Want to Be Happy? Think Like an Old Person (nytimes.com) 187
The New York Times: Older people report higher levels of contentment or well-being than teenagers and young adults. The six elders put faces on this statistic. If they were not always gleeful, they were resilient and not paralysed by the challenges that came their way. All had known loss and survived. None went to a job he did not like, coveted stuff she could not afford, brooded over a slight on the subway or lost sleep over events in the distant future. They set realistic goals. Only one said he was afraid to die. Gerontologists call this the paradox of old age: that as people's minds and bodies decline, instead of feeling worse about their lives, they feel better (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source). In memory tests, they recall positive images better than negative; under functional magnetic resonance imaging, their brains respond more mildly to stressful images than the brains of younger people. John Sorensen, who liked to talk, brought cheer to every conversation, even those about wanting to die. Helen Moses and Ping Wong knew exactly what they wanted: for Ms Moses, it was her daughter and Mr Zeimer; for Ms Wong, it was mah-jongg and the camaraderie it entailed, even if the other players spoke a different dialect or followed the rules of a different home region. Mr Jones, Ms Willig and Mr Mekas all spent their energy on the things they could still do that brought them satisfaction, not on what they had lost to age.
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Get off my lawn!! (Score:5, Funny)
Wow. I do feel better!
10 ways to think like an, "Old Person" (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember these things.
1. No one gives a shit what you think.
2. No one gives a shit how you feel.
3. You aren't as smart is you think you are. If you are, keep your fucking mouth shut about it.
4. Don't bother trying to save the World. The World doesn't give a fuck about you or your efforts.
5. Take responsibility for the dumb fuck things you've done and don't do them again.
6. Don't treat people like shit.
7. Remember it's not about you.
8. It's none of you fucking business.
9. Don't leave a mess
10. Don't Whine.
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So, basically, don't do anything.
Just do whatever you feel like doing. One thing I have learned as I aged, is that all the stuff I worried about when I was young turned out to not really matter very much.
Tomorrow, I am going to sleep late, have a leisurely brunch, and then go hiking with my dog.
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I get what you mean and in general I agree.
I have the luck of having a good set of brains, hobbies that companies love to pay me for and living in a country that does not think "social" is a curse word.
But never forget that for many people, especially in countries like the US, keeping a job is a bare necessity of survival.
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Yes but there also are cross-generation concerns (Score:2, Interesting)
Naturally, there are still things that matter and are worth being concerned about. For example, if poverty became so rampant that social unrest erupted, the economy tanked, banks failed, savings were wiped out, crime exploded, and war eventually broke out... all of a sudden, the prospect of sleeping late, followed by a leisurely brunch and a hike with the dog... might not sound so realistic or even so appealing any more.
Don’t get me wrong: you’re quite right to also enjoy the day and savour the
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That's valid if you are satisfied with being mediocre.
You are going to end up mediocre whether you worry about it or not.
When you are older, you will realize this.
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Touche' old man!
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Remember these things.
Or these alternatives
1. No one gives a shit what you think.
1. We do care about what you think but we know we can't change your mind because you're probably just as old, stubborn and crotchety as we are.
2. No one gives a shit how you feel.
2. We actually do care about what you feel. Been there. Felt that. And yes it's no fun. Let's get together over coffee some time and talk about it.
3. You aren't as smart is you think you are. If you are, keep your fucking mouth shut about it.
3. Maybe you know more about that than I do, but I'd rather talk about my hip replacement.
4. Don't bother trying to save the World. The World doesn't give a fuck about you or your efforts.
4. We tried to save the world and gosh darnit, just ended up screwing it up more. Good thing the youngs
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Well said. You should be the +5 insightful whereas the angry parent poster deserves a "1".
Re: 10 ways to think like an, "Old Person" (Score:2)
Keep in mind the original list was "how to think", not necessarily "how it is". It's best to believe nobody gives a shit about your opinion, even though categorically there are those that do. The way those numbers increase is by continuing to think like that.
That can more or less be applied to the whole list.
