Its definitely a more "Peter Pan" culture where each passing generation thinks they're the one that will live forever and do youthful things throughout life to no end. Also "High school" is probably over-romanticized in culture. Teenagers and 'tweens is an economic industry in itself. Thats as much as media and big business's fault as it is society's for encouraging suspended adolescence like that. Again teenagers are almost genetically wired at doing more risk taking (so I've read) so there will always be rebellious rambunctious whipper snappers going against the grain. But they've been given BUYING power and with it influence to set the trends. Which is a distraction against EDUCATION and things of the sort. Until CHILDREN enter the picture... I actually think we overrate the Marry and Have Children Later approach. (I know the environmentalists and greenies will scoff at "over-population") but people are meant to reproduce at a younger age to have fitter healthier progeny. Its is almost like having some contest now of holding out the longest from having kids, and its seems kinda unecessary (no I don't have kids, but sometimes wonder why I don't) Anyway, yeah I feel old now. Im actually amazed at the longevity of SOME pop culture. But I almost kinda wished the 80's fizzled out a long time ago cuz it gave false hopes of having everlasting RELEVANCE. Coulda moved on to something else. But now that its starting to KINDA dim and there's a NOTICABLE divide in culture, kinda feels that your time's more "up".
Hmmm, interesting. I do agree that youth culture is over-romanticized; part of this has to do with the fact that they are seen as having not only purchasing power now with their parents' money, but many years of consuming and spending left to go. They're seen as a better target than anyone 50+ (which isn't even old at all and they often have plenty of their own money - except I guess they're supposed to be spending it on their teenagers or grandchildren). That has probably driven a lot of it. I do wish our society could shift to a value system where older was "cooler". It's ridiculous how we have the opposite - women over 45 practically never getting lead roles in movies, and American Idol not allowing contestants over 29. The effect probably leads to a lot more general depression and low morale than we are aware of; I mean, are the majority of us supposed to think our best years are behind us, and spend two-thirds of our life looking fondly back at the past? For the record, the "marry and have kids later" approach worked out well for me. I just had my first "progeny" at 37 and we're both healthy as horses; I was running errands in the grocery store less than 48 hours after my C-section, and I'm hardly a health and fitness fanatic. I realize we are fortunate, but I wonder if part of the reason so many people start feeling "old" at a young age is that they have been conditioned to think about it that way.
i do agree that the cultural shift is driven a lot by economics. the concept of teenagers has created an entire new market that keeps ever expanding. do teenagers really need cell phones, and if so do they need iphones. of course not. television is always the one that gets me however. now it seems like every new sitcom is geared towards a young audience. in the original post i mentioned i was watching too close for comfort reruns. while watching i was thinking about how rare it is now to have a television show geared around characters the age of ted knight at the time of the show.
a month ago my sister and my 6 year old nephew were visiting me and he wanted to watch the cartoon network. i said i no longer have cable. his response, "what, you don't have cable? why?" i said there's nothing worth watching and it's a waste of time. one day he too may not have cable. he turned to his mom in astonishment and said, "Mom, is it true? We won't have cable? he's lying right?" i was amazed by how much this little boy valued something as meaningless as cable television.
Once you realize that American Capitalism thrives on dissatisfaction. Almost every commercial is geared to make you dissatisfied with something A Satisfied person . . . does not buy as much stuff So TV, Radio, Internet etc. . almost all of the RIDICULOUS NUMBER OF INPUT options . . . . is geared to do nothing but make you feel bad about your self and influence you to make others feel bad about himself Watch the next set of commercials 1. will probably tell you your clothes suck buy ours 2. Tell you you are fat or ugly . . . buy this 3. This car is better than yours . . . get a new one 4. you stink . . .get somethings to clean you up or your clothes Rocket River
One word - "MILF" Ignited a REVOLUTION of fascination towards "mature" women and the "cougars". They should have patented that word. I'm saying it showed how UNDER-VALUED 40+ women were in the entertainment world to how something that simple opened things up a little more. And even if its too "sexualized" instead of regular type acceptance, I'm THANKFUL for it. {But women far outlive men anyway, I guess there's kinda that trade-off in the end *} On the overrating Marriage & Kids Later thing, its definitely a GOOD option to encourage and do certainly. I think I was more saying, how having marriage and kids at a YOUNGER age is treated as WORTHY OF CONTEMPT. I think in reality maybe its just what it is, and we do things in society that goes too much against our natural design (But what do I KNOW though, I don't have kids). Of course almost every system we have is about guiding our behaviors away from that. But -- ERR lets stay on the subject of age, getting off topic Good points
Remember the days when being 40 for a male was being in your prime?... where they stuck 40 yr old leading males with ladies 15 plus their junior I'd be considered 'distigushed' instead of old. Doesnt work out for the ladies though.
Harumph. I didnt have cable for a full 7 years until 2 years ago and only have that now for NFL and NBA. But cable television WAS THE 80's, man. +1 on that. (And "built to last" is actually antithesis of what helps businesses bottom line.). You have to make people feel they have to UPDATE from that aging "jallopy" they have into something FRESHER and NICER! And it WORKS, HYPE ! Just there's no way around it that YOUNGER people will be new obvlious buyers at some point. Its why we can have so many Hollywood remakes. 38 year olds have seen Footloose and Karate Kid. But teenagers now havent. Easy money there, really why not gear content toward them (And 30+ year olds can still feel "relevant" kinda passing on their pop culture influence like that)
[WHINING] 37 today. Hip hurts. Knee hurts. Job sucks really bad. I need a change, badly. Feeling way older than I should. I'm not a person that has ever been prone to depression or stress. That's one change I can do without. Thank g-d for my wife and kids. Without them, I'd probably have lost it completely by now. They're the only things keeping me relatively sane. [/WHINING] Ok. Got that out. Trying very hard to make that change. Looking for a new career and, if that happens, a new home. It sucks that something I've really enjoyed doing for the last 5 years has changed so much that my job is completely unrecognizable from the one I started. Everything I loved about it has been taken away. Not due to demotion or anything like that. Just the fact that the parent company decided to go in a direction that has changed the mission here and turned me from a project/account manager (and eventually running the sales department)...to an order taker...which really sucks at this point in my career. Hopefully, things will turn. I'm still waiting for that first call from a prospective employer. I know it will come soon and things will turn for the better. I'm done whining now.
PGabs/Everyone, http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor/ Read this and tell me if any of it strikes a cord with you If it feels accurate Rocket River [I am not assuming you grew up poor or anything of that matter just that some habits are hard to break]
I feel you man. As I get older I'm still in denial about my physical capabilities. I'm always nursing a sprained ankle, hammy or other injuries because of driveway basketball with my son, but mentally it makes aging a lot more bearable. Additionally, I've decided to spend far less time on this site. These days my energy is too valuable to spend it absorbing some of the negativity that has infiltrated the community that I once loved - but I had to poke my head into this thread for obvious reasons. I'm glad you shared your perspective, its really healthy discussion.
nice thread! I'm 27 and guess I have some kind of "crisis" mostly because I feel pressure all the time= Get a girlfriend, get children, do something interesting, find a good job etc etc. All these things aren't that easy to achieve especially if youre stressed about!
If you have pool access, have you tried low impact exercises inside one? Exercise is still a great release for stress and turning back the clock. It might improve pain tolerance in your hips and joints, but if it's inflammation, you might need to ask a doctor about it. I think it's worth a consultation if you have the means.
