Adjusting to Boomer Status

[Jericho 917]

One of the things I'm starting to learn is that leaving a community and coming back at a different life stage is an interesting experience. I'm a very different person now than I was in 2015, and it's strange seeing some of these familiar faces after so long. Most of them have grown as people in their own right, but some of them are the exact same people they were six years ago. That's too be expected, and is something I've experienced in life before. The difference is that in real life I just stop associating with those people since they don't give me anything positive by letting them exist in my life. In a community like this though, they'll keep lurking as a constant reminder of who you used to be.

 

The thing I need to work on though, is that there are lots of new people, and some of them are a lot younger than I am. As someone who's nearly 30 years old, I tend to interact with 15 year olds as little as possible, if for no other reason than to avoid ending up on a government watch list. I have to remember that they're going to have some bad takes. When I see some of these takes with adults I'm very harsh since they should know better. I have to remember that a lot of these kids need to be taught instead of scolded. I'll get used to it at some point I'm sure.

[Gustav 6,407]

Man I'm 20 and I've had to hold back from telling people to shut the hell up on here. Can't wait until I'm a boomer 

 

I think knowing people well also plays an important role in determining a proper response. If someone's obviously 15 and being an idiot it's very likely that they're going to look back on it in 5 or 10 years and realize that they were an idiot...but arguing with them is just going to make them be more of an idiot because they're 15 and think they're right about everything. Teaching them probably doesn't do much either...because they think they're right. But maybe it will make them think a bit and grow a little.

 

14 minutes ago, Jericho said:

When I see some of these takes with adults I'm very harsh since they should know better.

 

I kind of just look at people my age and older who think they're right about everything as people who had the opportunity to change for the better and made a decision not to. That's not to say they can't still end up changing, just that the level of maturity which one would expect hasn't been reached and perhaps is being purposely avoided due to one insecurity or another. Perhaps that's a bit of an elitist take and I hope that doesn't come across as demeaning but it is how I found myself relating to this bit.

 

Maybe that's my shitty take too. Guess we've all got stuff to work on.

Edited March 8, 2021 by GustavMattias

[Jericho 917]

2 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

Man I'm 20 and I've had to hold back from telling people to shut the hell up on here. Can't wait until I'm a boomer 

 

I think knowing people well also plays an important role in determining a proper response. If someone's obviously 15 and being an idiot it's very likely that they're going to look back on it in 5 or 10 years and realize that they were an idiot...but arguing with them is just going to make them be more of an idiot because they're 15 and think they're right about everything. Teaching them probably doesn't do much either...because they think they're right. But maybe it will make them think a bit and grow a little.

 

 

I kind of just look at people my age and older who think they're right about everything as people who had the opportunity to change for the better and made a decision not to. That's not to say they can't still end up changing, just that the level of maturity which one would expect hasn't been reached and perhaps is being purposely avoided due to one insecurity or another. Perhaps that's a bit of an elitist take and I hope that doesn't come across as demeaning but it is how I found myself relating to this bit.

 

Maybe that's my shitty take too. Guess we've all got stuff to work on.

 

It's more of understanding who you're dealing with. A 15 year old who's tossing out his first conspiracy theory where he ignores half of the evidence that doesn't support his claim hasn't been taught critical thinking and genuinely believes hat he's saying adds value. If the same argument is being made by someone in their mid 20s they either A) Have been taught the difference but chose to ignore it or B) Are too stupid to be able to tell. In these cases that person isn't worth investing the time into, whereas the kid might be.

 

Outside of a community like this I only see these takes out of adults, because that's who I associate with, and so my reflex is to automatically dismiss the person as arguing in bad faith. In the case of younger kids here that isn't necessarily the case, so it's important to keep that in mind.

[eaglesfan036 4,602]

1 hour ago, Jericho said:

 

hasn't been taught critical thinking 

This can apply to any age unfortunately. There are plenty of 16 year olds with way better critical thinking skills than a 50 year old because some people just want to stick with whatever their side or group says without questioning it

[Jericho 917]

3 minutes ago, WentzKneeFan036 said:

This can apply to any age unfortunately. There are plenty of 16 year olds with way better critical thinking skills than a 50 year old because some people just want to stick with whatever their side or group says without questioning it

100%, you just give a little more leeway when it's someone who still has a chance of picking it up. I know tons of people my age and older who can't/won't use it. Those people are a waste of breath.

[bigAL 2,176]

Oof yeah I feel this. I’m in my late late 20s and a place like this gets a little funny with ages. Your brain kind of automatically assumes everyone is your age unless they tell you otherwise, but it’s just not true. You learn who is what age by getting to know people (actually I prefer using life stages as a marker of similarity or maturity instead of the arbitrary number of age I digress.) but I think it is important to know how old each person you interact with is. It’s nice to be able to come at these conversations with empathy and understanding of who they are, like you were saying. I really don’t want age on our forum profiles because that’ll become a big read flashing THIS PERSON IS 16 SO WHAT THEY SAY DOESNT MATTER alert to some people and that’s not fair. It might be worthwhile to post the age on their “welcome to the league page”? I dunno what the solution is for privacy and other concerns, but I think things make a bit more sense the more you “see” the person you’re with. 

[mediocrepony 1,216]

9 minutes ago, bigAL said:

 I really don’t want age on our forum profiles because that’ll become a big read flashing THIS PERSON IS 16 SO WHAT THEY SAY DOESNT MATTER alert to some people and that’s not fair. It might be worthwhile to post the age on their “welcome to the league page”? I dunno what the solution is for privacy and other concerns, but I think things make a bit more sense the more you “see” the person you’re with. 

maybe just do an age ranges, like 20- 26, and 27- 32 or something idk