty genetics for my hair. It started falling out at 17. My beard is also turning gray. Yippee.


I'm not that old. I'm only 24.

 

[mrhappy1489]

I'm one of the few lucky 20-21 year olds who actually got to use cassette tapes, VHS's, and even a floppy disc. I've known the joys of a vinyl record and remember playing Wing Commander Prophecy on our family's first computer. Shit, I remember playing through and beating Kirby's Adventure on the NES and thinking it was just the absolute best thing ever (and it totally still is).

And yet none of those things make me feel old. You know what DOES though? When I reference The Tick (SPOOOOON!), Reboot (Alpha Numeric! This is bad...really, really bad) or Beast Wars (Oh this is good, yeeesss...) and absolutely no one around me gets it except for my dad and his friends.

My friend, I'm 18 and I remember using VHS, I miss those days, actually not really, but still, you don't have to be that old to have used it.

 

[8bitlove2a03]

Today I was sitting in my psychological tests and measures class and thinking about interesting examples of different things related to the class that I could use to remember the material. I thought about an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Robert gives Ray and Debra IQ tests, and thought that it was something I could use if I actually managed to get into grad school and ended up teaching some. Suddenly I realised that anyone who's an 18yo freshman in a gen psych class four years from now (when I would be in grad school) will have been six when that show went off the air in 2005.

 

[LordFisheh]

The only thing that makes me feel kinda old is whenever I hit myself on the head with the frame of a door or a low chandelier or other stuff like that, though it's not really feeling old, more like feeling weird because only 4 years ago everybody still thought I was 10 [small](Though I was 17, yes I was really small)[/small] the increase in size was really sudden, though the funny thing is now that I'm 21 even though I'm tall everybody seems to think I'm 17, that being said nothing really makes me feel old but that may be because I don't really give that much importance to time.

What makes me feel old? The fact that I've used technology that's completely foreign to "kids these days".

[sub]I can believe I just said that.[/sub]

Spoiler

http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/*****-please-its-a-save-button.jpg

How about this?

Spoiler: Really old floppy disk

Great, now I feel older having realized I actually used the original floppy on a daily basis.

Stuff like that doesn't make me feel old either [small](I still have a lot of those diskettes, cassettes and VHS)[/small], it just makes me feel like kids these days are ignorant idiots because I never saw any of these things:

Spoiler: A lot of archaic formats

LP Discs

Edison cylinders

Betamax

Laser Discs

This computer storage perforated cards whose name I can't remember.
And a lot more archaic technologies that I can't remember right now...

But I still know they existed and what were they used to, so this kind of thing just makes me think that kids these days are just ignorant idiots, as I learned from a lot of those devices from encyclopaedias and magazines and you know kids these days have all of the knowledge in the world just a few clicks away and they still don't know what these things are, so IMO I'm not old because they weren't around to remember those things, they are stupid for not knowing.

That's not really fair. Not being ignorant isn't about knowing a set list of things, it's about having an inquisitive mindset and applying it. If someone hasn't applied it to data storage (yet), it's no more important than someone not knowing much about biology, or literature. Or carpet fitting - something we use easily as much as digital storage.

 

[Sonicron]

I guess it's the fact that I'm increasingly unable to understand young tykes and teens when they revert to the current youth lingo. I'm supposed to be teaching these kids in two years, dammit - I need to breach that language barrier!
Also, how is it that elementary school kids have state-of-the-art cellphones these days? When I was their age I was happy to get my weekly allowance of five Deutsche Mark!

 

[vxicepickxv]

When I realize I can run for President of the US of A next election. I mean that as I'm eligible, because I meet the requirements, not because I'm going to.

 

[BrokenStylus]

What makes me feel old?

When I was young it was always inferred to me that at some point you would pass through some kind of chronological/sociological gateway and suddenly find yourself largely in the company of reasonable, mature, sophisticated adults.

Now I'm in my late twenties it's become readily apparent that the overwhelming majority of 'adults' are no more mature than the kids they profess to lecture to on responsibility and civility. I work with people in their fifties who throw tantrums that would make a five year old blush. I watch something like Prime Ministers' Question Time, where educated men screech tiresome rhetoric at each other like particularly well-spoken bonobos, and I can pretty much perceive our entire evolution grinding into reverse.

Young people I don't mind so much. It's older people that tend to make me feel old. And tired. And desirous of sweet numbing liquor.

 

[RuralGamer]

Whenever I remember that it was three years ago (and counting!) since I left high school and legally became an adult.