There are plenty of old people that don't think like this list, however. They lead their comments with "I've been doing this for 25 years and...", they bitch and moan endlessly and they spend the majori
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"4. We tried to save the world and gosh darnit, just ended up screwing it up more."
I don't know about you, but when I was born in 1939, Europe was being ravaged by two truly disastrous regimes in Germany and the USSR. And things weren't going all that well in the Far East either. Are things better now? You bet. Except for the military in Burma, a few African backwaters, a hand full of crazed islamic fanatics, and Venezuela there are few modern governments who aren't reasonably moderate in their exploita
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Well, I hope old age is more about becoming more mellow, more accepting, and having a sense of humour.
Or one can turn into a resentful angry old fart.
Someone said, (it was Obama as it happens but could be anyone),
be kind and be useful
And it is always easier to preach than to practice... so change begins inside. Etc.
Actually, there have been so many great thinkers through the ages. We are kinda blessed really.
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"1. No one gives a shit what you think."
And remember what the article says about us old fucks:
We are _wise_!
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"1. No one gives a shit what you think."
And remember what the article says about us old fucks: We are _wise_!
I like the way he starts with that and then proceeds to tell us 9 more things that he thinks.
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4. Don't bother trying to save the World. The World doesn't give a fuck about you or your efforts.
Not this. Many of us do care.
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Wow! I actually want to write that down.
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Remember these things.
...
Boil all that down to
1. Don't be a dick.
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The nice thing about being old (I'll be 79 in 2 months) is that no one much expects you to do anything. Just managing to breath regularly and occasionally manage an upright posture is considered to be doing well.
Dying. Odds favor it sooner or later. Doubt I'll beat them.
Life after death? I certainly hope not. Why would I want to spend eternity associating with people who think either Donald J Trump or Hillary R. Clinton are qualified to vote, much less run a country? (Recommended reading Captain Storm
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Fucking-A It is!
I can vouch for this. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm in my late 30's but I don't own a smartphone, don't partake of social media, don't have a dozen credit cards, don't have tens of thousands of dollars in college loan debt, don't buy into all the latest electronics fads, don't live beyond my means, don't act like I'm married to my job, don't have countless hollow relationships with people I don't care about, et cetera.
I never thought about it before, but I'm way less stressed than most people my age.
P.S. It helps that I also don't have kids or a significant other. And no plans to have either of course of my life. So add freedom to the list.
Re: I can vouch for this. (Score:1)
Rude and arrogant... both signs of a gleeful, happy life?
Re: I can vouch for this. (Score:1)
Well, they already do, but he's about 15 years out from that realization.
Don't have to go Amish to be happy (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm in my 40's, generally really happy, and...
I don't own a smartphone,
I do! But I decide when I want to interact with it. I treat it as a tool for my benefit.
don't partake of social media
I do! But again I use it mostly as a tool to help others, and don't let it define what I do or listen to demands that I feed it. Like any petulant child you must raise social media right.
don't have a dozen credit cards
I do! Well, almost. But I carry balances on NONE. Because again, I control the tool, I don't let the tool control me. And along the way I've gotten lots of nice benefits like flights where I flew business for very little cash out, on flights I would have been flying coach otherwise.
don't have tens of thousands of dollars in college loan debt
Well I'll mostly agree with you on that one, except that it can be reasonable to incur that kind of debt for a handful of jobs - software development among them. Now hundreds of thousands in debt, there are very few jobs that warrant that debt burden.
don't buy into all the latest electronics fads
I do! But not ALL of them. There's nothing wrong with owning some cool electronics as long as you stay well within your income (and savings).
don't act like I'm married to my job, don't have countless hollow relationships with people I don't care about,
Kind of the same thing, in the. But I think there can be value in such relationships, and sometimes you find things that are hollow really are not. Being married to your job when you are younger for a time, can have real value in advancement of career that will benefit you the rest of your life.
P.S. It helps that I also don't have kids or a significant other. And no plans to have either of course of my life. So add freedom to the list.
