Growing old and becoming out of touch..

[MehGuy]

Has anyone experienced this? If so.. at what age did you start noticing this happening? Do you find yourself less and less willing to try new things the older you become? How do you feel about it?

 

[d taylor]

Well as someone who in past their 50"s, that i see is part of life. To kind of let the new, that is coming along to be part of the generation that it is directed toward.

I teach kids (art) k4 - 5th grade so i am exposed to a lot of the new fads that are directed toward these kids and i realize it is not for me. This will be the stuff they will form memories around just as i did with the stuff i grew up with.

 

[mama2one]

like to pay cash for everything

last 3-4 yrs, that's getting harder
school wouldn't let me send in check for kid's yearbook; have to order online so I didn't buy one

can still send in check for school pics which I did this yr
however, if one orders online there's more options

just don't like being forced to do everything online
take my check or cash, please!

 

[MehGuy]

like to pay cash for everything

last 3-4 yrs, that's getting harder
school wouldn't let me send in check for kid's yearbook; have to order online so I didn't buy one

can still send in check for school pics which I did this yr
however, if one orders online there's more options

just don't like being forced to do everything online
take my check or cash, please!

Awww.. that's one thing I guess I've adapted or.. given my age.. was born into.. I love using a card for everything.. even if I have to deal with the occasional stupid extra charge for not using cash. As far as I'm concerned physical cash can just disappear.

Although.. using my smartphone to pay is a step too far.. lol.

 

[mama2one]

Although.. using my smartphone to pay is a step too far.. lol.

that's another thing!
husband has smartphone & I hate the swiping/glad I don't have one

he bought me a phone for Christmas 2010, saying I needed one for emergency with being a parent
still using it although I can't text anymore since send button stopped working, lol

 

[MehGuy]

I still prefer going to physical stores rather than online shopping. Only do online shopping begrudgingly when I cannot find something in a physical store. Although.. I would like to adopt a more online shopping mindset in the future.

Although with entertainment like video games and movies.. I only like to download.

 

[bekkilyn]

I don't think I've ever really been in touch in the first place.

 

[MehGuy]

that's another thing!
husband has smartphone & I hate the swiping/glad I don't have one

he bought me a phone for Christmas 2010, saying I needed one for emergency with bring a parent
still using it although I can't text anymore since send button stopped working, lol

Lol.. my father used to say the same thing.. then one day he got a smartphone.. whenever I see him.. he's always glued to it. Ironically I now kind of wished he never did buy one.. lol.

I was a late adopter (at least for a millennial) with smartphones as well.. I remember someone at the mall trying to sell me a smartphone screen protector and I told him I didn't have one (this was around 2010) and his face had such a shocked expression that I felt bad about myself over it.. lol. I've since got one.. and do not know how I lived without it. Although I don't go as crazy with the apps as some people do.

 

[bekkilyn]

I hate shopping, so if I can get it online, that's my first choice every time and I'm pretty much all digital now for games, bill pay...everything. Been that way for me for years since I've been on the internet since the 1990's and dial-up.

I'm always willing to try new things if it's something that interests me, but otherwise I don't care so I don't worry about what other people are doing or not doing. I tend to just go my own way and sometimes that ends up matching up with other people whether old or young.

 

[Paidiske]

Not so much me, but what I notice with folks at church is that they tend to hit a bit of a wall when they retire. Work forces them to keep up with some things, but when they don't have that push behind them any more, they sort of stall, and that's where they stay.

 

[bèlla]

Not really. I like what I like and it isn't dependent on age. Some things resonate more than others. I'm still a risk taker and open-minded. But some things seem less appealing than they were in the past. Like hang gliding, jumping from planes, etc. I don't need that adventure! I came to my senses.

~bella

 

[bekkilyn]

Not really. I like what I like and it isn't dependent on age. Some things resonate more than others. I'm still a risk taker and open-minded. But some things seem less appealing than they were in the past. Like hang gliding, jumping from planes, etc. I don't need that adventure! I came to my senses.

~bella

Just do it in VR and then you could even add in cliff racers and dragons for a bit of extra excitement.

 

[bèlla]

Just do it in VR and then you could even add in cliff racers and dragons for a bit of extra excitement.

It seemed cool in my thirties. But forty brought the risks front and center. DH did it. He's gliding happily with an instructor and I looked down and shook my head. The picture was enough!

