Feeling like: “New music? New movies? Nope. I’m done. My brain is full.”
For myself, the top 20 music is just an abomination, that’s not a get off my lawn thing. I and science can prove it. But I don’t even feel like hunting down music I would like.
Movies? Well, I don’t feel like sitting through a bunch of ads with unruly strangers.
I do still like going to Baseball games.
But as for almost any kind of cultural ‘thing’ I feel like there’s a social tipping point it must reach before I can ‘be bothered’ to look into it. Game of Thrones? It took four years, a South Park trilogy and Robot Chicken* references before I gave in.
I just feel like my brain is full and I can’t be bothered with these things.
*Obviously South Park and Robot Chicken made it in under the ‘brain is full’ deadline.
Then there’s channel surfing and looking for something familiar and comforting, “Nope. Nope. Weather channel? mmmmaybe…I’ll get back to that Hurricane Sandy Special…nope. Nope. Ahh. ‘Lifeboat’. I’ve seen it, so I’ll watch that for awhile.”
Edit: And while I do hate modern top 20 music…It’s not like I hate new movies or TV shows or the current crop of hot actors. I’m not too crazy about how the character actor has taken a back seat to the rise of the Beautiful People. But I don’t think the output is bad. I just feel like my brain is full! I know Breaking Bad is supposed to be fantastic, but every time I look at the pic on Netflix…“Iiiiiii…can’t commit to that right now” But I will watch an old Malcolm in the Middle ep!
I pretty much stopped going to the movies but that’s because they’re almost all only available in 3D here.
The most notable area where I can’t be bothered with new stuff seems to be books. I have so many old ones I love and usually the new ones suck so why bother even giving them a try? Although maybe the fact that I read maybe a tenth of what I used to explains this.
I too felt that way, until I got a new car with FM-HD and Sirius radio. Finally, I can see the name and singer of the song while it’s on (it’s hard to go back to my wife’s car where that info isn’t available). That’s helped a lot on keeping up with current hits, otherwise I would be clueless.
I agree with this. I couldn’t keep up with new music, because I couldn’t stand all the talking, and what passes for “humor,” on the commercial radio stations. But then I got Pandora One (no ads), and I listen to all the latest stuff, no ads, no talking, no BS, and every song title, album, and artist is there for the learning. There is new good stuff, but my tolerance for the overhead has gone way down.
As for movies, I don’t feel like my brain is full. But… when I see an ad for a remake of a movie that I ALREADY saw a remake of twenty years ago… It’s hard to motivate myself to give a rat’s ass.
Maybe, depends on what age we are talking about. For me (62) it has not occurred yet and I love today’s top 20 and new movies and TV as much as I did in my 20’s. Maybe it will happen later.
65 here and brain still not full. I have to admit that I haven’t exposed my brain to very much over the years. The last 10 years I have been on more of a learning binge and am really enjoying it.
I sometimes wonder if there isn’t a significant number of kids themselves who feel like today’s music is crap.
I was picking my son up from school the other day. As I’m waiting for him, I’m noticing all these kids with concert shirts of bands that were way before their time. I saw a Run DMC, a Led Zeppelin, Lenny Kravits.
I could help think “Wow! Does today’s music suck so bad that these kids have to go back 20 years to find something decent to listen to?”
I think it’s common, but I don’t think it has to be. The problem is that people have a tendency to think very unrealistically highly of the stuff from when they were young. They forget just how much pure, grade A crap there was back then or become more forgiving of it as they get older. There’s just as much good stuff now as there always has been, and it’s still as enjoyable. Maybe even more so since it’s new; but you have to be willing to have your sensibilities challenged. If something offends you are annoys you, ask yourself why. If it’s because it’s boring, dismiss it and move on. Otherwise, give it a chance and try not to be so predictable.
For the record, I’m 49. When I put my iTunes on “full shuffle” it really screws with people’s heads. I get a big kick out of that.
Ah, 49 is hardly get-off-my-lawn-you-rotten-kids territory.
I’m somewhat older and I’m still finding music I like to listen to, but yes, the intersection of what I listen to and what your average 16 year old is listening to is very close to the NULL set. (I have at least hear of Adele and Mumford and Sons overlaps with the folk/alternative music that I favor.) But I can’t really fool myself that I’m spending a lot of time keeping current with what’s hip, fresh and happening
I made it deep into my 50’s, still avidly enjoying popular music and mainstream movies. Music now is variations on a drum, and movies I see promoted are all of the paranormal or the kill genre. I think I’ve only seen 2 or 3 movies I’ve enjoyed in the past ten years. It’s not me that has changed, it is medium. Regular season sports is now nearly meaningless because mediocre teams make the playoffs, and only then do they start playing with any enthusiasm.
I dunno. I’m not terribly old yet, at 27, and I still feel the way the OP describes a good deal of the time. Though I do think, at least in my case, it may have something to do with depression and anhedonia more so than aging. It’s almost like a feeling of being bored with everything. There’s no point seeking out new things because they won’t be interesting, so I tend to stick with things I’m familiar with (even if those aren’t interesting either!)
I was pretty engaged with rock music from the 50s through the 80s, but then my ear shifted gears into jazz, which meant that some of the 90s music and most of what came after 2000 was lost to me. That said, I don’t think I’ve missed a whole lot, as music seems to have lost its way in large part. There are still voices that get my attention like Pink and Gaga, but my car radio is usually on the oldies stations.
I don’t care if I see a movie in a theater; I can wait for cable to carry it.
My brain is not full (still doing research math), but I can’t stand most post-Beatles music (exception for Stevie Wonder and a few others). I don’t see many moves–find them mostly boring. I couldn’t follow the Lego movie although I was really intrigued by Inception. What did the top at end mean? As for books, I still love Sci-Fi and some fantasy. Steve Brust’s latest has been ordered and will appear on my Kobo reader next Tuesday.
I find myself falling behind in music, but that’s not really a reflection of music quality. It’s just that as you get older, most people just can’t dedicate as much of their time to following music. There are only 24 hours in a day.
Heck, I don’t watch as much TV as I used to, despite the fact TV’s significantly BETTER than it used to be, so you can’t chalk that one up to a lack of quality. I don’t see baseball games as often as I used to but I still love baseball; I just have to love it more on the radio, because I’m busy doing so many other things.