I think for a lot of people it does not help to have no SO. Even though I personally am with you on kids I think there are a lot of people who are a lot happier with kids than without. All of that depends on the person... also with an SO in your life there can still be a lot of freedom (as an individual), in addition to having someone to share the results of that freedom with.
don't live beyond my means
That's the thing. None of the items you posted really matter besides this one, which is why I moved it to the last item. Pretty much anything you do will be OK if you don't end up placing a huge burden on yourself doing so, and in todays modern age debt is a very huge burden because of the legal overhang above you. It's also true that if you feel the same way and you want an SO you had better make sure you are on the same page about money and debt, because it removes a huge point of stress between two people.
Basically Spock was right - live long and prosper. But you can't prosper spending more than you take in.
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don't have tens of thousands of dollars in college loan debt
Pretty much means "don't live in the US". Live somewhere that gives a crap about intelligence and education.
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Pretty much means "don't live in the US". Live somewhere that gives a crap about intelligence and education.
Possibly, the thing is I don't see at this point why many people need to attend university. They could learn as much online and still gather around areas with other college age kids to have a social life, cheaper even than for kids in lots of countries in the EU (which generally still pay something).
However there's not a real replacement for going to someplace like Harvard or Yale in terms of career
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That's almost true. There's an advantage to be gained from being among brighter students and teachers, and to have access to slightly better equipment.
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Possibly, the thing is I don't see at this point why many people need to attend university.
Because HR people don't get fired for hiring a fuck-up with a proper degree.
School isn't about education, it's about passing job criteria.
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Possibly, the thing is I don't see at this point why many people need to attend university.
Because HR people don't get fired for hiring a fuck-up with a proper degree.
What the hell does HR have to do with it?! They don't "hire" people; that is the responsibility of a department manager or executive, who should have figured out if someone was a fuck-up during the interview. If they turn out to be a fuck-up at a later date, again it is the supervisors responsibility to correct that, or fire the person if it can't be corrected. Within this whole process, HR is responsible for pushing the relevant paperwork around. That's about it.
School isn't about education, it's about passing job criteria.
If school isn't about education anymore
College does not really matter for hiring (Score:2)
After my first job, I don't think the college I went to mattered much at all, either in terms of getting an interview or a job. What mattered far more was the experience I had working with companies.
Granted finding the first job can be hard, but you can find something if you are willing to bend and settle for at least a year. After that you have a track record you can play into better companies or positions.
Now like I said elsewhere, the college you attended can matter for some contexts, notable raising V
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The Harvard/Yale/CalTech/MIT may matter for connections, but at least at places I have worked we haven't afforded them particularly more consideration than other grads. They also don't stand out as seeming particularly more competent or better at interviewing than other schools.
They do some excellent work in academia, but the likely return on investment may be much lower than one might hope for how much it would take to attend those, versus a much cheaper yet reputable state college.
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I think the school choice really only matters when starting your own company, not so much for simply working in the industry. That is the time when the school can open some doors and make options open to you that would not have been otherwise.
Other than that I agree, in hiring at companies it probably will not give you a return on the high cost. Though even there it could be a door into working at some "hot" startups - if that's what you want.
They have intangible value (Score:2)
It's not like I went to either. But I chose not to try getting in either knowing the value I was giving up - not in education but in connections. If you ever want to try and collect VC you're going to have a lot easier time of it with a CS degree from CalTech or MIT, do you deny that?
I attended a college where I enjoyed the people more and thought I would still get a great education, at the time also for not much money after financial aid they provided. I still don't regret that choice but like I said - th
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I used to be in the not eager to have kids category, but then upon having a kid, it has improved my life immeasurably and made me happier in ways I would not have imagined before.
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I'll help you in the SO and Kids department.
Kids are great as you get to live life through them. Its a happy, joyful existence. It isn't pockmarked by any of the worrying that I hear those without kids think it would be.
Having a significant other is a blessing. It is good to share life with someone. It also brings more meaning to everything in life.
