Remembering my aunts and uncles from my childhood, a lot of the older people today don’t seem to have as much energy – I come from the US.
I’ve noticed people can be erratic and easily agitated now. Almost everyone I know in their 40s and 50s is angry all the time. Heavy drinking. Not able to process new information very well.
My uncle had a kid at 50 and played with her non-stop. I don’t know anyone capable of that now.
Am I the only one seeing this?
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Look at the cars. You used to see a lot of brightly colored cars on the street. Even simple family cars and minivans were red, or bright green, or even purple. Now everything on the road is beige/dull silver.
The fucking world is burning, Nazis are back, we’re about to be eradicated by ai, food shortages, fuel prices rising, people can’t afford to live, racism and bigotry is on the rise and seems to be protected, corporations are working us to death, governments are actively trying to remove our rights… There’s a fuck tonne of reasons to be angry and tried now.
In the 60s the world was about to burn from nuclear holocaust
We are about to burn from a nuclear holocaust, wtf you on about.
Just the cost of rent is enough to make me spiral
we are wage slaves and no one is watching out for us
I promise to be more vibrant just as soon as I get a good night’s sleep.
I’m in my 40s and I feel very tired. My bones are rattling already, way too early. Migraine once a month. I used to think I’m depressed, but really I’m not, just tired. And soo many of the people I know feel the same! Some put it down to long Covid, some say it’s the vaccines, some call it chronic fatigue, some call it other things. But many are tired. And angry, because when I was very young I fought against environmental destruction, grownups told me to stop or go to jail, and look where we are now, while the very same thing is still happening!
For me it’s the polycrisis: the knowledge that things are most probably going to get worse for many people before they get better. Like some bad vibe in the background, while one still has to try to survive every day, which gets harder and harder. I’m earning half of what I used to while everything is twice as expensive, go figure. And I’m one of the lucky ones, with a setup that enables me to work less hours than average.
Also someone mentioned CO2 one of these days, and not to forget the heat - that might be why my brain really doesn’t work very well anymore.
some say it’s the vaccines,
Yes, there are uneducated and/or evil people out there with literally dangerous ideas and we should be careful to avoid them. People like that are why measles is literally a concern again now for no good reason.
Which hits on another reason to be angry. The knowledge that stupid and evil people seem to get their way all the fucking time. Often at the expense of others’ lives.
I think you underestimate the amount of alcohol consumed in the 70s and 80s.
And cocaine or Valium …
The cocaine probably helped with the “vibrancy.”
Goes outside, gestures at everything
during gesturing avoiding other people and cyclists because the sidewalk is to narrow for anything
Ooo look at you fancy pants having a sidewalk.
sobs in American
You are seeing the effects of late stage capitalism.
People working 2 jobs and still not have as much disposable income as they had with a single income in the past.
Not having money aside of the work, no time and mental load: it kills motivation, not wanting to be creative, and your health goes downhill also and you can’t afford to treat it anyway.
If you ask a 50 something about how long they think have left, yo will have half the amount than 2 generations ago.
Everything is on fire …
I’m 56, I can wobble though a sub 2 hour half marathon. You’re spot on about money. We have no kids, and own our house now. So can afford to have time to train, have a good diet etc etc.
What’s the solution?
Eating the rich.
Honestly aside of the joke there is not much can be done. You can start building communities and building a strong social network in your neck of the woods. But the writing is on the wall.
The next financial reset is coming and it’s not going to be pretty.The labor class finally going to fight in the class war they’re losing.
Socialism is the long term solution, but you don’t get that without first dethroning the wealthy one way or the other.
class war
Any solution would involve the wealthiest in society making slightly less money. Therefore, it won’t happen.
that’s not true btw. if we get UBI, we can spend more and companies make more money
Smartphones, social media and uncontrolled capitalism at work.
People today are boring as fuck and addicted to phones and being enraged at disinformation.
It’s entirely possible this is just attentional bias on your part. You noticed the more vibrant, active adults when you were younger because they were more interesting to you.
But generally, things are worse these days, too. I feel like people used to talk about the future optimistically when I was growing up. Maybe people still talk to kids that way now, but I don’t. And I don’t hear people doing it. So, maybe you’re on to something here.
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Being dumb and drunk is not new to humanity
I know exactly how you feel. However, I have recently encountered a number of very young, highly intelligent people who are indeed vibrant and actually do give me some hope for the future (EDIT: both of whom, it turns out, are in the healthcare profession, so maybe there will actually be some people left to take care of me and Mrs. Erinaceus as we decline—dare to dream!) But otherwise, yeah, capitalism, late or otherwise, the aftermath of 2008, and the pandemic—many of these things are still slowly draining the life force out of older folks like me.
