# Things that make you feel old **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 6, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530 "2011-06-06T18:51:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/161 "2011-06-19T07:08:38Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > My 14-year-old keeps me up to date with current music. He plays snippets of stuff for me that he thinks I might like, and about a third of the time, he’s right. I like to think my iPod has more new music than most other 46-year-old dads’. I’m hip, dammit! I like some contemporary stuff too. There are bands that I would be glad to see in concert or live in a club. But the thing wrt music that makes me feel old is when some organization or school tells me there’s going to be a party…and music provided by the locally renowned “D.J. Vinyl”…then I know I don’t want to be there. It’s going to be mostly loud hip hop and rap, or industial, or minimal wave, punctuated with the scratcha-scratcha-scratcha noises the DJ makes with the needles. No thanks. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/162 "2011-06-19T08:48:22Z")
> [@Orionizer](#): > > I was the class of 1988 and helped to organize our 20th in 2008. That was the point I first felt really old. > > Oh, and the time a few years ago I went to see Boston in concert and my 19yr old next door neighbor kept asking me “You went to Boston to see who in concert?”… No, not The Who, Boston!! geez kids these days _grumble_grumble\* ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/163 "2011-06-19T10:10:22Z")
I mentioned waiting in line to buy concert tickets years ago when someone said, “Don’t you mean waiting ON-line??” No, shithead. When I said years ago, I meant 20 years ago. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/164 "2011-06-19T12:21:48Z")
> [@Lightlystarched](#): > > When the kids at the middle school I work at have 80’s days and I look at how they’re dressed and mentally make the corrections: wrong colors, wrong lengths, that sweater is NOT Guess or Bennetton, the mall bangs are not tall enough! What about ESPRIT? ---
**Author:** ![happycamper\_5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cab0a1/32.png) [@happycamper\_5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happycamper_5)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/165 "2011-06-19T22:39:09Z")
When I watch a professional sporting event and realize that, not only are most of the players younger than me now, but some are young enough to be my offspring. > [@Lightlystarched](#): > > When the kids at the middle school I work at have 80’s days and I look at how they’re dressed and mentally make the corrections: wrong colors, wrong lengths, that sweater is NOT Guess or Bennetton, the mall bangs are not tall enough! And are the multiple watches on their wrists Swatches? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/166 "2011-06-20T00:13:32Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > No, not The Who, Boston!! Yes. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/167 "2011-06-20T02:05:19Z")
I no longer recognize any of the original songs that Weird Al Yankovic does parodies of. Nor have I for about the last ten years. ---
**Author:** ![LaurenIpsum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LaurenIpsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenIpsum)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/168 "2011-06-20T15:40:55Z")
Watching a 2006 commercial on YouTube and seeing comments from all the teenagers acting like it’s 100 years ago: “I was in elementary school when this came out! I can’t believe you found this!” “Wow, I still remember this. Good times.” “This was back when TV was good, now it’s all crap.” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/169 "2011-06-20T21:59:03Z")
Ugh, so many things. My son turned 40 last year. 40! How the hell do I have a child that old?? All my hair is turning gray. All of it, and I am not amused. I blythely explained to a 6 year old that the San Francisco Giants (baseball team) have “only been in San Francisco since 1958”. Cascading infirmities: I’m still working on fixing the plantar fasciitis and the carpal tunnel crap and now my left thumb joint is being all weird. Talking about infirmities: I had two separate conversations on the miseries of diverticulitis last week. But the real kicker for me is this: my parents and their siblings and their spouses are all gone now. That means WE - not just my generation, but my brother and sister and I - are the Older Generation. It feels like I’ve been dropped into Bizarro World or something. Next stop: next year my oldest grandchild will be the same age that I was when I had his father. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/170 "2011-06-20T22:06:45Z")
I catch myself saying, “Oh, this was back before cellphones/DVDs/VCRs” _like that was the nineteenth freaking century_ or something. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/171 "2011-06-20T22:09:35Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > I catch myself saying, “Oh, this was back before cellphones/DVDs/VCRs” _like that was the nineteenth freaking century_ or something. I’ve got some bad news…this is no longer the twentieth century. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/172 "2011-06-20T22:21:22Z")
I’m saying I’m referring to land lines as if they were ancient technology. (I know, you were kidding.) “Why, in the old days, if you missed a TV show, you had to wait until they ran re-runs in the summer, and if you missed it _then_, well… the memories are just too painful.” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/173 "2011-06-22T01:35:46Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > [ol] > > [li]Oh, and explaining Truman & Potsdam to my kid for his history study and having him ask if I was around then…um, no…[/li][/ol] This reminds me that as an American kid in the 1960s, when we played “army”, the Germans were still the default enemy. Now, WWII is farther back in the past than WWII was in those days. ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/174 "2011-06-22T03:22:50Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > Talking about infirmities: I had two separate conversations on the miseries of diverticulitis last week. I’m just a little older than your son, but at a cookout last week, several of us sat around talking about the various aches and pains that have suddenly cropped up. One friend has already had one knee replacement, and is looking at another. It all started when several guys got up to get food at the same time, and all made that, “Uff” sound as they hoisted themselves up and out of the lawn chairs. 😃 > [@](#): > > But the real kicker for me is this: my parents and their siblings and their spouses are all gone now. That means WE - not just my generation, but my brother and sister and I - are the Older Generation. It feels like I’ve been dropped into Bizarro World or something. I’m at the age where the parents of my same-age peers are either dropping like flies or being put in long-term care or nursing homes. > [@](#): > > Next stop: next year my oldest grandchild will be the same age that I was when I had his father. Next year, my daughter will be the same age I was when I had her. ---
**Author:** ![Orionizer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orionizer/32/4442_2.png) [@Orionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orionizer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/175 "2011-06-22T11:14:45Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > This reminds me that as an American kid in the 1960s, when we played “army”, the Germans were still the default enemy. > > Now, WWII is farther back in the past than WWII was in those days. I would assume as much… 😛 I think you meant Vietnam is farther back than WWII was in those days? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/176 "2011-06-22T11:42:00Z")
The memory, she is gone! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/177 "2011-06-22T12:28:31Z")
I went to the bathroom and while I was sitting my legs fell asleep \ ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/178 "2011-06-22T13:40:02Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I went to the bathroom and while I was sitting my legs fell asleep \ There’s an app for that. (or there should be) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530/179 "2011-06-23T01:06:50Z")
A particular and somewhat weird music-related item: I strongly dislike the classic rock stations. Not so much because the music was terrible, but they really don’t play a very representative sampling of that era’s rock music. For instance, it’d be great if the programmers would realize that The Doors did a few other songs besides “Touch Me” and “Love Her Madly”. And the stations have way too many commercials, chatter, and clutter. What makes me feel old about this is when I’m with age peers who refuse to listen to anything else. Even though I’m not locked into this narrow band of music appreciation myself, it is disappointing to see that others of my generation are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-feel-old/584530.md?page=8)