# Things you do that make other people feel old
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 26, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102 "2009-06-26T19:53:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/1 "2009-06-26T19:53:32Z")
I wanted to text a friend today and I realized I don’t actually have her phone number. We’ve known each other for 2 months now, hung out a bunch of times, I’ve been on a 3 day vacation with her, the need to call/text her has yet to come up. I ended up deciding it was easier to leave a post on her wall than get her number.
A friend made a joke about remotes and I had a brief moment of confusion before I realized what he meant. I haven’t owned a device that requires a remote for over 5 years.
I had to look on the internet for instructions on how to mail a letter, where the stamp goes, where you write the address etc.
I don’t pirate music anymore. I use pandora for general listening and youtube for specific songs.
I can’t name the address of a single friend off the top of my head. They’re all stored in Google Maps on my phone.
I’ve been invited to a wedding over facebook.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/2 "2009-06-26T20:01:19Z")
The fact that you don’t own a device that uses a remote doesn’t make me feel old. Just that I have more stuff. My Boise iPod player has a remote (doesn’t “require” one, for sure). My oven hood fan and light has a remote. My tivo and tv have remotes. My iHome has a remote. I think we have a space heater with a remote. Our skylights open and close via remotes.
Now, things that might make others feel old… I have never owned a top hat.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/3 "2009-06-26T20:48:51Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> I had to look on the internet for instructions on how to mail a letter, where the stamp goes, where you write the address etc.
And you are… five? Six?
I taught an immigrant lady how to write a check once, but she had an excuse.
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### Author:  [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/4 "2009-06-26T21:00:05Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> I had to look on the internet for instructions on how to mail a letter, where the stamp goes, where you write the address etc.
Wow. You can’t be serious.
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### Author:  [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/5 "2009-06-26T21:18:15Z")
Sure he is. I had to tell my teenager how to address regular mail. He never had need to send one.
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/6 "2009-06-26T22:08:39Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> A friend made a joke about remotes and I had a brief moment of confusion before I realized what he meant. **I haven’t owned a device that requires a remote for over 5 years**.
What’s replaced the remotes? 😕 Unless you’re doing all your TV/DVD watching in front of a computer.
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### Author:  [@valleyofthedolls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/valleyofthedolls)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/7 "2009-06-26T22:10:44Z")
> [@SlowMindThinking](#):
>
> Sure he is. I had to tell my teenager how to address regular mail. He never had need to send one.
You never had him send a thank you note? As soon as I could read/write my parents always had me send thank you notes for gifts etc.
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### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/8 "2009-06-26T22:16:02Z")
> [@Zsofia](#):
>
> And you are… five? Six?
Twenty four, feel old now?
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/9 "2009-06-26T22:18:21Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Twenty four, feel old now?
No, just experienced. Even though I rarely send letters I can address an evelope. Even though I bank online I can balance a check book etc.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/10 "2009-06-26T22:19:48Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Twenty four, feel old now?
No, just smart.
And I don’t care how far technology has advanced. Sending weding invites over Facebook is pretty corney-ass.
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### Author:  [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/11 "2009-06-26T23:02:38Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Twenty four, feel old now?
Wait, so you’ve never had to pay a bill via mail? Or file your taxes? Or basically do anything involving correspondence via the post office?
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### Author:  [@Quasimodal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodal)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/12 "2009-06-27T01:56:26Z")
How about elementary school? I think we all learned how to write letters there at some point.
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### Author:  [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/13 "2009-06-27T03:43:16Z")
This is more like “things I’ve done/experienced” than “things I do (regularly),” because I can’t think of many good examples for the second.
(For reference, I’m 21.)
I can’t remember life without a computer and internet access- my mom (57 years old) has been online regularly since I was 2, and I had access to Prodigy on my own by the time I was 6 or so. I got an AOL screen name just a little later.
I was 10 years old when I got my first Harry Potter book- which at the time was the ONLY Harry Potter book.
My high school sophomore year history textbook included 9/11 and other early 2000s events.
**Quasimodal** , In third grade we covered addressing letters and postcards in a set of handwriting lessons. (The only thing I learned that day was that the ZIP code goes on the same line as the city and state, not below it, but most of the other kids seemed new to the whole set-up.)
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/14 "2009-06-27T03:45:55Z")
I think you’re missing the OP’s point.
You’re treating them like an idiot for not learning something basic like addressing an envelope, but in fact the point they’re making is they haven’t _needed to_ before now because of the modern technological era they were brought up in.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/15 "2009-06-27T03:48:51Z")
> [@vandal](#):
>
> Wow. You can’t be serious.
The much stranger thing is that he has never _received_ a stamped letter either apparently.
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### Author:  [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/16 "2009-06-27T03:50:27Z")
I am only a couple of years older than the OP. I think of being 20-something and never having addressed an envelope as being one of those quirks like how some people out there have gone through life having never eaten a McDonald’s hamburger or something else very common than being a sign of a generation gap.
Even if you don’t send thank you cards or pay your bills by US Mail, I think most people in their 20s have **received** enough paper mail to know how addresses work.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/17 "2009-06-27T04:13:45Z")
My 70ish mom can’t stand seeing me wear a short sleeve shirt that buttons down the front [(example)](http://gottalooksharp.com/images/uploads/D670_Camp_Shirt_Black.jpg). It makes me look “like an old man.”
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### Author:  [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/18 "2009-06-27T05:55:50Z")
> [@Leiko](#):
>
> My high school sophomore year history textbook included 9/11 and other early 2000s events.
Whaaaat. I’m only 25 and that seems so bizarre. Even the 1990s seem too recent to be thought of as “history”. I’m not supposed to be able to _remember_ stuff in a _history_ book! Gahhh!
I can’t think of much I do to make other people feel old, only stuff the other way around (I’m a grad student who teaches a freshman level class, which certainly doesn’t help).
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/19 "2009-06-27T06:12:03Z")
> [@Leiko](#):
>
> My high school sophomore year history textbook included 9/11 and other early 2000s events.
Wow. If you’re 21, you must have been a high school sophomore in like, what, 2003? That’s some quick turnaround. I’ve only got a few years on you (same age as the OP), but you’re still making me feel old!
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### Author:  [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/20 "2009-06-27T08:30:23Z")
Sophomore year was 2003-2004. If it makes you feel any better, the book was for AP World History, which was one of the newest AP tests at the time, so of course we had brand-spankin’ new books. (It was “The Earth and Its Peoples” if you’re curious.)
I think my American History textbook the next year still listed Clinton as president, if that makes you feel a bit less old.
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