Older Adults Are Revealing The Thing They Unapologetically Do That Instantly Shows Their Age
As we get older, it can be a little tough to keep up with new trends or avoid things that instantly point to the fact that we're getting older. Sometimes, it feels like one day, I just woke up and lost the ability to stay awake past 10 p.m. So when redditor u/Center_Power_Unit asked the r/AskReddit community to share the thing that really shows their age, older adults instantly chimed in. Here's what they had to say.
1."Not recognizing most of the guests on late-night talk shows or SNL. I've maybe heard the names but have no idea what they do."
2."I put periods at the end of text messages."
"I now put exclamation points instead because I learned people think you're upset if you aren't overly enthusiastic in texts."
3."I grunt any time I go from sitting to standing or standing to sitting."
4."Getting an urge to pee even though I just went to the bathroom an hour or so ago."
5."You can pry my side-parted hair from my cold, dead scalp. "
"I tried doing the middle part just to see what it looked like. Nope. My hair literally stood up on end when I tried to flip it to the middle. Over two decades of the exact same side-part isn't going away."
6."Whenever I see a building in my town, I tell people about what used to be on that same site. Example: 'See that grocery store. I remember when it was just a cow pasture.'"
"When you want to give directions but it's entirely based on places that aren't there: 'Well, first you turn right where there used to be a Blockbuster, then you make a left where there used to be a Pizza Hut and go down half a mile. It's in the same shopping center where Sears was. If you get to where there used to be a Circuit City, you went too far.'"
7."Complaining about how loud music is at a party, and then realizing it's only because I'm not used to going out past 9 p.m. anymore."
8."I have the ability to drive a stick shift and write in cursive."
9."I want hard copies (recipes, invitations, menus, etc.)."
10."I still say 'tape a show' when I want to DVR something and occasionally refer to 'hanging up' when ending a video call."
"I told my daughter I couldn't talk when she called because I was 'on the other line.' She told me there haven't been 'phone lines' in a long time."
11."Having a favorite burner on the stove."
"There are two types of people, those who use the front right burner and liars."
12."Apparently, wearing ankle/no-show socks lets everyone know I'm old. I don't understand how wearing crew socks halfway up your calf when it's 90° outside is comfortable."
"This one. I'm 37 — when I was in high school, nobody would be caught dead in calf-length socks."
13."According to my 24-year-old friend: holding things up in clothes shops and saying, 'I had one of these in the '90s.' I did, though. Half that kid's wardrobe is things I could have saved her money on if I'd kept all my teenage clothes."
14."You know the lady who has a rose garden and gives freshly picked tomatoes to the neighborhood kids? I've become her."
15."I prefer a desktop computer to a laptop. I do all important transactions on a big monitor."
"If it's going to take more than three minutes to type, I need a real computer. If I'm doing serious research or just my day job, I need multiple monitors, a good mouse, and a keyboard. Touchpad and laptop keyboard are OK in stints, but it's super constraining for complex tasks."
16."I call all video games 'Nintendo' just to get a rise out of the kids."
"I realized I had become my mother when I called our Switch a Wii."
17."I call people in their 20s 'kids.'"
18."I buy comfortable shoes. I stopped wearing Vans and Nike SBs. I now wear Altras because they have a wide-toe bed and are good for plantar fasciitis."
19."I answer and return phone calls."
"This is a big one. I'm a millennial. I've talked with a lot of people my age about this, and it seems to be a general consensus that calling someone if it's not an emergency or discussing it in advance is pretty rude."
20."I use a wall calendar instead of my phone calendar for upcoming reminders."
21."At work two years ago, our system was enabled to send a text to clients. One of my younger colleagues asked why there was a 160-character limit and why the counter reset if you typed more than 160 characters. I had to explain about paying 10 cents per text message. She was so young that WhatsApp had essentially always existed for her, so her mobile contracts had always included unlimited texts by default. I'm only in my 30s, but that shit made me feel old."
22."I use pen and paper for my grocery shopping list."
Are there any "older person habits" you have that instantly show your age? Tell us in the comments or fill out this anonymous form!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
