Aging is a natural part of life—but we don’t necessarily have to look or feel our age. If you’re taking care of your body and mind, and have an active social life, then you probably feel on top of the world. However, even small reminders can shock you that you’re actually living in the year 20XX. Like someone pointing out that we’re closer to the year 2050 than 1995…
Redditor u/Halloween-365 served up a big dose of reality when they asked the internet to share all the things that make them feel old as heck. We’ve collected their answers to share with you, Pandas. Read on to check them out. Warning: Apparently, there are some inconsiderate youngsters who think that Harry Potter is an ‘old people thing,’ so just keep that in mind so you don’t faint, Pandas!
Bored Panda got in touch with Alan Castel, Ph.D., a UCLA psychology professor and the author of ‘Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful Aging.’ He shed some light on the shock that people feel when they realize that they’re getting older, and shared his thoughts on why some people have a different sense of the passing of time.
#1
Having to scroll and scroll and fecking scroll to find my birth year when completing an online form
Image credits: Maiselmaid
#2
I tried to pull something remotely similar to an all nighter recently and got about 3 hours of sleep.
I want to die.
Image credits: Not_Jim3
#3
I recently stopped smoking… one of the lasses I work with asked how long I’d smoked for. She’s 21 and I’d smoked longer than she’d been alive :/
Positive news 3 weeks without a cigarette
Bored Panda wanted to get to grips with the fact that some people are shocked when they slow down and suddenly realize how old they actually are. Dr. Castel, from UCLA, shared his thoughts on this.
“It can sometimes come as a surprise when we notice some effects of aging, and often this coincides with life events such as having children, grey hairs, or the need to go to bed earlier,” he told us via email.
“However, we can also interpret these changes as important milestones and stages in life that we adapt to (and enjoy) by focusing on what is most important, such as family, friends, staying active, and being involved in what interests us the most, especially when we become more aware that time is limited,” the psychology professor said.
#4
The 90s wasn’t actually ten years ago.
Image credits: Horrorbmoviepunk
#5
Listening to Nirvana today is the same as listening to The Beatles in the 90’s
Image credits: jrhawk42
#6
The fact that we’re closer to 2050 than we are to 1995.
Image credits: DefenderOfNuts
In the meantime, we wanted to get the professor’s thoughts on why some people may have a slightly warped perception of time, e.g. believing that the year 2000 was merely 10 years ago or being unable to fathom how it’s already 2023 (hi!).
“It can often feel that time passes quickly, and that many older adults might remember dated events as feeling more recent,” Dr. Castel, the author of ‘Better with Age,’ told us.
“This shows that our sense of time isn’t always linear, and this might be because our memory provides a biased representation of the past,” he explained.
“Sometimes more memorable life events become better consolidated and frequently retrieved, making them feel like they were not that long ago.”
#7
People who were born when I started college are starting college.
Image credits: JohnDragonborn
#8
i was talking with the daughter of a friend, she’s 15, she told me “Harry Potter is an old people thing, I wasn’t even born yet”
Image credits: chinchenping
#9
Doctors are younger than me now
Image credits: whizpig57
No matter what anyone tells you, age really is just a number. What matters isn’t how many years you’ve lived but how you’ve lived them. With courage and curiosity? Passion and purpose? Energy and drive? It doesn’t matter that the younger generations think Nirvana and Harry Potter are ‘old as dirt’ when you’re having the time of your life.
But if you’re filled with regret, well, we genuinely believe that it’s never too late to learn something new, chase your dreams, and live to the fullest.
But in order to do all of that, it only makes sense to take good care of yourself. You’ve got to get the basic healthy habits right. Including getting enough sleep, drinking lots of water throughout the day, eating healthy and nutritious food, and moving a lot throughout the week. On top of that, it’s best to avoid smoking and drinking alcohol. And if you want your skin to look young, you’d best become fast friends with sunscreen.
#10
My Hotmail account is older than most of my coworkers
Image credits: Jack_the_ripper1898
#11
Not knowing any of the newer artists at festivals.
Image credits: LucyVialli
#12
People romanticizing the 90s aesthetic.
Image credits: Maycrofy
However, the physical side of your body is only a part of living a healthy, happy, and long life. You’ve also got to take good care of your mental health. That means spending time in nature and meditating to unwind, getting in touch with a therapist to help you work through your issues, and generally creating a good work/life balance.
Not only that, but you’ve got to strive for a fulfilling career. Work is an important factor in our lives, so it only makes sense to do what we find purposeful and meaningful. If we’re constantly exhausted and feeling like we’re not making the world a better place or what we’re doing doesn’t matter, it will only have negative effects on our well-being. Career aside, don’t forget your hobbies, whether they’re physically active, entirely social, or meant to keep your mind sharp.
#13
Hearing songs that were popular when you were in middle school and high school playing in the supermarket
Image credits: Hour-Category-7293
#14
I make a noise when I sit down/get up
Image credits: SkinfluteHero
#15
Went to a public library.
Told me that they no longer use USBs.
/Thumb drives.
