# Things that make you look old **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889 "2016-03-04T02:20:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [March 5, 2016, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/81 "2016-03-05T07:38:24Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > Inspired by a conversation with a friend yesterday. We were calling to wish her a happy birthday. My hubby and I have similar voices, so it took her a while to understand that we were both on the line. She said: “Oh! you’re using two handsets, like senior citizens!” I’m not sure I understand. Is this something you were doing with your land line and two cordless handsets? (Or one corded set and one cordless?) ---
**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:** [March 5, 2016, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/82 "2016-03-05T07:46:59Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > Commercial music is generally still released as albums and there’s no word that I’m aware of to replace it. When a musician or group releases an album, what else can you call it if you’re talking about the album and not a single? If you refer to it as a record album you might be swimming in trunks or gardening in blue jeans (dungarees if you’re really old) but there’s nothing else to call an album but an album. I wonder if the importance that many baby boomers attached to the album concept, however, is withering away. To most of us, an album was something meant to be best appreciated by listening to the cuts in sequence. Today I can put any album I own onto my Galaxy S5–provided I own it in some digital format–but I haven’t been able to find an Android music player that will reliably preserve the track order. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t, and it seems to vary with the content as much as with the player app being used. So could it be that albums exist as articles of commerce, but less so as a creative concept? ---
**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:** [March 5, 2016, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/83 "2016-03-05T07:55:06Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Given that the “device” you speak of is typically a cell phone kept in a pocket, [it’s actually more olde-tymey than a wrist watch.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_watch) > > (from there, it was interesting to learn that [Flavor Flav was not really a fashion innovator…](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_eggs)) I don’t understand this one either. It’s a lot easier to read the time from a wristwatch than from the screen of your cell phone, particularly outdoors. Using your phone is worse than the first Pulsars with which you had to press a button to display the time. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2016, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/84 "2016-03-05T08:08:35Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Sorry, I call bullshit on step 2. Most have smartphones, and even back when I had a flip-phone, the clock showed on a little screen on the outside so you didn’t have to open the phone to see the time. But if you didn’t open the phone, didn’t you have to press a button to get the time to display? That would be a step. It’s been so long since I had a flip phone I don’t remember, and when I did have I was still wearing a wristwatch (or carrying a pocketwatch). I miss having a wristwatch, but I seem to be one of those people whose wristwatches stop working prematurely. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2016, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/85 "2016-03-05T08:12:18Z")
Speaking of flip phones, I was always disappointed you could never open them by merely jerking them with your hand, as on ST:TOS. Hey! I just thought of another thing… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/86 "2016-03-05T09:26:40Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > When breakfast is preceded by an assortment of little pills in bottles. > > :o > > And when did the two-spaces after a full stop stop?? Nobody sent me a memorandum to alert me to the changes? Seriously! Not happy Edith! Are you aware that all of your double spaces are automatically changed to single spaces by the board software? Something handy about using iPads and iPhones is that you can double space and it will automatically put the full stop in for you. It saves you a key press while simultaneously letting you feel like you’re keeping up with your double space ethics and ultimately resulting in a single space so all the cool kids think you are hip. [Info on sentence spacing on wiki.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing) Single spacing has been used in books, magazines, and news papers since before you were born ;). To the OP. I know I’m old because I don’t give a fuck anymore. I wear runners with jeans because it is comfortable. I wear a watch mainly because I was given a nice one for my 40th birthday and I like it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/87 "2016-03-05T12:03:59Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Oooh, good one on the spiked hair. My ex, who I must admit has phenomenal hair (bastard) still wears his Billy Idol style. He actually is one of the original punks, but sadly he can’t seem to update his look (or his attitude) to the current century. I like a choppy. pokey hairstyle on a man but he won’t let go of the “spikey” gelled look. Heh. I don’t mousse or gel, but my hair sticks up because I don’t own a comb. I was shaving my head for a few years, so I got rid of my combs. Now that I’m letting it grow an inch or so, I can’t be arsed to buy a comb. At my age a new comb would outlive me. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/88 "2016-03-05T12:12:23Z")
Removing my hat as a show of respect. Standing when a lady approaches the table. Pulling out the chair for said lady, and helping with her coat. Ditto for car doors (and most building doors). Giving up my seat to a lady if none are available. This includes surrendering my first-class seat on a plane if I see a woman traveling alone with a baby or toddler. Minimizing my “real estate footprint” in commuter/crowd situations by keeping elbows and legs together. This effort is redoubled when sharing armrests or confined spaces with ladies. Yes, I realize these are not always appropriate (especially in business situations like conferences/meetings), but I still do it in most social and public circumstances. I’m sure this makes me look really old to some folks. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/89 "2016-03-05T12:32:18Z")
