Well written response, I grant you. But the logic is missing in one important way. I didn’t say ALL older people do this, but *some *-- very few in the scheme of things, but the ones who do it are old. I know people in their late nineties, who were intelligent in their youth and are still intelligent, regardless of decrease brain blood flow, or whatever anatomy you choose to quote. There are plenty of clumsy, none-too-bright 21 year olds, but none are staring out their windows at others, scared to death of puppies and small children.
There is an old guy at the end of my block who does this - binoculars and the whole deal.
In a way it sucks - he knows everything that goes on in the neighborhood. OTOH, he called the cops when he spotted someone breaking into our mailboxes, and I got my Netflix DVD back.
Regards,
Shodan
You really think that? Have you heard of severe social anxiety? Paranoia? Schizophrenia? Panic disorder?
Of course there is a small number of young people who are affected with similar issues. You’re focusing on old people so that’s what you’re seeing. On top of that, all of the above issues I mentioned absolutely play a part in the aging process of ALL of us to some degree. Some people will have it worse than others, naturally.
[quote=“sassyfras, post:1, topic:545913”]
Where I live an elderly (way over 65) woman stared out the window at the people who go by, with a eye filled with disdain. She especially is afraid of dogs.
At the office an elderly (retirement age + some more) woman receptionist was spying on me, lurking outside and giving me an almost comical evil eye.
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To me, this actually sounds kind of paranoid on your part.
I don’t know about aging. I worked for years in a deli. In between the breakfast and lunch rushes the seating area was taken over by a group of retired men. I can assure you they were gossipy and nosy. Probably not any moreso than women in the same demographic but certainly* just as*.
I think “something to do” has a lot to do with it. My husband is not yet 50, but has been out of work for more months than I’m willing to publically acknowledge. I’ve noticed that he runs to the window to investigate any sound in the neighborhood, and then reports his findings. He’s also become pretty fascinated with the weather, and typically has the 5 day forcast memorized. I think it’s just a way to use the chunk of brain that he feels should be occupied by work.
Since when did gazing out of your window become equivalent to spying? If you don’t want people to look at you then don’t go out in public.
And what’s with all these posts calling folks you’ve never met grumpy or evil? Never heard of wrinkles? Never had to peer at something because of poor eyesight and discovered you now have a facial expression similar to that of a frown? Hell even just being lost in thought can give a person a blank expression. Calling people names for being old and looking out at the world is just downright nasty.
Women are generally more social than men, but as they age, many of the social interactions/outlets that were available to them earlier in life (dating, girlfriends, workmates, kids) may become less and less available. Hence an urge (not always negative or invidious) may arise to live vicariously through the activities of other, more vital/socially involved people.
Hell, I was guilty of a form of this at a couple of points in my life. I remember moving to a new city once or twice, not really having any friends or family and working all the time. It wasn’t that I would spy on my co-workers, or pry, but I found myself with little else to think of in my off hours than, “hmm, wonder if Earl’s son made the varsity, he mentioned that tryouts were last night,” or “Gee, hope Sonya’s husband’s SBA loan goes through, then they’ll have to nail down that store lease next week.” I’m quite certain that my co-workers, who all had real lives and social networks that I lacked at the time, would have found it quaint at best, borderline odd at worst, to know that I spent any non-trivial amount of off-work time thinking about their lives, as they certainly were too busy to think about mine . . . .
If everyone minded their own business and there were no nosy neighbors to spy on the people next door, there would be fewer movies and even fewer fiction books written. It’s human nature to be curious when you’re at home with nothing much else to do. There was once a thread here about Strange Houses You Wonder About. That was a fascinating thread.
I just think older people are less subtle about it. Everybody watches other people. That’s why Facebook and Twitter are such big hits. Humans are social animals, and we like to know what other people are doing. Scoiety has this thing where older people are less valued, and older friends have often died. Thus they have fewer friends to get information from.
