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When I was a kid, I thought that birdwatching with my Grandpa Bob was the most boring activity imaginable. But now, I'm pushing 40, and I recently started to get really excited when I see a cool bird. Since I'm beginning to enjoy more and more of my grandparents' favorite things, this Reddit thread of older adults sharing the "old people" stuff they get teased about made me smile. Here's what people had to say:
1. "Massive font size on my phone."
2. "My old guy white New Balance walking shoes."
"I heard New Balance is cool now. My 15-year-old daughter has a pair and feels that they are cool."
3. "Going to the stores early in the day. Or going anywhere early, for that matter."
"You mean when no one else is there, the aisles are clear, and the store is stocked? Can’t imagine why."
4. "Double spaces after periods. My coworkers don’t get it, and my boss had to tell them that I learned on typewriters."
5. "At work, I've had to learn to stop using media references because they're all so old no one gets them. I remember my grandmother saying the world leaves you behind when you get old. Now I'm living it."
"I've gotten more sentimental. I'm moved to tears by happy things and sad things, and as a guy, that's not a good thing, especially in American society, where we're all supposed to be rugged individuals."
"Sentimentality, especially in our male elders, is such a blessing. In my (early 40s, millennial) generation, expressing your emotions is a welcome blessing. I know the younger ones embrace it, too. Cry at movies, graduations, weddings, funerals, funny jokes, and all the in-betweens. I know you're still young-ish, but some of my fondest memories of my elders are their emotions, their laughter, their tears. It was rare when I was young, but I treasure those memories and it is more acceptable now. Be the helper now in your golden years. Make it safe and normal for the younger men in your life. PS I cry all the time."
6. "I get endless crap for driving like a little old lady by family, friends, and colleagues. It’s a running joke and well-deserved."
"I'm not old, and I still do that. The best kind of tea is safety."
7. "The sounds that escape my body, especially when I'm getting up from a sitting position. The groan, the grunt, the joints popping. Thankfully, I don't have escaping gas like my grandpa had."
8. "Early dinners and early bedtime, lol. If anyone invites me anywhere, they know I need to be home before dark! And what's with this meeting at 8 p.m. for dinner and drinks crap? Meet at 5 for happy hour. Cheap drinks and food, and you're home before 8!!"
"Hah! Sounds like me and my husband. Of course, our problem is that we have always been on that schedule. Even in college, classes are over for the day, so go to happy hour, eat the free/cheap food, get home early, and get a good night's sleep. Life is good."
9. "Checking the weather app multiple times a day."
"Why is this an old person thing?"
"Once you retire, it seems everything you want to do is predicated on the weather changing every hour. It literally makes no sense."
10. "Birding."
11. "Cursive."
"It makes me so mad when I show my daughter something in cursive, and she says, 'can't read that.' I'm also ashamed of myself that I didn't teach her at home because I thought surely someone at school would eventually teach her. Nope. We don't even give an actual signature for things at the school anymore. I just type my name in."
12. "Checking all my pockets before I leave the house. Keys, reading glasses, wallet, mask, lactaid pills... My wife teased me that I look like Peter Falk on the TV show Columbo. He's also the kindly Grandpa in The Princess Bride. And he checks his pockets at the end of the movie."
"The fact that you had to explain who Peter Falk was in case people didn’t know made me feel old all on its own."
13. "My 5-year-old great-granddaughter teases me about my iPod and wired earpieces. 'You listening for Martians?'"
14. "Being deaf. Lots of people seem to get a chuckle out of me not being able to understand what's being said around me. Not sure why pretending to speak but not making any sounds just so I have to go 'what?' is funny, but it happens more often than a normal person would think it would in an adult setting. It's not like wearing the wrong height socks around Gen Z; it's not something I chose to have happen and should be mocked for."
"I have hearing loss from ruptured ear drum, getting the bends ( commercial diver), and crane operator at a steel mill. Went to a hearing aid specialist. Invested in the best hearing aids available. It only cost me $1,000, and insurance picked up 80%. Best investment ever, except now I always hear my wife, I found a noise in my car that was always there, and it took me a day to figure out that clicking noise was my ankle when I walk. It was actually life-changing for me, and the really cool thing is they're Bluetooth so I get the phone, TV, and music right to my ears."
15. "For being cheap and outdated. I’m never 'on trend,' and my retirement hobby has been selling crap online. My kitchen looks like a '70s time capsule. The youngsters think it’s 'cool'; my peers think it’s awful. Sold my Merry Mushroom collection and made a hefty penny."
"The rest of the house is circa 1980s/'90s. I had green shag carpets and fake wood panels into the late '90s/early ’00s and was teased for that. The bonus is that I’ve been able to sell a lot of my '70s, '80s, and '90s stuff to the kids on Depop. They eat it up, and I’m laughing all the way to the bank."
16. "Having a landline."
17. "This is something my millennial children call me out on: I don't put on my seatbelt until I am finished backing up. I think it is from the old days of turning your head around, perhaps lifting yourself up a little with your right arm on the seat back next to you. Does anyone else do this, and if so, why?"
"I do this, too, while backing out of the garage because I need to turn my entire upper body just to look behind me. My neck barely turns as far as my shoulder these days."
18. "Being friendly! I chat with people in line; I chat with service workers. I'm an introvert, but I like small talk. My family finds this strange."
"Ditto! I love talking to the cashiers. My wife will say it right in front of them. 'You know they don’t care. Why do you make their lives hell too?'"
19. "I carry cash — apparently, that labels you as a dinosaur."
20. "Including pointless details in stories and trying to remember the names of people involved in them, and my kids are just like, 'We don’t care who it was, we don’t know them anyway, get on with it.'"
"Last Wednesday….or was it Thursday….no it was Wednesday because Tuesday was the day after I went to Walmart. Anyway, Wednesday I had to go to the other store…"
21. "Borrowing CDs from the library."
"I taught 3 and 4-year-olds in preschool right when CDs became popular. I'd haul out the record player, and they all asked what it was. I started to feel old then, and now it's worse because all of my music is on CDs."
22. And finally, "Actually, I get teased more for not acting my age. Them: 'You're too old for that.' Me: 'Hold my beer.'"