Image credits: Tira13e
The key thing to remember is that nobody is an island. We’re all social animals, and we need relationships to thrive and survive. Loneliness is as bad for our health as smoking nearly a pack a day.
A massive 85-year Harvard study found that it’s not our careers, exercise, diets, or massive amounts of money that truly make us happy in life. Instead, it’s positive relationships that help us live longer and make us not just happier, but healthier, too.
#16
I showed my nephew the matrix. We are a few minutes in and he is frowning.
I’m like, “what’s wrong?”
And he asks, “why are the phones ringing?”
M**********r was born after dial-up.
#17
My daughter turning 40
Image credits: ackmon
#18
I went to go see Janet Jackson and Ludacris in concert about a week ago and my 25 year old son said, “what retirement home did they break out of?” ?
#19
When people say, “30 years ago”, and they mean the 1990s, not the 1960s.
#20
I dont like anything new coming out anymore. Feels like that south park episode when Stan turns ten and it’s all s**t.
Image credits: Outrageous-Debate-64
#21
The song Sweet Dreams Are Made of this is 40 years old.
#22
– Kids don’t know what a house phone is.
– Kids do not know the world before internet.
– Kids trying to figure out a cassette tape.
– Kids think anything not touch screen is a touch screen.
– Knowing Millennials are the adults of the world now and boomers are the grandparents.
– Time appears to be going faster, but that’s relative to how long you’ve lived.
I can go on…
Image credits: Milkyage
#23
I’m in my 30s doing an apprenticeship for a new career and there’s a kid in my class who was born the year before I graduated high school.
Image credits: i_wotsisname
#24
People driving by me when I’m riding my bike, beeping at me and giving me the thumbs-up like “you go, old man!”
Apparently someone of my advanced years riding a bicycle is *inspirational.*
Image credits: BoredBSEE
#25
I can’t stay awake for more than 24 hours anymore
Image credits: yezanyaCookies
#26
Hearing bands that I grew up with (Foo Fighters, STP, Soundgarden) on classic rock radio stations.
#27
I’m an older first-time parent. Ran into someone I knew from high school when I went to pick my son up from daycare. She was there to pick up her grandson…
#28
My hips, my swelling randomly for no reason but the onset of menopause, my silver hair being more than 75% now, and the fact that I can’t eat most foods like I used to without some horrible side effects ( swelling, constipation ) AND my perfect natural teeth are starting to go bad. Oh and anytime I start a movie, I fall right to sleep. Damn, also waking up to pee like every 2 hours during the night. Like wtf is that about!!??
#29
Going back to my uni and making Shrek jokes with students, then realising that they were all born after the first Shrek movie came out. Their introduction to Shrek was as a meme, not as a character.
#30
Realizing that kids born far after 2000 are like, functioning members of society now.
#31
I was watching a make-up tutorial on YouTube and the girl was using some butterfly clips to keep her hair away from her face and she said “Girls used to wear these in the olden days.” Also, a few weeks ago, I bought a bottle of wine and the cashier asked for my ID but literally only glanced at it for a split second before giving it back. I said ‘that was quick’ and she said ‘I just have to see the 19– at the start of your birth year and not 20–‘
#32
When I talk about things I did as a kid in the 90’s and early 2000’s and now people in their late teens and early 20’s look at me like I’m an alien. I keep thinking, *”s**t, that wasn’t that long ago”*, and then I remember it was 20+ years ago now!
#33
Being the guy that owns the Gmail and Hotmail email address with just my first and last name together. All the other same named people have to add a number or something at the end to have their name.
#34
I recently went to the Museum of American History in Washington D.C. and there were numerous items from my childhood in there. Numerous items.
Also, there is a plaque at our local lake from when it was built in 1986. My kids were all, “Wow, dad. You’re older than this lake.”
#35
When I see a photo of myself that looks my actual age, even though I feel 20 years younger.
#36
Waking up everyday feeling beat up, sore, like I had worked my a*s off all day doing manual labor when I just did my usual.
Oh, and flexibility is for s**t too. Back hurts, muscles tight as a drum.
I just need to be taken out back and put out of my misery. Don’t get old people. Or at the least, don’t every stop moving and stretching. Switching careers and going back to school at 46 ruined me. Now I work 12 hours shifts, overnights, when lots of my friends are starting to retire.
-edit: I went back to school to become a nurse. Got my RN and the next month covid hit. I’m not a smart man
#37
Last week, hearing on thr radio that Carson Daly celebrated his bday, turned 50. I used to see him way back when on TRL. First dude, that I ever saw wearing nail polish before. Just amazing how much time has gone by, and how he has progressed.
#38
2 things:
– Getting old enough to remember my parents at my current age.
– Spent an evening shift with coworkers once, all around 20-21 (im 42). They were talking about 90s music the same way we were talking about 70s music. Playing Radiohead like it was the hottest discovery of the year.
#39
All the things that I adored as a child either cause me shame or incidentally ceased to exist
#40
Finding 30 year old women look like kids.
