I'm officially old.

[Hufflepuff]

The other day, my twelve year old nephew was alerted by his grandmother that his smartphone was beeping. He rushed in to grab it, took one look at it and grunted. "It's just an email. It's so stupid, I can't turn the alert off for email. I mean, do people even use email anymore?"

I guess it is true that most people text nowadays, but if email is officially outdated, I'm officially old.

Are you officially old? When and how did you find out?

[Mathmo]

Hey, maybe 12 year olds don't use email any more, but I think the rest of the world does ... (besides which, how is texting a substitute for email? Confused here). I think I decided I was officially old when at Uni as having gap year stuff made me older than the rest of my friends (you generally don't do gap years and then maths unless you are stuck in strange circumstances like I was). I don't see it as a bad thing, though. I want to be an awesome older woman, like Captain Adelaide Brooke from The Waters of Mars (Doctor Who episode) ... too bad she's fictional.

[Sonic#]

No one's seen fit to tell me yet.

When I was last going on dates, I noticed that a lot of people really liked texting as a form of communication. I don't. I consider it a poor interface better suited for quick communications like, "I'm late." I also dislike isolating myself in social situations via texting. While this would bring me against people younger than me, it's hardly ubiquitous among younger folk (my brother being an example). Similarly, the one who texted the most, and indeed insisted on texts over e-mail because she was anxious about her writing style, was four years older than me. So the technology probably skews younger, but I don't think the lack of texting (or an iPhone) makes me old.

On the other hand, I'm older than a lot of people. When I game online, I'm regularly aware that I'm gaming against high schoolers, middle schoolers, and even the occasional elementary schooler (!! Team Fortress 2 is not the place for you). The casual insults slung around on chat at times (gay, pussy, references to being raped, references to the lack of women on the internet) remind me of what it was to be in middle school with people who used such language, except back then even my friends sometimes used it and I had trouble articulating why it was wrong. When I call people on it, they mainly get defensive. What I do is certainly adult-like, though there are many adults that continue to use such language.

So, I'm aware that I'm seen as old, though no one has told me. I also frequently see younger people as less mature or foolish. On the other hand, this doesn't stop me from making forays into the toy section. Finally, most people on the planet are still older than me. I set myself apart by overthinking and by habits, not by age.

[great girl wonder]

I still get my bank statements in paper form. When I was opening my bank statement my friend asked me if I was going to give him 10 dollars for his birthday just like his Grandma does.
I'm old fashioned. And likely old.

[Storage and Disposal]

When I got my ps3, I realized I'm old. I had my ass handed to me at Street Fighter 4, with several kids calling me a scrub online. I'm not a scrub! I've been playing Street Fighter games since before you were born probably! I am old though... Old enough to know when I've reached the peak of my video game playing abilities.

[monk]

I had my ass handed to me at Street Fighter 4, with several kids calling me a scrub online. I'm not a scrub!

This^ , only the game was Age of Empires and the year was 1998. you don't pwnd me!

[ladyhawk]

I realized that I am old when I had to explain to my nephew how to use a dictionary. Like, the actual dictionry, not just a blank white box to type something in and hit "search."

Although, I'm not actually old. Go figure.

Some people's kids, ya know what I'm sayin'?

[Sonic#]

^ I remember one time on TV (PBS?), there was a commercial where two kids raced to look up a word. One used a computer. The other used a paper dictionary. Of course, the paper dictionary won.

That does make me a little old. But not much, because one of them was using a computer! And even then I recognized that they typed so *slow*.

[rowan]

I type too fast, it causes problems on my laptop.

anyway, I always feel old when people ask me "So how long have you been teaching, anyway..."

[Hufflepuff]

When I was last going on dates, I noticed that a lot of people really liked texting as a form of communication. I don't. I consider it a poor interface better suited for quick communications like, "I'm late." I also dislike isolating myself in social situations via texting. While this would bring me against people younger than me, it's hardly ubiquitous among younger folk (my brother being an example). Similarly, the one who texted the most, and indeed insisted on texts over e-mail because she was anxious about her writing style, was four years older than me. So the technology probably skews younger, but I don't think the lack of texting (or an iPhone) makes me old.

*singsong*
Somebody's in denial :p

When I got my ps3, I realized I'm old. I had my ass handed to me at Street Fighter 4, with several kids calling me a scrub online. I'm not a scrub! I've been playing Street Fighter games since before you were born probably! I am old though... Old enough to know when I've reached the peak of my video game playing abilities.

Oh that crap doesn't even count -- videogames nowadays are way different and way easier than they were in the '80s and '90s. Tetris is my go-to example; modern Tetris is ridiculously easy and unrecognizable save for the falling blocks themselves, compared to the ridiculously-hard Tetris of yesteryear. I can only imagine Street Fighter's the same. And if you're used to the old kind, the new kind can be unwieldy.

