# Things you do that make other people feel old **URL:** \ **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:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Unsquare\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@Unsquare\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unsquare_Dance)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/21 "2009-06-27T14:15:32Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Twenty four, feel old now? I’m twenty-three, and I know how to mail a letter, even though I don’t need to do it. And my Blu-Ray player uses a remote. Why would that make someone feel old? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/22 "2009-06-27T14:39:04Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > No, just smart. > > And I don’t care how far technology has advanced. Sending weding invites over Facebook is pretty corney-ass. Tasteless, too. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/23 "2009-06-27T15:29:08Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Twenty four, feel old now? No, I’m 29, but I got some home training. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/24 "2009-06-27T16:10:57Z")
> [@Unsquare\_Dance](#): > > And my Blu-Ray player uses a remote. Why would that make someone feel old? 😕 No joke. Still waiting for an answer on the “no remotes” thing in the OP. Seems more items have remote controls these days, not less. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/25 "2009-06-27T17:58:10Z")
My dad was talking about his and my mother’s sex life. My brain went kablooey and I panicked! So I parried with a comment about my perimenopause and made my him feel old. He’s old anyway, but still. It’s all relative. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/26 "2009-06-27T19:51:45Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > No joke. Still waiting for an answer on the “no remotes” thing in the OP. Seems more items have remote controls these days, not less. Yeah- I mean, if somebody told me they had no remote controls in their home I’d think they were poor or “opting out” or somesuch. We’ve only got two that we use, since I’ve managed to program the cable box/DVR remote to operate our other stuff, but there must be five or six in our house. If somebody told me they didn’t know where a stamp went I’d assume they had just done a long stretch in prison and didn’t get on with the family or something. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/27 "2009-06-27T20:51:31Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > 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. Then the OP is moronic because at 24 he should have hundreds of thousands of mail sent to his parents every day for as long as he could remember. The fact that he never handled any of it means he’s either lazy (he never got the mail himself) or… no, lazy just about covers it. And the no remotes thing is even stranger. For an OP that is supposed to paint **Shalmanese** as some kind of advanced techno-human hybrid (or, if you prefer, cybernetic organism), not owning a remote-using device for the last five years is something a technophobe does, not some high flying 24 year old. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/28 "2009-06-27T21:03:25Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > 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. My 17 yr old son owns a top hat…a dark purple velvet one, yet. 😃 And he actually wears it. (he’s weird that way:p) I really don’t know what I do that makes others feel old…_I_ feel “old”, or rather, am sometimes taken aback, when noticing the dates on certain films or songs or events and realizing, oh, man, that was THAT long ago? Seems like a lot more recent! :eek: Um, I caught a lot of flack from people my age (43) or younger recently when I fell while roller skating and hurt my hand. They all said something along the lines of, “OMG! We have to be careful now..we’re too old to do that sort of thing! You could have broken a bone, etc…” WTF? Speak for yourself, Granny…I’m 43, not 83. I skate all the time and will keep doing it, thank you. My AGE had nothing to with me falling or my injury (some little kid darted in front of me and I took the fall to keep from injuring HIM!) But I think it was that they ALREADY felt old, not that I caused them to. Even my 68 yr old mother uses email and the internet…Hmmm, I am at a loss to think of anything. Then again, I am not really all that cutting edge, just comfortable with the basic technologies currently in use (as in, I have a cell phone, but it has NO camera and I just use it for, GASP, making and getting phone calls:D) And I find it hard to believe ANYONE doesn’t know how to address and mail an envelope. My 9 yr old knows THAT. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/29 "2009-06-27T21:09:18Z")
Mainly what I do that makes other people feel old is that I move around a lot and I move quickly and I just am basically hyper. Even though I would not say that I am athletic I am in pretty good shape for somebody who eats Slim Jims for breakfast, steak and vodka seltzers for dinner and sleeps about five hours a night. I do work out, though. And I really can’t seem to sleep more than five hours. Older people as in, older, not elderly senior citizen-types, are always like, my God, you are so wound up, I wish I had your energy. Honestly it’s probably nervous energy. I hope I am still like this when I am 60. I’m betting my friends and co-workers are NOT hoping that. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/30 "2009-06-27T21:12:30Z")
oh yeah (sorry, edit timed out:o) the remotes; well, we have 2 tvs (one of them about 16 yrs old), a vcr, 2 dvd players, a stereo, cable, and ALL have remotes. (not that they always WORK…the one for the ancient VCR has died and it’s just not worth replacing, really, and the one for one of the DVD players needs batteries, but we can manage fine in the meantime with the controls on the actual device. Also not sure what remotes have to do with feeling old. My in-laws, who are in their 80s, have more remotes than I do. What? Is the “next thing” having that implant put in your brain to control devices by thought or is it going back to the old way of just getting up and using the controls on the device? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/31 "2009-06-27T21:57:33Z")
I was at my kids soccer game last weekend and they kicked the ball over the fence. It was a chain-link fence about chest high, and to get the ball I hopped over the fence by jumping up with my hands on the bar and swinging my legs over to the side. I tossed the ball back in and did the same thing to get back over the fence. All the other parents (all 40 somethings) commented that “I’d break something if I tried to do that…” and several said that made them feel old. I’ve been doing that since I was a kid, and haven’t given a thought about getting hurt doing something like that. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/32 "2009-06-27T22:02:37Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > I was at my kids soccer game last weekend and they kicked the ball over the fence. It was a chain-link fence about chest high, and to get the ball I hopped over the fence by jumping up with my hands on the bar and swinging my legs over to the side. I tossed the ball back in and did the same thing to get back over the fence. All the other parents (all 40 somethings) commented that “I’d break something if I tried to do that…” and several said that made them feel old. > > I’ve been doing that since I was a kid, and haven’t given a thought about getting hurt doing something like that. Good for you! But again, I wonder if that really qualifies as “making” someone feel old as opposed to them already feeling old and just having cause to express it? As Deepac Chopra once said, “We don’t grow old…we become old when we stop growing.” ---
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/33 "2009-06-27T22:03:50Z")
> [@valleyofthedolls](#): > > 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. Said notes were always delivered either the real old fashioned way (by hand) or the new fangled way (electronically). ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/34 "2009-06-27T22:06:35Z")
Sheesh, I don’t know how to use a physical metal key. really. Between card swipes, combination locksm biometric readers and remote control car door locks and keyless cars…I’ve never needed to use a key or frankly seen one used outside of a YouTube clip. My parents gave me a soother as a child and not even a set of plastic keys for teething. Now if you say your knees never hurt and have n o need for bi-focals then I might think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/35 "2009-06-27T23:05:49Z")
> [@SlowMindThinking](#): > > Sure he is. I had to tell my teenager how to address regular mail. He never had need to send one. Indeed. I hadn’t sent regular mail for at least 14 years until I started my own company and had to send bills. Pretty much all my communication is by email or phone, and the only reason I send bills by mail is because I don’t have a land-line so I can’t sent faxes. ETA: I’m thirty five. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102/36 "2009-06-27T23:15:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yeah- I mean, if somebody told me they had no remote controls in their home I’d think they were poor or “opting out” or somesuch. We’ve only got two that we use, since I’ve managed to program the cable box/DVR remote to operate our other stuff, but there must be five or six in our house. Huh. The only remote I own is the one I got with my macbook. I don’t think I ever used it. I watch TV and listen to music on another computer (except for my record collection, which requires swapping vinyl). In fact, I think the macbook remote was the first remote I ever owned (my parents have a couple for their TVs, but that’s about it). Oh, and I do own very nice fedora. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-do-that-make-other-people-feel-old/501102.md?page=1)