With age comes wisdom. And stiff joints, less energy, worse eyesight, worse hearing and less tolerance for hangovers and technology that you don’t understand…
When I was a little kid, I couldn’t wait to turn 16 and get my driver’s license. Freedom, here I come! When I was 20, I couldn’t wait to be out of university. Even more freedom, here I come! But then one day I woke up and realized that not everything gets better with age. In fact, sometimes things get worse.
Reddit users have recently been sharing some of the things they enjoy less and less as they get older, and to be honest, some of the replies are a little sad. From being less enthusiastic about Christmas to dreading nights out in loud bars, we’ve gathered some of their most spot-on responses down below to see if you aging pandas agree with them. Keep reading to also find interviews we were lucky enough to receive from gerontologist and host of the Aging Greatfully podcast, Holley Kelley, and writer, editor and host of the B[OLDER] podcast, Debbie Weil.
Be sure to upvote the replies that make you feel less alone, as you realize that all of our preferences shift with age, and feel free to share anything else that has become less fun over the years in the comments section. Then, if you’d like to read a Bored Panda article highlighting the most hilarious parts of getting older, you can find that piece right here!
#1
Honestly leaving the house, I used to be a social butterfly and now I have to convince myself to go get basic necessities and go to work..
Image source: Driverguy1992, Kelly Sikkema
#2
Being a certain level of presentable to be in public. Me in my 20s wouldn’t have left the house in sweatpants unless I was deathly ill on my way to the doctors. And the idea of a family function without a full face of makeup was horrifying. F**k that noise. I’m grocery shopping in my sweats and y’all lucky if I show up to family functions at all, much less in a full face of makeup.
Image source: Rebellious1, Alexandra Tran
#3
Apps.
Everyone and their mother has to have an app to download for every little thing, especially if you wanna use a coupon, or earn rewards, or whatever. I’m tired of places asking me to download an app. I don’t want your f*****g app, I just wanna buy your s**t and be done with it!
Image source: UrsulaSeaWitch
#4
I haven’t liked religion since i was 15, but I downright hate it now. Now that I see in even more ways the ridiculous hold it has over people, and how that affects everyone’s lives. It’s like this unquestionable monolith that prevents rational thought.
And my beef isn’t that people believe in deities and such, I don’t care about that. I’m not one to make snide comments about “Sky daddy”. I simply hate how religion dictates how everyone lives. How people are basing policy and votes on what their own misguided religious beliefs tell them. Add to that how straight up crooked and slimy so many churches are.
Believe in God all you want. But quit standing in the way of science, psychology, and other people’s well-being. That’s all I damn ask.
Image source: 34HoldOn
#5
How fast time is slipping away from me rather than how slow it used to be as a kid
Image source: XMrIvyX, Harsh Gupta
#6
Shopping. for anything… including groceries. Shopping used to be fun. Now it is a chore.
Image source: Beside_Wayside, Heamosoo Kim
#7
Loud places. Like bars and parties and stuff like that.
Image source: JackSchitt-716, Aleksandr Popov
#8
Feeling like I’ve done all the right things yet the goal posts keep moving farther out.
Image source: lacucaracha447, Hamish Duncan
#9
Social events. The mental preparation beforehand followed by the wide range of personalities at said event.. exhausting.
#10
The ultra wealthy.
I was never a fan to begin with, but seeing how the can grow their wealth by billions, live in extreme luxury, and pretty much never pay taxes, really makes me sick.
Elon Musk was able to increase his wealth by over $100 billion in less than a year, without paying taxes. He was able to buy twitter using a leverage scheme so that the majority of the $44 billion was money that was never taxed.
And he’s far from the only person benefitting from tax laws that let the ultra wealthy pay little tax.
Image source: TheShadowCat, Hannah Nicollet
#11
Going to theaters to watch movies. They’re more enjoyable to watch at home now.
Image source: FaberGrad, Krists Luhaers
#12
Social Media
It’s a literal biblical level plague
Image source: Rags2Rickius
#13
The world in general, it feels less and less like it has anything to do with me, more alien and absurd with each passing year. Perhaps that’s natural for a creature that is closer to death than birth.
Image source: Blinkingmonster, Guillaume de Germain
#14
Junk food! I can tell when I’m malnourished and it feels good to eat vegetables
Image source: gaysh1ttt, Ashley Green
#15
Anything with a lot of hype that requires me to stand in a long a*s line.
Image source: sneakynin, Timothy K
#16
I hate losing interest in things I used to love.
Image source: Warm-Jackfruit-2919, Jakob Owens
#17
People that drive loud cars/trucks.
Image source: scotdo
#18
Small talk
Image source: pinkink222, charlesdeluvio
#19
Capitalism. F**k working until I die for profit I don’t get to enjoy.
