As you get older, do you get jealous of young people, because to them everything is still new and exciting and glowing?

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I know I do, and I'm not even that old. And even though I keep saying to myself, "Things are so much better now!", and it is kinda true, I wonder if part of me is just trying to hide that jealousy even from myself.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 11:49 (twenty years ago)

Things are better now?

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 11:53 (twenty years ago)

Well, I'm certainly happier than I was ten years ago, but still..

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 11:53 (twenty years ago)

No, because they have to put up with crap like the Arctic Monkeys.

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 11:55 (twenty years ago)

Yeah I'm much better off and happier now than I was ten or more years ago. It's not so much envy as just wanting to have the same feelings about some things now like I did then, when I wasn't so jaded so often. Youth wasted on the wasted young blah blah.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 11:55 (twenty years ago)

It's not so much envy as just wanting to have the same feelings about some things now like I did then, when I wasn't so jaded so often.

True indeed.

When I was a teen I read an interview of some French writer, who said that the real reason old folks hate the youth is because they're jealous of them. I didn't get it then but I do now.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 11:59 (twenty years ago)

But when you were younger didn't you often wish you were older?

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:05 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, that's why I didn't understand the writer then. Such irony.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:06 (twenty years ago)

I always imagine that my youth was much easier/better/fun than where I am now, but there is a level of nostalgia driving this and inevitably should I go back I would be longing to be propelled forward once more. Grass is always greener and all that.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:08 (twenty years ago)

I can't actually remember what I was like when I was 18 or 20 so envy doesn't come in to it

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:10 (twenty years ago)

I went out at the weekend and saw a boy who couldn't have been more than seventeen and he had the exact shoes I've been after for ages. I was tempted to hit him over the head with a bottle and steal them off him, but he didn't look like a size 8.

― James Ward (jamesmichaelward), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:13 (twenty years ago)

DISPOSABLE INCOME

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:19 (twenty years ago)

OTM

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:20 (twenty years ago)

Probably the only thing I envy kids for is that they have more possibilities in front of them.

― The Man in the Iron-On Mask (noodle vague), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:26 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but they'll just squander them. Stupid kids.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:32 (twenty years ago)

Young people are funny. Observing their antics is like watching a car crash - you can see what's about to happen them and all the ways they could get out of it; but you know that actually explaining any this to them would only piss 'em off. So they remain doomed to repeat the mistakes we made and know they could avoid.

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:49 (twenty years ago)

I sneer at their clothes, as do they mine. It is the circle of life.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 12:50 (twenty years ago)

no way, wisdom beats youth every time.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 13:09 (twenty years ago)

Enthusiasm and energy - classic

Acting like you're the first person to discover music,drugs and sex etc - dud

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 13:16 (twenty years ago)

Everything is much more fun now!

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 13:41 (twenty years ago)

Enthusiasm.

― shookout (shookout), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 13:43 (twenty years ago)

Probably the only thing I envy kids for is that they have more possibilities in front of them.

OTM. What I wish is that, along with the things I enjoy now, I still enjoyed the things I enjoyed then, dodgy indie music, dancing, gigging etc.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 13:47 (twenty years ago)

One thing I envy is the technocracy younger people enjoy now - their own phones, internet, cameras, music software etc. - all these gizmos give people years younger than you the opportunity to be just as expressive and creative, and they can be more prolific by virtue of having more time/less complications generally. All that's missing is the natural experience of course, which may be the only thing that the cynicism of maturity has over the idealism/naivety of youth when it comes to that sort of thing.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 13:53 (twenty years ago)

... haircuts (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:01 (twenty years ago)

... sorry, could not resist!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:01 (twenty years ago)

I don't get jealous of young people. In a lot of ways, I think that the world is even more confusing and scary and complicated than it was, even when I was young (and it was confusing enough then). I mean, my youth compared to my parents' youth was a huge culture shock of a gap. I think the future shock between my generation and this next one is just mind boggling, things are changing so fast. So I kind of feel sorry for kids today in a lot of ways.

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:03 (twenty years ago)

In a lot of ways, I think that the world is even more confusing and scary and complicated than it was

Not sure about this. In some ways, yes. Depends on your circumstances.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:07 (twenty years ago)

Things are changing faster than they ever did before. The pace of change has vastly accelerated. I think that's got to be confusing for kids.

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:11 (twenty years ago)

One thing I miss about youth is exactly how easy life seemed then. You didn't have to worry about career choices, education choices, or about where are you going to get next month's rent. The biggest problem in the world could've been how to show her that I really like her.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:12 (twenty years ago)

Again, I'm really not convinced that this is true (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:15 (twenty years ago)

I'm not convinced what Tuomas said is true. Life wasn't easier in any real sense - we still had our worries and if anything we were less equipped to deal with them. I worry about my job, my mortgage, whatever, but in those days I worried about girls and friends and getting mugged and getting a summer job and whether I could afford to go to see Th' Faith Healers and and and.

