Using age as an insult or argument

Post Reply New Topic

It's not always irrelevant (particularly, for example, in threads about dating, or technology), but yeah, when people do raise it in an irrelevant situation it is as annoying as anything.

This really freaking annoys me. Everyone who says this I want them to go to Antarctica! My age does not determine my personality.

With the proper clothing, I wouldn't mind going to Antarctica, actually. I love the color "glacier blue."

Seriously, you're right, age shouldn't be a determinant of who is right or wrong. Experience should be a determinant, though.

The answer to age and wisdom can be viewed this way:

For teenagers: Do you feel more wise now than you did when you were 10 years younger (3 to say 9 years old)?

For young adults: Do you feel you've grown in intellect and understanding compared to 18 to20 years ago?

For older adults: Do you feel you've grown in intellect and understanding compared to 20 to 30 years ago?

I hope everyone answered "yes."

As you grow older you learn more; it's as simple as that. You don't automatically gain the "wisdom of the ages" or some such, but you can gain specific information in fields of your choosing and you also gain general knowledge just by being alive. It's true some people can then get a "big head" and it's happened before to me so this is first hand information.

So the trick, when you get older, is to pay a lot more attention to what younger people are saying (younger brains often have fresher better ideas). And who knows???? You might get lucky and actually learn something new.

And you younger folk, with instant access to the world's knowledge, still can learn a few things from people that have already been through the course. If it seems we're slow; it's because we're sorting through the information you'll soon be accumulating on your own.

I don't think the problem is with knowledge. Most young people understand there are things they don't understand and will come to know as they have done before. Sometimes we do think "Oh I know everything," but this is rare and we are usually put in our place nicely by well meaning adults. I know at 25 I have a lot of exciting new things to learn and experience, which will grow with age and experience. I think the problem is when people use your age to discredit your concerns, feelings or opinion, or even make assumptions about you.

I so hate it. I hate it that people do it to people younger than me too. It's Ageist (yes it has a name!) I hate it when young people do it to older people too!

My parents always tell my younger sister when she is upset that it's her hormones. Wrong. They are just being mean and using it as an excuse to use and abuse her some more, because what would she know, she's just a teenager. Or when people "assume" you are out partying every weekend. "Oh I bet you were sloshed this weekend." No actually. I don't like clubs or crowded places or strange people in general. Mostly I just read and watched TV. Or when people have a go at Gen Y and make sweeping generalisations, assuming we are all this and that. And then I think, I bet this is what all people say about young people, and I bet your parents said it about you.

I think that people forget they were young once. Unfortunately young people don't have all the knowledge and can be silly sometimes. But chances are the older people were that way when they were young too and in some ways, still are. That doesn't give us the right to discredit opinions and feelings. Feelings are real, whether your young or old and opinions should be respected, regardless of age. Yes we can learn from each other for sure, as I have done many times, but I think some people abuse young people because they know they can get away with it and it is very "in" to poke fun and disregard young people.

When my husband tells me "Oh my God, these kids are so annoying," I remind him he was worse (and he really was). I remember being a teenager and a kid. It was fun in some ways, but very hard in others. I think people forget that it's not all a bed of roses when you're young. Hindsight is 20/20, but when you're there, living it, in the thick of it, things are very hard and you make bad decisions and make bad friends. We all say we wish we were younger from time to time, but really, I just wanna live in the now. I don't want to deal with what I had to deal with back then.