Image source: Muninn91
#20
The way the internet is in 2022.
Ads, subscriptions, pay walls, unhelpful sites with more pictures than words, and streaming service content split up between around 200 platforms, and most of the good content is exclusive to one, and never available elsewhere.
On browsers, you have to have multiple extensions or the like to tell Cookies, Trackers, and Ads to go away. For people in Australia, we’re also Geo-Blocked, so we have to use VPN to get around it or turn to other means.
Commercial radio is unlistenable, with the same 25 songs on repeat at the only five I can remember the channel for, and even that is preferable to the afternoon talk show of cackling, squawking gossip. (I’m happy to pay a contribution to my group’s spotify; I can have that going on my phone, instead of listening to any of that c**p; I can have long playlists, *my* kind of music, and I don’t have to pull over to change CDs).
Changing phone service provider is simple enough on the surface, but then you also have to update your 2-factor authentication, and if it’s tied to the old number, which is out of service, you have to go in person to a store or office, or call customer support. For each instance.
Those are the most prevalent grips I have with modern life. It’s all in regards to what I watch, listen, or read, and the devices I do so on. It’s this tangled web of inter-dependant, exclusive-pushing, paywall-blocking, subscription-requiring noise that really does distract from more important, more healthy, use of time, energy and money.
Image source: Zeus_McCloud, Benjamin Dada
#21
Huge gatherings of people.
Parties are cool. But like festivals, concerts, anything where people are shoulder to shoulder and packed in somewhere, no thanks.
Image source: Dustyoldfart
#22
Contrarians. A lot of people dislike stuff simply because it’s popular, they think it makes them edgy and cool but they just seem like defiant teenagers to me nowadays.
Image source: Counterfeitmind, LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR
#23
Crowds. I’m the guy at house parties that sits outside by the fire pit all night.
Image source: 72scott72, Chris Barbalis
#24
Loud noises in general.
Image source: CoolPotatoTomato, chairulfajar_
#25
Kids.
I can’t wait to get a cane so I can shake it at them while yelling to get off my lawn.
Image source: The_Book-JDP, Robert Collins
#26
Ignorance. It’s almost always harmful and, at sone point, seems willful.
Image source: FakeDocMartin
#27
Going to work. Working in general.
Image source: Showmeproveit
#28
Deciding what to cook for dinner. You want chicken and chips great, 3 course meal great just tell me what you want to eat
Image source: shazj57
#29
New music, I don’t have the time to care about what’s relevant or “in” anymore. I’m sure it’s great, but it’s just so much easier to stay in my comfort zone with all the to-dos of life.
Image source: mrs_krokodile
#30
Waking up at 5 am to p**s.
Image source: killarnivore2, Laura Chouette
#31
Holidays. As kids it’s about opening presents and eating, but as adults you need to be the one to cook the big meals all day and buy the presents for everyone. Halloween was getting excited about dressing up and getting free candy but now it’s about buying candy to give away and maybe buying an expensive costume
Image source: HappyTurtle777, Libby Penner
#32
Dating. I just turned 40 and I feel like I may never find someone
Image source: IAmNotAFetish, Yianni Mathioudakis
#33
Having social interactions, even going out with my friends is tiring.
Image source: Remarkable-Monk-9283, Kimson Doan
#34
Unnecessary noise.
Image source: Striking-Ferret8216
#35
Lack of leisure time. When I was younger, it wasn’t a oh deal to go from work to gym to home to right back out half an hour later to bar hop or movie or something.
Now it’s like work…. Aw hell, gym? Not even half an hour to chill? No? F*ck. After gym I’m not doing sh*t the rest of the night.
Image source: Expensive_Rhubarb_87, Bruno Aguirre
#36
People with huge “look at me!” life-of-the-party personalities who have no off switch. I spent my younger years seeking friendships/relationships with this type of person, maybe because I wished to be more like that, but after years of being the supporting sidekick bestie to a series of main characters, I find them exhausting.
my other answer was “doing anything at all” but that’s probably depression.
Image source: RogersGinger, Gian Cescon
#37
Going to the damn grocery store
Image source: KendalMay, Hanson Lu
#38
Rollercoasters. The more I see how little people care about their jobs, the more I questions how well put together those things are—especially at fairs and carnivals 😬
Image source: fmsksishqlqoakz, Jonny Gios
#39
Driving. I used to drive to do fun stuff like pick up my friends, go places I wanted to be, or just cruise during the night and enjoy the air.
Now I drive to work. Even though my car is a million times more fun to drive, Im perpetually annoyed.
Image source: Khaosus, Alex Chernenko
#40
Alcohol. It’s getting harder for me to bounce back on Sunday Fundays. So much so that I moved them to Saturday.
Image source: obrandn, joyce Mutesva
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