You know you are getting old when:

[Fading Fast]

I dunno, I've worked closely with millennials every single day for the past twelve years, and I've never yet had one who couldn't read an analog clock. They also know how to recognize a fifty-cent piece and a two-dollar bill, and are better at adding figures in their heads than I am.

That said, they do spend too much time on those damn phones, and there's actually a reason for it: the Boys From Marketing have specifically manipulated them at the time of their most vulnerable phase of cognitive development, to be physiologically and psychologically addicted to the dopamine rush generated by social-media interaction, for the purpose of force-feeding them advertising.

Don't think so? Read this, right from the whorses' mouth. Yes indeed, there ought to be t-shirts saying "Mark Zuckerberg Made Billions Selling My Data And All I Got Was A Lousy Dopamine Jones."

One of my young millennials recently celebrated her thirtieth birthday by burning her entire social-media presence to the ground and walking away from it cold turkey. That, believe it or not, is actually a current millennial trend, and I say "The kids are all right. " My dear old mother, on the other hand, will go to the grave clutching her smartphone, and her last word will be a Facebook post of a dog lying on its back with its legs sticking straight up over the hashtag #i'mdeadlol.

Wonderful that one of your young friends was able to use her willpower to overcome the BFM manipulation. They will not stop coming at her, and all of us, so using her willpower to fight back is a great skill and strength for her, and all of us, to develop and flex (all the time).

 

[Zombie_61]

You haven't sensed the trend.

No current productions in the Los Angeles area. Oh well; I don't like musicals anyway.

 

[3fingers]

I have always been taught to be considerate of others. To this this day I go out of my to not inconvenience others.

This simple thing is the foundation of a pleasant day to day world for all of us and it doesn't take a huge effort to accomplish.

 

[tonyb]

No wonder I've been having such a hard time finding it. How the hell am I supposed to stay up to date on Bat Boy now?

He's online. WWN is now "published" by an outfit called Bat Boy.

 

[HadleyH1]

I know I am getting old when my whole world...is being erased from the map..... places, people, traditions.....food....and more....

I'm stunned.

That's all...

 

[Zombie_61]

He's online. WWN is now "published" by an outfit called Bat Boy.

Meh. The last actual Bat Boy update is almost five years old; they're not exactly going to break the Internet any time soon.

I know I am getting old when my whole world...is being erased from the map..... places, people, traditions.....food....and more....

I'm stunned.

That's all...

"Change is inevitable. Change is constant." - Benjamin Disraeli

 

[tonyb]

Meh. The last actual Bat Boy update is almost five years old; they're not exactly going to break the Internet any time soon.
,,,

Haven't heard much of the Boy himself since he was spotted in that Denver theater in 2013. The man with the 12-inch tongue has been rather elusive of late as well. (An old woman friend of mine framed a Weekly World News cover page prominently featuring the man with the 12-inch tongue and hung it from her bathroom wall.)

The online version of WWN has its moments, but this is perhaps a case of certain material being better suited to other media. I just can't imagine the cover page shouting "Statue of Elvis Found on Mars; Satellite Beams Back 'All Shook Up' " reading anywhere near as well on a little glowing screen.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I always thought the WWN was a ba***rd child of the dear departed New York Evening Graphic, masterpiece of Bernarr Macfadden and Fulton Oursler. Ah for the good ole days when journalism was serious and dignified.

That's the recently-deceased R. Valentino hanging in the Hereafter with his fellow deceased Italian compatriot E. Caruso, as staged by Graphic Art Department staffers wrapped in bedsheets with the appropriate heads pasted over their own, and their images, in turn, pasted over what appears to be a movie still from "Intolerance." Photoshop gags are More Vintage Than You Thought.

 

[HadleyH1]

At the end of the day....for me ok? ...in my opinion only

When people known to me in the world....and people I've known and loved all my life ...start dying

That's when I sense time is passing

Otherwise I would not have a clue.

 

[2jakes]

I sense time is passing when:
All my favorite singers, actors are no longer alive.

 

[HadleyH1]

I sense time is passing when:
All my favorite singers, actors are no longer alive.

But then I know that my favs are all dead....they are from the 1920s.

But yes I know what you mean.