So while life *was* easier I don't think it *seemed* it at all!

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:18 (twenty years ago)

You're saying that the pace of change hasn't increased over the course of the late 20th and early 21st Century? Changes that formerly took a century now take 20, ten, five years, a year. Think about the technology we have now that most people didn't even have access to a decade ago - the interweb, mobile phones, MP3, etc. - and think about how these progressed in comparison to the innovations of the early 20th Century. That rate of change is speeding up. Things have changed almost unrecognisably since even *I* was young to now - and now these changes are compressing to within the span of one youth.

And that's just technological change. We're not even talking about social change, living situations, splintered families, etc.

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Ah, to some extent I envy those in their early 20s - but much to the same extent that I envy those in on an inside joke. I've learned that its much better to not worry about it, and to realize that you've got just as many inside jokes as they do.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:21 (twenty years ago)

Why should increasing technological change be something to worry about? (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:21 (twenty years ago)

... what I mean is, it might be stressful and confusing but think of the benefits

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:22 (twenty years ago)

Because it affects the way that we live our lives! Because it affects the quality and quantity of our lives! I haven't even brought up medical technology and how that is already changing the things these kids will have to deal with.

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:23 (twenty years ago)

Technology has accelerated things no doubt but perhaps ironically it's children who may well be better placed to adapt to such rapid change than adults. I think we worried about nuclear war less than our parents did even though it became more and more likely because we weren't really capable of understanding the implications like our parents were, fear being something you learn after all. A more trivial example might be kids showing their parents how to use the internet.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:23 (twenty years ago)

Every generation has different pressures and stresses - comparisons are next to impossible but I'll tell you one thing, I'm sooooooooooo glad I didn't have to grow up when my parents grew up! Jesus!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:24 (twenty years ago)

I'm glad I didn't have to grow up in the time of Jesus.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:25 (twenty years ago)

I also envy people NOT BORN YET!

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:25 (twenty years ago)

It was tough, I tell ya, those nails smarted (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:26 (twenty years ago)

Think of the messes that we're leaving them! The wreck of the environment! Global warming! Pension crises! Insurmountable debt... (someone link to that thread that had the Americans freaking out last week).

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

The world's always in a mess, what's new?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:29 (twenty years ago)

... yes I know: The wreck of the environment! Global warming! Pension crises! Insurmountable debt!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:29 (twenty years ago)

Look, go ahead and laugh, because that's your schtick.

What I'm trying to say is, that I, growing up, to had to deal with pressures and stresses that my parents never even had to dream of. So I'm sure that the next generation of kids will have to deal with stresses and pressures that you can't even dream of.

Now back to your schtick.

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:32 (twenty years ago)

That wasn't supposed to be funny. There was no schtick. So less of the non-schtick panning.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:34 (twenty years ago)

The question is whether the pressures and stresses one generation deals with are really greater than previous ones (bearing in mind our grandparents had to deal with actual World Wars for example) or whether it's all relative, in spite of technological acceleration and other factors.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:38 (twenty years ago)

What I'm trying to say is, that I, growing up, to had to deal with pressures and stresses that my parents never even had to dream of.

Same here, I think, with hindsight admittedly, I'd rather have had my pressures and stresses than my parents' pressures and stresses.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:39 (twenty years ago)

My boys are 21 and 23, and maybe this colors my attitude, but I want all good things for them and their classmates. I want a magic bubble around them! I want to see them find love, become more and more obsessed with their interests, sharpen their wit, master the technology, everything. Fucking riches. You'll want that too if you have kids, Tuomas, probably even if you don't. This is probably just a grumpy day for you.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:40 (twenty years ago)

... but then my parents are obviously older than Steve's (they had to put up with a World War, tho as children)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Things like bigger debts and more pollution are just one side of the coin countered by greater empowerment through technology, better resources for the unemployed generally (again largely via technology), and cleaner, more sanitised working and living environments (even if the air, rain and water may be contaminated in some places).

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:42 (twenty years ago)

cleaner, more sanitised working and living environments

For a small percentage of the Western World...

I mean, yeah. My grandparents lived through WWII. But they never had to live through RANDOM IDEOLOGICAL PSYCHOPATHS BLOWING UP YOUR FRIENDS ON THE TUBE FOR NO APPARENT REASON!!! which can be just as stressful, if not more - especially considering the tone and pervasiveness of the OMIGOD TERROR TERROR HORRIBLE of the media - not to mention the invasiveness of media and technology etc.

Sure, I'm having a bad day today. But I do still feel more sorry for younger people than I ever feel jealous of them. I don't envy the world into which they're going to have to make their way.