* * *

While I'm being a crotchety old man, I'm kinda jealous of kids today. When I was growing up, until I was like, fifteen, if I swore at all, any word, and my mom caught me, I'd get my ass beat. And I was in bed by 10:30 every night, or, again, beatings. My newphew and all his friends (who go to a sheltered, 99%-white public school in a wealthy neighborhood) stay up 'til midnight on school nights, they've been saying every swear except fuck and cunt since they were ten and their parents don't reprimand them. Plus, to my knowledge, not a single one of them has ever been physically beaten. WTF? These little shits have got it so good and they don't appreciate it one bit.

The only thing I had when I was a kid that I didn't appreciate was food, shelter, education and health insurance. Granted, those are big things, but they're sufficiently advanced concepts that one might expect kids not to pay attention to them, and to take them completely for granted. My nephew and his pampered ilk all have multiple cell phones, laptops, iPads, every videogame console on the market, dozens upon dozens of games. I thought I was living in the lap of luxury when I got a TV in my room with basic cable when I was thirteen!

Of course, there's drawbacks to all that luxury; they're all fatty fat fatties. When I was a kid, when I'd get home from school, I'd immediately go outside and play with the neighbor kids from up the street, and we'd pretty much be outside playing make-believe games until it got dark, breaking only occasionally for lunch. If we'd've had stuff like laptops and iPads and dozens of videogames, we'd've sat inside all day getting fat, too. And nobody reprimand me for tossing "fat" out so casually; 33% of kids in the nation weren't coincidentally all born with glandular problems at the same time -- these fatties are fat because of lifestyle, not genetic predisposition.

It's the parents fault, of course. When I was a kid, I got whooped for sneaking into the pantry to eat some cookies before dinner once. Never did it again. My nephew and his mom (my sister) and all his friends parents all let their kids eat whatever they want, whenever they want. My sister's apartment always has bags and bags of candy lying around all over the place, and my nephew and his friends choose when to eat it (which is very, very often, as you can imagine).

Granted, I'm 25 years old, it's my generation who're such bad parents. For the life of me I can't figure out why -- we were all raised strict, right? I mean, did any twenty-plus year old here get to set their own bedtime, eat candy any time of the day and sit inside their houses dicking around on the computer or playing videogames all day long when they were kids? Did your parents get you a cell phone when you were ten? Did you never receive any sort of punishment whatsoever?

Oh. That might be it. My generation was raised too strict, and as a kneejerk reaction, they're (er, we're but myself excluded -- confirmed bachelor right hrr) raising their kids super-lax. Wonder what this latest generation is gonna raise their kids like.

...

The human race is doomed.

[rowan]

My daughter is not going to swear, and will go to bed at a reasonable hour, but beatings are probably bad. So I think there's a line.... she probably will have a cell phone (although maybe not at 10; we'll see what things look like when she gets that old). My sisters* got them in high school, and I think it was a good idea.

You're 25 and your friends have kids old enough to be 10? O.o Maybe that's the problem.

*much younger than me.

[Aum]

I don't have a smart phone... I don't want the internet following me everywhere. And I don't think e-mail is on the decline.

[monk]

she probably will have a cell phone (

even if she doesn't have a cell phone, she'll likely have GPS chips in her clothing (or maybe just shoes & backpack)so you can go online and see where she's at anytime you like.

[rowan]

I'm gonna wire it right into her head...

[edit the sad parts]

I can't listen to music played on what used to be "my radio station" about 4 years ago. I prefer to think my tastes have matured and a lot of popular music just sucks super hard, lately.

[lizpoona]

I remember when the Cartoon network was actually cartoons, nickelodeon had some of the best and most creative tv shows (including awesome cartoons), and the Disney channel played Disney cartoons.

I also remember when the Discovery channel actually taught you stuff, the Animal planet actually taught you about animals and had day after day of interesting documentaries, and... I remember when reality shows were RARE. very, very rare.

[she_rat]

i believe i may have been declared old about 2 minutes after conception....i certainly have had it pointed out to me at various points in my short life. in my defense i raised myself on a diet of enid blyton.

[Hufflepuff]

My daughter is not going to swear, and will go to bed at a reasonable hour, but beatings are probably bad. So I think there's a line.... she probably will have a cell phone (although maybe not at 10; we'll see what things look like when she gets that old). My sisters* got them in high school, and I think it was a good idea.

You're 25 and your friends have kids old enough to be 10? O.o Maybe that's the problem.

*much younger than me.

I might've misspoke; I meant my nephew's friends. His mother is my older sister. By seven years. It's his friends who're the pampered ten year old little shits I was telling to get off my lawn.