And, yes, they have the right to do that. As long as you are out in public (or even in private, if you’re loud enough to be heard in public), you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. It would be like posting a status on Facebook, and then getting mad that grandma read it. You effectively publish anything you let be seen in public.
I think it because they have too much time on their hands. They are not working and it gives them something to do. I have never been a nosy person and not easily bored so I may be wrong about it? The last thing I want to know is what my neighbors are doing.
My elderly client always takes notice of anyone new outside walking or whatever. She is 90 and has asked me some questions and I really think she is just curious as to how young people are today. She asked me questions about interracial dating and homosexuality.
She was born in 1921 and our culture is so different today that she just stopped trying to keep up with it. All the rules she grew up under have changed. She doesn’t even watch television except the oldies because she says it is depraved. Rather then try and understand it she pushes it away. She is a lot like Mrs. Daisy in the movie, “Driving Mrs. Daisy”. I am Morgan Freeman trying to help her get around and see the world rather then be afraid of it. Still she stubbornly refuses to step outside her comfort zone most of the time but just last week on the way to the lake I got her to try a Coffee Coolada at Dunkin Donuts and she said it way very good! That is progress!
My mother has a neighbor that likes to “keep an eye” on things. My mother OTOH doesn’t care what the neighbors are up to. Some people are nosy, some aren’t. Retired nosy people definitely have more time to be nosy though. Other than that, age isn’t a factor.
My bathroom window is directly across from and a bit lower than my neighbor’s kitchen window.
When I first moved in, both panes of glass in my bathroom window were clear. I never thought about it much and noone ever said anything.
A few years after my neighbor-lady’s husband died, I put in new windows and had the lower bathroom window pane opaque. I didn’t think about it much, just said yes when the window salesman suggested it.
After the windows were installed, my neighbor-lady wouldn’t talk to ne for two weeks.
I think she was peeking!
If I had known, I would have scratched myself more, just to see if I could get a reaction lol.
We had an elderly single woman across the street from us who did the stereotypical “watching the neighborhood out her window” thing. She moved to a retirement home about a year ago. I miss having her around. We didn’t interact much but I thought it was cute how she kept tabs on everything. My husband used to snowblow her driveway and she would give him cookies.
There was another older man 2 houses down and he would regularly come over if we were doing any yardwork or home improvements to see what we were up to. He was so quirky and nice I just got a kick out of it though. He would bring random stuff over for our kids. I think he was just lonely. We learned a lot about our neighborhood from him, he was an original owner of his house and knew the original owner of ours. He moved to a retirement home a few months ago too.
Bring back the old people, I say!
I have some old folks in my neighborhood. On the 1-2 days/winter it snows in Albuquerque, I shovel their walks for them. This makes me a god who can do no wrong.
My granpa did that, out of curiosity and a desire to see if the neighbors were doing anything that might be illegal. I don’t think that he ever caught anyone in the act, but i am sure he enjoyed it.
I was SO thoroughly confused by this post. Couldn’t parse it for the life of me. People are tossing cakes at your house? The cakes keep the burglars away? What are Greek windows, and why would that encourage people to throw cakes at you?
I noticed your location and thought maybe “cake” was Australian slang for something, but it still wasn’t making sense. It was as if I was peering into a completely alien culture, where people pelt others’ homes with baked goods if they don’t like the shape of their windows.
Then I realized I’d read it wrong. Greek widows.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Now I get it. :smack:
In the nursing home* residents dread walking (riding) to dinner in any state of distress, undress, not being “called for” -ie an invitation-
but the **meds **rock their world, and they have cable TV, so not much gossiping.
This thread made me go listen to this song.
Apparently street artists in Portugal have come to the same conclusion about old women watching the neighborhood.
I think part of it also is that women are more likely to be people-watchers. When they were younger, they did their people watching at work, or the mall, or at the park with the kids, or out grocery shopping. As they get older and getting out and about becomes a lot more difficult, they wind up doing their people-watching from the porch or window because it’s what’s available to them.