 

[sunshineforJesus]

I don't think I've ever really been in touch in the first place.

Same here.Ive always had trouble fitting in.

 

[Sunshinee777]

I do like to try new things but all I can do is to do it in small things because many other things are too expensive to try. I hate to be stagnated. I always need to ”fresh things up”

 

[mama2one]

always been one to do new things:
hot air balloon ride, in with wolves @ wolf sanctuary in Colorado, flying int'l to other side of world w/o husband, going to WDW by myself when husband was on a business trip, etc

now during pandemic- rarely leave my bubble, lol

 

[Chesterton]

I still prefer going to physical stores rather than online shopping. Only do online shopping begrudgingly when I cannot find something in a physical store.

Same here.

I was a late adopter (at least for a millennial) with smartphones as well.. I remember someone at the mall trying to sell me a smartphone screen protector and I told him I didn't have one (this was around 2010) and his face had such a shocked expression that I felt bad about myself over it.. lol. I've since got one.. and do not know how I lived without it. Although I don't go as crazy with the apps as some people do.

I don't have a smartphone. You should try doing without. You'll be seen as a hero. When I tell people I don't have a smartphone, their jaws drop for a moment, then they hoist me onto their shoulders and march around singing "For he's a jolly good fellow! For he's a jolly good fellow..."

As to being out of touch...I love everything about growing old, except for two things, one of which I've forgotten because I'm old, but the one I remember is being out of touch. Awhile ago I bumped into this young girl in public, and we chatted briefly. Like two days later, by coincidence, we bumped into each other again. I said "We've got to stop meeting like this". I don't know if it was my imagination, but I thought she looked at me kind of funny for a moment. Maybe she'd never heard the expression "We've got to stop meeting like this"? I wondered, is it an antiquated expression that younger people haven't heard? In the future am I going to be using antiquated expressions that were common in my day but make me seem out of touch?

It worried me a bit, but then I remembered my hero Norm MacDonald said antiquated things like "I don't cotton to that" and "on a sudden" rather than "all of a sudden". People looked at him funny, and I realized probably nobody ever died from being looked at funny. So I'm cool with being out of touch.

 

[Bob Crowley]

Has anyone experienced this? If so.. at what age did you start noticing this happening? Do you find yourself less and less willing to try new things the older you become? How do you feel about it?

George Burns the American comedian summed it up well. His career was tragically cut short when he died unexpectedly two months after his 100th birthday! Maybe the 300,000 cigars he smoked reduced his life expectancy!

Burns once quipped "In my youth, they called me a rebel. When I was middle-aged, they called me eccentric. Now that I'm old, I'm doing the same thing I've always done and they're calling me senile."

But he summed it up best with his prognosis for old age in four stages - "First you forget names. Then you forget faces. Third you forget to pull your fly up. Finally you forget to pull your fly down!"

I'm only on the first stage.

 

[MehGuy]

George Burns the American comedian summed it up well. His career was tragically cut short when he died unexpectedly two months after his 100th birthday! Maybe the 300,000 cigars he smoked reduced his life expectancy!

Burns once quipped "In my youth, they called me a rebel. When I was middle-aged, they called me eccentric. Now that I'm old, I'm doing the same thing I've always done and they're calling me senile."

But he summed it up best with his prognosis for old age in four stages - "First you forget names. Then you forget faces. Third you forget to pull your fly up. Finally you forget to pull your fly down!"

I'm only on the first stage.

That quote from him is pretty funny. All I know of George Burns is from his brief cameo in the South Park movie.

I do remember being at a Walmart bathroom once. I was washing my hands and this old guy started having a friendly conversation with me.. I didn't think much about it.. until he pulled down his fly and literally started peeing into the sink and hitting the bathroom mirror. I don't think he was some pervert or anything.. he genuinely seemed like he had some sort of dementia. After that he zipped his zipper back up and walked away. Lol. I just stood there shocked.

 

[durangodawood]

Not really. I like what I like and it isn't dependent on age. Some things resonate more than others. I'm still a risk taker and open-minded. But some things seem less appealing than they were in the past. Like hang gliding, jumping from planes, etc. I don't need that adventure! I came to my senses.

~bella

Yeah the big physical thrills are much less appealing he more I realize how fragile the body is. Also, they seem to provide less long term reward. For instance, my Japan bike tour occupies so much more memory space than any set of danger-thrills ever could.