 

[Zombie_61]

At the end of the day....for me ok? ...in my opinion only

When people known to me in the world....and people I've known and loved all my life ...start dying

That's when I sense time is passing

Otherwise I would not have a clue.

This is a reminder to take the opportunity to let the people in our lives that we care about know how much we care as often as we can. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

 

[HadleyH1]

This is a reminder to take the opportunity to let the people in our lives that we care about know how much we care as often as we can. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

I agree with you!

 

[2jakes]

This is a reminder to take the opportunity to let the people in our lives that we care about know how much we care as often as we can. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

My mother knew how much I cared for her.
I took time to let her know everyday until she passed away.
She was one of the few who loved me without ever asking,
"What's in it for me”.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pretty much every important authority figure of my childhood is gone now -- I lost the first when I was seventeen, and it's been a steady attrition ever since. And now I look at the seventeen-year-olds who consider *me* an authority figure, and I wonder how much time I have left. As the saying goes, It Is Later Than You Think.

 

[Fading Fast]

Similar to Lizzie, almost all my childhood authority figures are gone, very aged or worse (as with one) suffering from dementia. Hence, the few that are left now lean on me for help, advice and guidance. That's all fair and the natural arc of life; it hasn't so much made me feel old, but it has made me feel very lonely.

I don't have that person or persons to call, explain the problem to and say, "what do you think I should do" and know the answer is coming from someone with true life experience and smarts and who has my best interest at heart. I feel like anything that comes up is simply mine to own and solve - that makes me feel sad and lonely sometimes.

Separately, I was in my mid 30s when I was first approached at work to help "mentor" someone - mentoring was having one of its periodic corporate popularity waves. I remember thinking, I haven't figured this stuff out / I have no insight to share. And, heck, aren't mentors supposed to be old and grey.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I find that mentoring nowadays is less about work advice and more about personal stuff -- "that guy is a manipulative louse and you don't need him in your life." At least that's how it seems to shake down around here. Kids can find out just about anything they want to know from the Internet except how to understand the inside of their own heads. And knowing the inside of your own head is more important than anything else.

As for my own mentors, there were two who really mattered to me: my grandmother and Mister Rogers, and they both were lost too soon.

 

[tonyb]

Fewer things are more annoying than the self-appointed dispenser of "good advice." We've all met a few, I trust.

I confess that in my childhood and early adult life I took such characters much more seriously than was ever warranted. People convinced they have much wisdom to impart are drawn toward contexts were those impressionable others might be found. There are good Scout leaders and sports coaches and and church pastors and the like. But I have waaaaay too often heard pure drivel emanating from the locker room and the pulpit and the campfire circle.

 

[HanauMan]

I find that mentoring nowadays is less about work advice and more about personal stuff -- "that guy is a manipulative louse and you don't need him in your life." At least that's how it seems to shake down around here. Kids can find out just about anything they want to know from the Internet except how to understand the inside of their own heads. And knowing the inside of your own head is more important than anything else.

Guess it depends on your line of work. I was a RN in a trauma orthopaedic department for twenty years and worked as a male nurse for over 25 years in total. I had some pretty darn good mentors to begin with and, in due course, I in turn became a mentor to many student nurses as well as the odd junior doctor in crises. Mentoring was a lot of work based stuff and also personal stuff if appropriate. But mostly it entailed work based training, how to deal with co-workers and patients and how to look after patients without killing them. And yes, occasionally I'd be there as a shoulder to cry on. With personal stuff I'd listen and perhaps advise my students, but I never told them what to do with regards to family / boy / girl friend issues, missing home or hating their teachers, just gave a bit of guidance. But on the whole, mentoring was usually a good experience for both the students and myself and I enjoyed the task and still have a folder full of 'thank you' cards and notes to look back on.

 

[2jakes]

I owe much to the women in my life.
First was my grandma who raised me.
She was a great influence on me which
helped me to cope with things beyond
my control later in life. She was gone too soon but I knew at a young age what
it was to be loved. She was my foundation.
Second were my sisters.
I was the oldest but they influenced me
without them realizing it.
I lived in a area where the men for the most part regarded girls as being good in
the kitchen or having babies and nothing else.
Growing up with my sisters and what they had to put up with in life, I thought
differently. Respect regardless of gender
I learned at an early age which I believe
has helped me to be a better person.
At least that's the impression I get from
the people I have met or known.