Using your forefinger on your phone as opposed to your thumbs to text , etc. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/90 "2016-03-05T15:14:59Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > Using your forefinger on your phone as opposed to your thumbs to text , etc. Using your thumbs seems rather awkward on larger devices, though. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/91 "2016-03-05T15:31:21Z")
The two-spaces thing is from when we used typewriters, which did not have the capability of proportionally spacing letters. It’s not a _faux pas_ to put in the two spaces after the period, but it’s a throwback. Oddly, some of you are probably putting in the two spaces even though you’re too young to have ever used a typewriter. Typeset text (done by a printing company in a book) doesn’t use the two spaces. On computers, etc., we now use proportional text and can follow the professional printing convention, which is one space after a period. When I’m proofing someone else’s work, one of the first things I do is a global find-and-replace to change all those two-spaces to one. Re credit cards, I put EVERYTHING on my one Visa. For one thing, I get rewards points, so why not? For another thing,I use both Quicken and [Mint.com](http://Mint.com), and every month I know exactly where every penny went. No more taking $50 bucks from the ATM and wondering what happened to it. Quicken is where I do my serious financial management, but in Mint, I can see at a glance throughout the month how much I’ve spent on restaurants (it even breaks out “fast food”), groceries, gasoline, and every nitpicky think you care to categorize. It learns which vendors go with which categories and assigns them there automatically every time you log in and download. I think using my credit card for everything isn’t young, it’s smart. And I do pay it off every month. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/92 "2016-03-05T15:41:37Z")
Listening to music out in public with old-style headphones instead of earbuds, bonus points for listening to a CD instead of mp3 or app. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/93 "2016-03-05T15:45:07Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > 😕 > > The offices and conference rooms where you work…don’t they have clocks on the wall? Private offices usually don’t come with clocks; you rely on your computer or watch for the time. At one place where I worked, a desk clock was one of the five-year anniversary gifts you could choose. With cubes, again, you typically can’t see the wall from where you are sitting, so a wall clock wouldn’t do you any good. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/94 "2016-03-05T15:49:14Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Listening to music out in public with old-style headphones instead of earbuds, bonus points for listening to a CD instead of mp3 or app. Actually I have observed a minor revival of over-the-ear headphones among hip young folk. Presumably because earbuds suck. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/95 "2016-03-05T16:18:55Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > Using your forefinger on your phone as opposed to your thumbs to text , etc. I sometimes try to use my thumbs when I want to write extended text on my iPhone. However, it seems that while I am equally bad at hitting the correct key no matter what the configuration, the iPhone does a better job of autocorrecting when I use a forefinger. When I use my thumbs it is often mystified. I chalk my slowness and imprecision up to my inexperience with thumb typing – since I should be faster and more accurate since the letters are larger when the screen is tilted to enable thumb typing and I am using two points of contact with the screen – but I don’t see that it would be worthwhile to put the time in if autocorrect will usually not even attempt to fix my mishits. For only sentence or two I just use my forefinger since I’ve gotten fairly quick at it as long as I make sure autocorrect hasn’t created a boner out of my text. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/96 "2016-03-05T18:16:51Z")
Do iPhones use [Swype](http://www.swype.com/)? Fastest keyboard input of all. I have it on my kindle. My phone is a BlackBerry with a physical keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/97 "2016-03-05T19:15:57Z")
[This](http://hairstylesforwomen.website/img/1980s-hair-styles/1980s-hair-styles-6.jpg)hairstyle. Ladies, stop doing this. This is the same as your gramma who got her hair washed and set when you were a kid. That’s what you look like. > [@Turpentine](#): > > I’ve noticed that old people seem to favor a particular ring tone for their phones- the one that goes “brrrrrrrrrrrring!”- like an olde tyme landline. My dad, my husband’s dad, and my boss all have this ringtone. I hate that fucking ringtone. It’s why I turned the ringers off on every phone I’ve ever owned. **bump** – I adore goatees on men. Please, style gods, bring them back. They were so much nicer than lumberjack beards. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/98 "2016-03-05T20:43:41Z")
That link doesn’t show a hairstyle, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/99 "2016-03-05T22:53:27Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > [This](http://hairstylesforwomen.website/img/1980s-hair-styles/1980s-hair-styles-6.jpg)hairstyle. Ladies, stop doing this. This is the same as your gramma who got her hair washed and set when you were a kid. That’s what you look like. > [@elbows](#): > > That link doesn’t show a hairstyle, by the way. Yes, please repost it. I want to see if it’s my hairstyle. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889/100 "2016-03-05T22:57:56Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > … > I hate that fucking ringtone. It’s why I turned the ringers off on every phone I’ve ever owned. > > … You can change the ringtone. You know that, right? You don’t have to turn off the ringer. ETA: Or did you mean you’ve turned off the ringers on all of your landline phones because you couldn’t change the ringtone on those? How did you know when someone was calling you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-make-you-look-old/747889.md?page=6)