--
"Thanks Jan" - Peter
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And listen to good music instead of trendy music.
Re:I can vouch for this. (Score:5, Insightful)
Early 70s here. I have a smartphone, high-end tablet and large desktop. All debts are paid. I buy into whatever interests me the most, whether or not they interest anyone else. I use social media to keep up with what other people are thinking about a variety of topics, such as this one right here. I live in a small rural town and have more friends than I ever had time for when I was working corporate consulting. I still run my residential IT service business as a sideline, helping my fellow chrono-Americans keep up with the new century. And yes, I'm still handling IT for my mother, who at age 95 runs a business of her own with her MacBook Pro.
I have always been an optimist, but what seems different right now is a strong sense of living in the future that comes from contrasting life as we live it now with life as it was lived when I was a child. In those days China and India were famous purely for starvation and everyone assumed, whatever their politics, that Communism and the Cold War would be around forever. Conservatives back then admired Muslim societies because of their rigorous punishment of criminals, applauding whenever the Saudis cut off some thief's hands. Meanwhile liberals, and I swear I'm not making anything up, were in favor of sex, with both their men and their women believing that we should have more of it. In those days the Republican Party had principles, such as balanced budgets, and the Democrats had vision. I find it difficult to explain to young people how public thought has changed since then.
Re:I can vouch for this. (Score:4, Interesting)
I am 32 and I remember how liberals were pro sex. When i try to explain it to younger people they think i am making it up.
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Some of the left (who used to be called Liberal) in my country (Israel) is now working with religious groups to increase gender segregation, supposedly in order to fight against sexual harassment. In the past, leftist/queer parties used to be place where there was lots of sexual freedom. Here in Israel, right now, right wingers are somehow more sexually liberal than leftists.
I got the impression that something similar is happening in the US too.
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Re: I can vouch for this. (Score:1)
Would you be happy if Arab foreigners came to the USA and declared it to be a new country, an "Islamic State", and had conservative Muslim clerics specifically granted certain wings of government? Sharia law to guide say who can marry whom? A new official language: Arabic? And they will bulldoze your homes to get rid of traces of your existence? No, you're not in favor of that?
Change lslam to Judaism and Arab to Jew, and you have the Palestinian situation.
For sure Arabs have perpetrated nasty acts against I
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More poetically:
Robert Louis Stevenson
Requiem, 1894
Stevenson wasn't that old. He died in his mid 40s. But his health was never very good.
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Forcing yourself to 'think differently' doesn't do much, I'm afraid.
The advice should be to either get old, or get the same hormonal levels as an old person.
I mastered that in my 30s (Score:4, Insightful)
Let me tell you, not stressing about things you can't control while letting yourself stress a bit about the stuff you can control, and prioritizing positive social interaction over negative... that's about the best first choice for improving your life.
There's tons of other stuff, but you start there. Remember you're a social primate with a finite lifespan, so relax as much as you can and enjoy your time.
Re:I mastered that in my 30s (Score:5, Insightful)
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
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An oldie but a goodie.
The problem with a lot of wisdom is it is difficult to teach except through experience. It's not like I hadn't come across that saying dozens of times before I figured it out for myself.
Re:I mastered that in my 30s (Score:5, Funny)
God, give me coffee to change the things I can
And wine to accept the things I can not.
There, FTFY.
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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those who pissed me off.
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God, grant me the serenity to not read the comments,
The courage to not read the comments,
And the wisdom to not read the comments.
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Social needs are a double-barreled sword. I see a lot of misery because people are living more for others than for themselves. Most of us need some level of social contact, but you need to find your balance.