 

[kazeryu]

the fact that when I was a kid I had a awsome toy that would record my voice on a cassete and now my xbox reacts on voice recognition

 

[Kae]

-snip-

That's not really fair. Not being ignorant isn't about knowing a set list of things, it's about having an inquisitive mindset and applying it. If someone hasn't applied it to data storage (yet), it's no more important than someone not knowing much about biology, or literature. Or carpet fitting - something we use easily as much as digital storage.

I didn't mean that they should know all the formats I listed, just the ones that were really close to they're generation but they didn't quite get like VHS, Cassette, vinyl records [small](Those only because they are still the ones with the best sound quality and therefore still current like non-digital professional cameras)[/small], CDs [small]I actually thought those were still current but apparently not)[/small] that kind of thing, but you have a good point maybe I'm just being irrationally expectant on them to have such pretty much worthless information stored in they're heads.
That being said I still don't see how I'm supposed to feel old just because some 15 year old kid doesn't know what a VHS is, I mean sure it shows that just because I am 6 years older I got to use a format that he didn't, 6 years it's not that long a time and as I said before I don't really feel old ever, maybe when I'm 30 I'm going to feel old but since I don't actually celebrate or even remember my birthday I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to notice when I get there.

 

[Micromyni]

When I made a Lion King joke and a ten year old asked me what I was talking about.

 

[Frybird]

Samara/Sadakos Curse of the Ring is Broken because they are no videotapes anymore.

And speaking of Videotapes, do you know how i first seen footage of Nintendo 64 Games? By BUYING a promotional Videotape with a PRINT MAGAZINE at a store.

And i remember how i first got the PS2 and constantly had to move it in the living room when my parents rented a DVD...and how we illegaly copied some of them on VHS.

The Matrix will soon be 13 years old. I still have it...on VHS.


In short: Videotapes make me feel old.

(Also, Walkmen used to be portable Cassette Players, then came Discmen, and after MD Players Sony named MP3 Players Walkmen, and even those can be considered obsolete now since even PHONES that are considered OLD by now can play MP3s)

Also, how is it that elementary school kids have state-of-the-art cellphones these days? When I was their age I was happy to get my weekly allowance of five Deutsche Mark!

Oh yeah, that reminds me that just a few years ago i still subconciously translated Euro Prices into Mark (and how i got my first cellphone when i was 12 or 13 years old and that it still had an antenna as well as a 4 line display)

 

[Frybird]

Oh, another thing i just found out because i like to torture myself:

That new, sort of weird slogan of McDonalds?

Runs for over 8 years

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Remember "Clarissa Explains it All"?

Yea... this is her, with her kid, and her husband... 4 years ago.

 

[Luftwaffles]

I went back to old country early last year, found my hidey hole where i kept my swag and knick knacks. 2 CDs containing Freddie the Fish and Putt-Putt goes to the moon, a cassette with my fav songs, an old Pro-Yo my cousin gave me, graphite rods from those massive batterypacks meant for flashlights....

....good times

 

[bqadswr]

junior doctors are now younger than me. that bothers me. before i know it, they'll be half my age :\

 

[jklinders]

Easy.

A couple of months ago I was told by a co-worker that I reminded him of his father. Ouch! I'm only 35 and that stung more than it had a right to. He's in his late teens so I can see where he is coming from especially since I have generally looked older than I am for most of my adult life but still....OUCH.

 

[CheesyGrin1992]

Whenever I start talking about the kick-ass shows of old (Static Shock, Batman: the animated series, Batman Beyond, etc.) and the person I'm talking to goes "What are they?"

Also, remembering the very first episodes of Pokemon, and how the theme song went... great way to make me feel ancient.

This. I remember sitting down and watching the first episode when it first aired. What me feel more old though was trying to explain Jigglypuff's song to my little sister. Heck, I don't think she's even seen a Jigglypuff, let alone seen it sing and pull out its marker pen. Also, watching the first episode again after watching some of the newer ones and seeing how much weight Pikachu has lost. He was so tubby back then. And still being able to spontaneously sing the theme song. Sigh. Good times.

What really makes me feel old is modern kids. At 19, i've lost track of the amount of times I've said the phrase 'kids these days, don't know what they're missing...' in relation to video games and cartoons. Modern kids TV is just so... meh. I recently started rewatching shows from my childhood. Kids these days wouldn't have a clue what a Medabot is, or who Agumon and Gabumon are, or who the original 151 pokemon were. Such a shame.

That and my impending 20th birthday. Gah, such a big number...