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:46 (twenty years ago)

I'll admit that I'm jealous of younger people. Not usually ACTUAL younger people, but I miss being young, because being full of hope and potential >>> having to finally make good on that potential and routinely squandering it.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:47 (twenty years ago)

Would I want to be 16 in 2006? FUCK NO. But would I like to turn back the clock? Sometimes. Abosolutely. So I guess I don't get jealous, just grossly nostalgic. I never thought I'd say it when I was living it, but I miss those years terribly sometimes. Funny, I was talking about this very thing with my brother not two days ago. He misses it too.

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:49 (twenty years ago)

I would never want to be younger again, either. You could not PAY me enough to be 16 again, even were it possible. perhaps that informs my pessimistic viewpoint, as well.

― The Late Fear And The Potato Fear (kate), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:51 (twenty years ago)

I've seen pictures of you, Jaymc. You're not exactly in your dotage.

I've seen pictures of you, Jaymc. You're not exactly in your dotage.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:51 (twenty years ago)

Whoa! how did that happen? Obviously I AM in my dotage!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:52 (twenty years ago)

For a small percentage of the Western World...

For a big & of the Western World and a small % of the non-Western world surely?

But they never had to live through RANDOM IDEOLOGICAL PSYCHOPATHS BLOWING UP YOUR FRIENDS ON THE TUBE FOR NO APPARENT REASON!!!

Well they would cite their reasons even tho obv. we think their reasons are terrible. But to be honest I would imagine the Blitz and the War in general to have been even more terrifying than anything that's happened since.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:53 (twenty years ago)

I'm 27 in two months. This is the first birthday that's made me think, "Gah, what have I done with my life?"

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:53 (twenty years ago)

That was bad use of 'to be honest' (isn't it always bad?) as I have only been honest throughout this thread.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:55 (twenty years ago)

I get nostalgic for other people's adolescence - like my brother and his friends, when I look at them and where they are now. I don't get nostalgic for mine, because it was mostly crap. Would I change anything if I had to to all over again, ohhhhhhhhhh, only all of it.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:55 (twenty years ago)

I suppose I tend to adhere to the 'life is generally getting better for people everywhere over time' idea even if it's merely the optimistic counter to the pessimist side, with one no more correct than the other. Really things are just changing, with 'better' or 'worse' cancelling each other out as new problems occupy the spaces vacated by previous ones.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 14:58 (twenty years ago)

I get nostalgic for other people's adolescence

Guilty of this too

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:00 (twenty years ago)

At 49 I'm, well, not 27 any more, but I have to help out my 87 year old mom all the time, so I'm constantly reminded of how relative it all is. Life is long—don't start feeling old yet, you'll waste all your codger ammo.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:03 (twenty years ago)

np: "You Can't Blame the Youth," The Wailers

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 15:28 (twenty years ago)

A: No, just cuz they can get laid just for being cute.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Jealous? Good lord, no. Heaven help them, they're still so... young. They still don't know if they're going into the Tunnel of Love, the Hall of Mirrors, or the Pit of Doom, and they can't tell by looking at their ticket.

― Aimless (Aimless), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 17:20 (twenty years ago)

I never wanted to be young in the context of going out and having fun, and nope I'm not jealous of young people who go out and have fun.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:00 (twenty years ago)

i feel bad for young people, because it means they still have a lot of awful shit to go through.

(i am a young person.)

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:04 (twenty years ago)

I can't understand the idea of being jealous of younger people. Perhaps this is b/c I've never once wished to revisit my youth. As for the idea of seeing the world through young eyes again the answer is simple: children.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:15 (twenty years ago)

Eh, sometimes. I'm torn -- there's no real reason things can't still be exciting and glowing FOR ME, if I make them be. But things have been bad in so many ways, I did spend fair amounts of the last year wondering whether I'd get out from under the baggage. You know, there are days when you think there's no possible way everyone can't see the sadness you're carrying, and that made me feel old far more than my age does. I'm looking forward to getting Pink Bubble Laurel out of storage and finding a new balance for these things.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 18:20 (twenty years ago)

haven't read the thread, but i have to say i pity the young.

I'm happier now, and I'm a lot less jaded than when I was say, 17.

― Vintage Latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 23:41 (twenty years ago)

I think it's the opposite for me, actually.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 23:42 (twenty years ago)

No, just cuz they can get laid just for being cute

Some of us don't age out of that one. You gotta marry the guy/gal with the REALLY THICK GLASSES.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 00:07 (twenty years ago)

Wow! I work in a high school, and so rarely do my students see anything as being remotely new and exciting and glowing. I don't necessarily blame them though, because mixing the lack of self-assurance of their age with all the shit they're forcefed (mediawise) points them in quite a sour and dull direction. I am never EVER jealous of them because of that, and because I remember daily how uncomfortable those years were for me. Each day I try to sell them on enjoying at least some the day but they mostly won't let themselves come close to doing so.

― peepee (peepee), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 01:23 (twenty years ago)

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