#41
My anger at current teenage angst on here. Like I really need to be mad at these kids being kids? And people walking on grass, like why am I getting angry at this except for the prospect I am becoming a fuddy duddy.
#42
The sudden appearance of my wizard eyebrows.
#43
Channel 3 for video games
#44
None of my baby and childhood pictures are in color…
#45
Remembering that I’ve lived long enough to see gas go from $1 a gallon to over $5.
#46
Thinking about how my kids will probably never use a dark room in school. They have no idea what a cassette, floppy disk, or zip disk is.
Basically, as a millennial, the fact that I got to experience and grow up during the tale end of the analog age, as well as the digital age.
They will only get the digital age, & all of the societal ramifications that come with it.
#47
Doing half an hour of any kind of work that I used to be able to do all day long.
Also, standing up after sitting for an hour.
#48
When professional athletes I used to watch have kids getting drafted.
#49
Saw a FB post from a guy I went to high school with. He was holding a newborn baby. Thought, “Good for him, having a kid at 45.” Then read the caption. The kid is his SECOND GRANDSON.
#50
When I remember people only by their surnames
#51
Born before google
also I can score high on old tech quizzes like what is a rotary phone
kids when they see a floppy disk cool someone 3d printed the save icon
blockbuster – you had to drive to store to rent a movie
#52
TikTok. I’m too old for this s**t.
#53
All the s**t kids are into these days. All these mobile games and YouTubers and influencers and TikTok videos with the screaming. Seriously what’s with all the f*****g screaming? I swear there’s no way my childhood would have seemed this nonsensical and alien to my parents when I was that age
#54
Went to a museum in Seattle, and they had a video game section. A group of young teens are standing in front of a GameCube. One kid says to the other, ‘I think this is the first Nintendo.’ The other kid responds back, ‘Isn’t it the first game system ever?’ The first kid responds back, ‘I don’t know. maybe?’
#55
Getting an invitation to my 25th high school reunion
#56
Pearl Jam is considered classic rock. Shoot me. Please.
Also, watching Kevin Love hobble up and down the court but knowing he is 12 years younger than me.
#57
games with s****y graphics but incredible story lines
#58
Breaking Bad finale was 10 years ago.
#59
Trying to pick something up from the ground.
#60
When 20 something year Olds call me sir
#61
Not being asked for my ID anymore when buying alcohol
#62
I have taught the children of my former students.
#63
That people born in 2009 are freshmen in high school now
#64
Watching movies from 2002 that once looked real and clear, and now they look fuzzy as old dog s**t
#65
I still use my AOL email account. I used to get made fun of for that. Like, ‘AOL? How old are you?’ Now, I don’t think many people under 30 even know what AOL is/was. No one says anything when I tell them my email address. I’m now too old to even be made fun of, I guess
#66
My s****y knees
#67
Johnny Knoxville has white/silver hair now….
#68
So I was at the checkout yesterday, and the girl who is about 16 or 17 running the register hands me my receipt and says, “Have a good day sir. I’m only 26, but I felt ancient in that moment. I’m to the point in life where teens are calling me, sir.
#69
My upper, inner thighs. As I’ve aged, they’ve become very flabby and wrinkly. It’s the signal that my skin is starting to lose its elasticity. I guess I don’t mind much, the important ones that see them don’t care either, but I don’t wear shorts anymore.
#70
Ever wake up in pain from sleeping wrong?
Don’t worry you will and that my friend is when you know your old as s**t.
#71
Student of mine coming in singing Teenage Dirtbag. I go “wow cool where did you hear that song?” She goes “oh on a golden oldies CD in my mom’s car”
That hurt a little not gonna lie.
#72
My tween son calling me cringe ??
#73
When I heard Gen Z’ers refer to the 1990’s as “the late 1900’s”
#74
People sharing pictures of their grandfathers and they are like photos from the 90s of dudes I went to college with…ouch.
#75
When Gen Z’ers tell me what year they were born after I’ve had an adult conversation with them
#76
Zoomer humor
#77
“What’s a DS?”
#78
I was listening to the radio, and I realized I didn’t like the new music on it…and, gradually, the realization and horror crept in
#79
My younger brother-in-law walked in the room a few months back while I was watching Alf, and he asked me if I was watching The Muppets
#80
I look in the mirror, and that 72 year old face looking back at me says it all.
#81
Remembering how it was to see without glasses
#82
Quoting Seinfeld to my students who sit there with vacant eyes.
#83
I went to the science museum in london a couple months ago and they had an iPhone 3 there… in a museum. Made me feel ancient
#84
I’ve been in the Navy for 14 years now and I had on of the new boots(Barley Out Of Training) ask me how old I was and I told him I was 35 and he reply “Dang you were born in the late 1900’s. My world has been shook ever since.
#85
The Nintendo wii(my childhood console) was first published almost 17 years ago. That’s pretty damn long if you ask me.
#86
Stairs
#87
Back pain
#88
Constant visits to the doctor. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
#89
Hearing a cover of a song you remember hearing when it first came out
#90
knowing my little sister is now 15 years old. i used to give her her bibber (milk bottle, not sure what’s the good word for it).