Nearing 40, this two-step program has worked pretty well for me: (1) Find out what you enjoy doing in the mid/long term, and (2) focus on doing it -- don't waste time on things that make your miserable, whatever those are, or whatever other people think. Step 1 is generally pretty hard and a life-long
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The advice is sound, but .... (Score:4, Insightful)
It hasn't really been my experience that the elderly really are that content with their lives? I look at people like my wife's mom, who currently lives with us. Ever since she lost enough eyesight and motor skills to be dangerous behind the wheel and had her drivers' license taken away, she doesn't want to venture outside anymore. She's still old-fashioned enough in her ways so if I, as the "man of the house", suggest we all go out for dinner or to a store, she'll agree and go along with us. But otherwise, she always chooses not to. Her day consists of sleeping a lot and watching a lot of game shows on television, plus a little talking on her phone to any of her relatives or friends she can reach.
I experienced the same thing with my grandfather on my mom's side of the family. As soon as he had some health problems, he went into a depression and funk that he never really got back out of.
I do know exceptions to this rule ... older folks who just seem overly positive and oblivious to things that would otherwise bring them down. But I view that as more of a defense mechanism than a true state of contentment and peace? They seem a little "out of touch" to people who observe them for long enough.
IMO, the bigger question is, "Are you actually DOING things that you like doing, or things that give a sense of accomplishment for completing?" Social media isn't really a bad thing, in and of itself, and neither are smartphones. But the danger is that you can get sucked into doing a lot of living vicariously through others instead of doing things for yourself. Keeping up with all of the "news" can be addictive and burn a lot of free time that you could have invested in actually doing some home improvement project, fixing up your car, or any number of other activities.
Re:The advice is sound, but .... (Score:5, Insightful)
I do know exceptions to this rule ... older folks who just seem overly positive and oblivious to things that would otherwise bring them down. But I view that as more of a defense mechanism than a true state of contentment and peace? They seem a little "out of touch" to people who observe them for long enough.
Well your contentment is reality vs expectation, not reality vs past performance. I find a lot of old people expected they'd suffer a decline in vision, hearing, motor skills etc. and even though they're obviously in worse shape than ten years ago they've just accepted that as natural. Hell, I'm not even 40 yet but I realize I'm not 20 anymore and I expect being 60 or 80 will be considerably worse. If you're going to be miserable just because your body is aging and eventually can't do everything you used to then you're pretty much doomed to be miserable. If I tripped and fell ending up in a wheelchair in a nursing home tomorrow it would be utterly terrible. If I'm in a wheelchair in a nursing home when I'm 90... that's being 90. There's no point in having unrealistic expectations about being 20 forever.
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When I was 20, I couldn't imagine declining. I thought if I couldn't run in 102 degree summer heat, that was just one step above being in a wheelchair. About 4 decades later, I'm certainly not where I used to be physically. I don't run much at any temp, and I don't even walk at extreme temps, and in good weather I don't walk nearly as fast or long as I used to. But it doesn't really bother me much. I'm probably happier than I've ever been, though I'll still thump you with my cane if you annoy me.
Don't Worry (Score:2)
Damn hormones! (Score:5, Interesting)
Few year ago I read an article about how different abilities, of the mind and the body peak at different ages. The question was "is there an ideal age". Some things I knew (e.g. endurance peaks about 40).
The most interesting graph was the last one where happiness and sexual desire/ability were plotted versus age. Happiness is the lowest around 40 (stands to reason - you begin to reevaluate your life and will always find many things to regret). Around 60 you are as happy as you were around 20. And then happiness goes up to infinity, cut short only by death. However, exactly at that point where you become happier than ever in your live your sexual desire/ability is gone. So there it is - sexual desire is a hassle. Or rather the behaviors, desires and frustrations that it generates.
Anecdote: one of my best friends told me once " I can't wait until the moment I won't be interested in women. What a bloody distraction, like a constant buzz in your head and body!" While I frankly cannot imagine what it is to live without craving women I begin to think it might not be that bad...
correction (Score:3)
Found the article:
http://www.bbc.com/future/stor... [bbc.com]
I remembered wrong - there is a decline in happiness around 70-80 yrs and your sexual desire lingers on for longer than I though. Still it is interesting....