I also realize I said "cell phone" when I should've said "smart phone." The major difference being, the former you can only really use to make calls (useful for keeping track of your kids, though most ten year olds spend all their time at home; certainly my nephew and his ilk just wanted them as status symbols, and their parents caved) whereas the latter is a hella luxury item. Basically a tiny computer. My family didn't even have an internet connection until I was 14 and I didn't die from a lack of it.

I'm almost starting to buy that "greatest generation" stuff Tom Brokaw's always going on about. Because I just thought of a litmus test for how useless a given generation is -- drop a lot of them out in the middle of the wilderness, and see how well (and whether) they survive. My grandparents generation would've had no problems whatsoever. My generation would survive, but whine and complain about it the whole time. The current younger generation would starve to death trying to find a wireless signal (or immediately start crying due to the slight discomfort of being in the wilderness, and then starve to death looking for a wireless signal).

I can't listen to music played on what used to be "my radio station" about 4 years ago. I prefer to think my tastes have matured and a lot of popular music just sucks super hard, lately.

A lot of popular music has always sucked -- you're probably selectively remembering the good stuff from the past and not the oodles and oodles of crap. Plus, by definition, there's more good stuff in the past than there is currently, because "the past" comprises X number of years (for popular music, 100 at least, depending on what you count) whereas "current" comprises, given the attention span of popular culture, about three months.

Although yes, music today sucks >_>

When it comes to music, though, I'm generally highly satisfied because there's tons and tons of stuff from all over the world that I've never even heard of. Likely, I won't live long enough to exhaust the supply. Same thing with videogames; most today are over-produced and way too easy, but there's so many games I never played on old consoles that I'll likely never run out. Unless immortality is perfected in my lifetime, in which case I'm screwed.

I remember when the Cartoon network was actually cartoons, nickelodeon had some of the best and most creative tv shows (including awesome cartoons), and the Disney channel played Disney cartoons.

I also remember when the Discovery channel actually taught you stuff, the Animal planet actually taught you about animals and had day after day of interesting documentaries, and... I remember when reality shows were RARE. very, very rare.

Oh man, The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, The Justice Friends. All That, Kablam, the old Rugrats, Keanan & Kel, Hey Arnold, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life. Oh god, do you remember Alex Mack? Hah! I had such a crush on her.

I weep over the crap they've got now. Every time I see Johnny Test in the TV listings, it just reminds me that Dexter's Lab isn't on anymore, and this crap is all that's left. Adventure Time's awesome, and a few years ago Avatar was freaking amazing (and they're doing a sequel to Avatar that'll probably be good, too). But I used to be able to passively have Cartoon Network or Nickelodean on in the background while I was drawing or something, and everything that'd come on would be great. Now? A few diamonds in the rough, but that's it.

i believe i may have been declared old about 2 minutes after conception....i certainly have had it pointed out to me at various points in my short life. in my defense i raised myself on a diet of enid blyton.

You'll have to explain that last part to us Yanks.

[Storage and Disposal]

Oh man, The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, The Justice Friends. All That, Kablam, the old Rugrats, Keanan & Kel, Hey Arnold, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life. Oh god, do you remember Alex Mack? Hah! I had such a crush on her.

I weep over the crap they've got now. Every time I see Johnny Test in the TV listings, it just reminds me that Dexter's Lab isn't on anymore, and this crap is all that's left. Adventure Time's awesome, and a few years ago Avatar was freaking amazing (and they're doing a sequel to Avatar that'll probably be good, too). But I used to be able to passively have Cartoon Network or Nickelodean on in the background while I was drawing or something, and everything that'd come on would be great. Now? A few diamonds in the rough, but that's it.

Do what I do! Just get the DVD's or watch them on netflicks and pretend the crap that pollutes what used to be decent channels doesn't exist.

Oh God, I remember Alex Mack. I had a crush on her, too.

[helium]

Oh man, The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, The Justice Friends. All That, Kablam, the old Rugrats, Keanan & Kel, Hey Arnold, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life. Oh god, do you remember Alex Mack? Hah! I had such a crush on her.

Do what I do! Just get the DVD's or watch them on netflicks and pretend the crap that pollutes what used to be decent channels doesn't exist.

Oh God, I remember Alex Mack. I had a crush on her, too.

To make you feel even older, Boomerang is showing The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, Teen Titans and the Justice Friends, and Nick is running a thing called "The 90s Are All That" where they're replaying almost all of those old shows, as well as Pete & Pete, Clarissa Explains it All and Ren & Stimpy. I love that my favorite shows are on again but having them show up on nostalgia channels/segments makes me feel how I imagine my mom does when her favorite songs from her youth come on the oldies radio station.

[rowan]

You guys are making me feel really old.

[monk]

I remember the first time I heard "like a virgin" by Madonna, in an elevator rendered into muzac. and that was many years ago.