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You're not wrong. A lot of youthful behavior is driven by hormones. Looked at objectively, it's a bit ridiculous: it's just a species survival reflex: the act (simulated or real) of reproduction triggers an endorphin hit. Take this out of the equation, and human behavior would be very different. While there is a lot of pleasure to be had from those endorphins, they also cause a whopping lot of unhappiness, especially among young people.
Happiness rising with age - makes sense, it's called wisdom. Realizing w
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I think most people remember good feelings more than bad. Ten years ago at 55 I lost the ability to have sex and a year later desire to even leave home to go to work. I no longer had the ability or the need to do those things but I missed the good feeling those activities gave. Two years ago I was seen by a male doctor who diagnosed low testosterone,WOW! Life became good again.
I felt so good I tackled a strenuous home repair project and my back seized up. A CAT scan reviled three compressed discs in my back
Not a surprise... (Score:2)
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I think if I had my 25 y/o body with my nearly 60 years of experience and wisdom, I could rule the world.
This sounds like (literal) survivorship bias. (Score:5, Interesting)
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It's just that current old people are largely boomers and their parents. They did well for themselves. Mortgage paid off on at least one house, nice pension, no need to worry about the future or the environment... They did better than their parents.
Younger people have been, to paraphrase Vince Cable, comprehensively shafted. So naturally they are not as happy.
Yeesh (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm going to suggest a lot of this is backwards. A young person learns to think like an old person by actually living and getting there. In the meantime, a lot of other stuff happens.
1. Plans and dreams and wants disappear, because you either successfully get them, or you learn after decades that you're not going to get them, and give up. This includes the belief that you can still do better than you've already done. Letting go of that lets off a lot of pressure.
2. You have more actual accomplishments and memories to fall back on as you age. These don't exist when you're young.
3. Don't have a job they don't like? How many of them are retired? That's the "job" I want most. Of course I'd be happier doing that. Or, by the time I'm old enough, unless I'm in really dire straits, whatever else I'm doing is probably more out of a sense of fun than for the money.
4. Decreasing sex drive. It may sound sad to the young, but I bed it a ton of ways it's a relief (or at least removes a source of dissatisfaction) from those who are older.
5. Do other appetites decrease? I'm not sure. Certainly the range of possible activities does decrease as you get older. You've learned stuff you don't like, or have ruled out because it's dangerous or no longer interesting. When I was 20, I stayed up late nights wishing I had the money to try skydiving, and being sad that I didn't. At 40, I'm already past the temptation.
There's probably more, but that's what came to mind just reading the summary.
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5. Do other appetites decrease? I'm not sure.
The desire for money and security increases pretty dramatically.
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I spent about a decade frustrated because I didn't know what I wanted, and another decade broke because of buying all those toyz during the frustration period. These days, I know what I want and have most of it. No reason to be frustrated, and barring medical stuff, not likely to go broke, not only because I have more, but because I know not to spend my resources stupidly.
Guess they didn't get divorced... (Score:2)
> None went to a job he did not like,
Pretty easy when you don't have alimony payments. Some of us have to work just to pay our court ordered obligations, whether or not we like it. Must be nice to have options.
What does "old" mean? (Score:2)
Does it mean over a certain age? Does it mean retired? Does it mean no longer sexually active or interested?
I think that not having to work would make me substantially happier. I've yet to work a job I liked.
Simple filtering (Score:4, Interesting)
I think it's simply learned filtering.
There are hundreds of things to get upset about every single day, from "is my child ever going to pick up their toys?" to "that guy cut me off in traffic" to "I hate our president"...the older people get, they start to likely recognize the secret: not much of that shit really matters. Theresa no reason to let it get to you in a way that affects your happiness.
It's pretty Zen, actually.
I have been getting happier with age (Score:2)
At 51, I don't consider myself "old", but I am happier now than I have been at any other point in my life. I think with life experience comes perspective and less navel-gazing and more appreciation.
the anti-paradox of the funding cycle ... (Score:2)
The anti-paradox of the funding cycle is to refer to anything that puzzles a Mayfly as a paradox.
Young people are stressed because Darwin cares.
After Darwin ceases to care, there's little remaining reason to filter world through the mindset of a eww, gross Valley Girl (old people must hate life because creepy).
Unless you want to fund a silly grant application.
Then you haul out the word "paradox" to show that 20 years of formal education can't fix stupid.
Imagine
the annual Bitcoin coin-flip is highly amusing (Score:2)
Being a fractal, it's also the monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, and minutely coin flip ... but who's counting?
Heres why (Score:2)
Given your average millenial apparently depends on social media for their self-worth, and surrounds themselves with sensationalist crap masquerading as news, what would you expect?
Us older people have simply seen enough to learn to appreciate the finite time we have left and not waste too much of it taking trivial or pointless shit too seriously.
doesn't fit the narrative (Score:1)
I guess they can't type and swallow humble pie at the same time.
Hopefully the murderous creeps who promote eugenics just stopped going on the internet and polluting the rest of us.
Discard your shame (Score:2)
Whatever insignificant thing you worry about and think others might react badly to, it really doesn't fucking matter. Really. It really does not matter. Stop thinking about it and just do whatever you want. If that ends up cutting your life short? So what. You lived a shorter, but more fulfilling life than the 99% of people who can't realise their own needs.
Seriously. Stop being so damn ashamed about and afraid of everything. You want to hug black people and tell them you love them? Just fucking do it alrea
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Older people spent their working years during two major booms (Internet and Housing), went to school before the massive funding cuts of the Regan/Clinton/Bush era and were set in their careers before the outsourcing boom in the 2000s. No sh!t sherlock they're happier. They've collectively let the world go to hell and now it looks like they're gonna leave the younger generations with the fix it bill.
While I could see where you are coming from if you were talking about baby boomers, this article was about people in their 90's (the Greatest & Silent generations). They stopped working at around 1990. These generations dealt with hardships unheard of by the youth of today. Today's youth are the first generation in modern US history to have an arguably harder life than their parents, but not harder than their grandparents.
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The observation described in the article is quite old. That is, while people raking in the bucks during the internet boom were young, their elders were still happier. While those same people were young, their elders were happier. While *those* people were young, their elders were happier.
You, provided you have basic needs covered in your old age, which is far from guaranteed, will be happier than your grandkids.
You describe a real problem, but the point of the article still stands.
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And then had leeches for children, who see no value in doing anything other than spending every dollar that comes through the door on 'lifestyle', expecting their parents to fund anything 'unexpected' that comes along (like yearly holidays), are desperately looking for a way to bankrupt themselves out of their student debt for their art history and XXXX studies degrees, and just blew half their families money on bitcoin at $20k because it was going to make everyone millionaires in 6 months?
If I was you woul
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They also grew up having to worry that every airplane flying over might have already dropped an H-bomb on their heads, or that that flash might be lightning or it might be Uncle Joe letting fly. That is, an immediate and very realistic possibility that each second, they and everyone they knew would be dead.
Once you don't have that (due largely to the "reagan era" you disparage), yes, you look at things somewhat differently, and don't whine about you trivial inconveniences as you
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I don't think the Baby Boomers ever claimed they, as a generation, had it tougher than their Depression-/WWII-/Korea-era parents. In fact, starting a few decades ago, when I was in college, I had older folks telling me I had it tougher than them. And I'm a Gen-X'er. The Millenials are totally f-cked.
Re:Oh for !$#@s sake (Score:4, Interesting)
This is the opposite of my experience. Until recently, every modern US generation had it better than their parents, and knew it. It's only been this century that the realization has sunk in that the standard of living is no longer going up, when things like healthcare, job opportunities, housing costs and debt are considered. We have cheap toys and internet. Everything else is starting to suck.
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.Older people spent their working years during two major booms (Internet and Housing),
Older people made their money from the 'internet boom'?
Are you on crack cocaine rsilvergun?
No, seriously, are you on crack cocaine?
Who do you think all the investors were? 20 something tech guys with a good idea?
Re: Picard in the blue uniform (Score:2)
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Aging is about coming to terms with things.
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