Look, we all know that growing up is a massive trap, but nowhere is it as obvious when you find yourself getting older and starting to hate the things you loved as a child.
1. "Someone opening an Instagram or TikTok video on loud volume out of nowhere. Whether it's on the train or on the sofa, it makes me scream inside."
2. "Making appointments for my dog, myself, my kids, etc. You have to start a new patient portal, then verify your email. Then, you have to try to make an appointment through their portal, but the portal is down for maintenance. So you call, and you're sent to electronic voicemail, which recommends an online portal. Rinse and repeat. Eventually, you find the right formula to speak to a human, and they're not accepting new patients or there are no openings for 10 weeks."
3. "Social media. I hate what it does to people, and I hate the things it makes people do so much. It used to be useful once upon a time, but now, social media is just a cesspool of the worst kinds of people."
4. "Birthdays."
"Getting older to reach adulthood was fun. Getting older to reach being a senior citizen is less fun."
5. "Sweetness. The older I get, the less I can tolerate sweet stuff. I used to need a lot of sugar in my coffee; now, a dash of sugar is enough, and if need be, no sugar is fine, too."
6. "Nobody seems to remember when using speaker phone to talk was considered rude/low class. Also, fuck video calls in general. If it's not urgent, just text, voice record, or voice call in that order. Text preferably, and don't expect me to listen to voice recordings until I am somewhere private (since they play through the speaker by default). Randomly demanding both my ears and eyeballs for simple communication when I am busy is gonna be an instant call reject + text message saying I can't talk. Yes, I grew up with IRC. Video calls are great for catching up with family/friends, but not fucking necessary to tell me you are going to buy groceries."
7. "Home. I moved far away and made my own life. In the beginning, I was desperately attached to my home and missed it to the core of my being. Now, I realize that I left problems behind that I'll never have to face again. Every visit makes me more confident in my decision. I wish the best for my friends and family, but I'm glad I got the fuck out."
8. "Crowded areas. I went to the grocery store yesterday, and I felt uncomfortable with that many people around."
9. "Getting wasted and partying. I am in my early 30s, and I think I'm okay to not party anymore for the rest of my life. It's just that weekends are damn precious now that I'm working full time. When I get wasted and party, I just waste a whole Sunday recovering from that. Yeah, so I'm good."
10. "Summer. I realized I only loved it because of summer break and my birthday. Now that I work nine to five, summer absolutely sucks! It’s warm as hell outside, and every birthday after 21 has been one year closer to old age."
11. "Since I haven’t seen it yet: soda and other soft or carbonated drinks. They’re so sugary and awful; it’s like I can imagine my teeth dissolving and my insides corroding just from drinking a bit of it. I don’t hate it with a passion, and on a social occasion, I might even drink some, but I always feel bad afterward and sometimes even sick. Water is love; water is life."
12. "Loud restaurants."
"I don't understand why places have the music cranked so loud that you can't even hear yourself talk. Seriously, who's enjoying that?!"
13. "Dating apps. Not only have I aged out of them, but now, it's been active people using it for follower clout chasing. Don't get me wrong, they're great when they work. But when they don't, which is very often, they're exhausting."
14. "How quickly things break down. Everything is cheaply made so you will have to replace it quickly. My grandmother had the same oven for 50 years, and a fridge that was easily 30 years old."
15. "Gossip. I used to be a fucking fiend for gossip. I'm now almost 30, and I genuinely just...I don't give a fuck, unless it involves me or benefits me. I just don't fucking care."
16. "Rude people, especially middle-aged and elderly people who think they can get away with being rude just because of their age. I'm in my mid-50s, and I hate those assholes as much as I did when I was a young person."
17. "I used to spend literal hours doing my makeup and hair every single day. I would cry while trying to get it absolutely perfect so that people wouldn't think I was ugly. I would try on several outfits before going anywhere because I was terrified of looking even slightly overweight and then cry because nothing I put on made me look as perfectly put together as I thought I should be. I felt like everywhere I went people were judging me and thinking I was unattractive. But as I've gotten older, I have started to just not give a single fuck. I do my hair the way that's comfortable for me. I barely wear any makeup and get more sleep because I don't feel the need to spend hours doing it. I wear clothes that fit properly. I am just generally comfortable with who I am as a person these days.
18. "The acquisition of things. The first half of my life was all about building the nest and feathering it. Now, I’m divesting everything I don’t absolutely need. No storage unit now, nothing in the attic, the garage actually holds the car. The end game is to have a near-zero footprint of 'stuff.'"
19. "Online gaming. Everyone is just toxic or childish, and it gets old. I try to stay away from them now and just play single-player stuff."
20. "Shopping. As a kid and teenager, there was a bunch of stuff I couldn’t have, so when I started earning money, I was really enjoying buying something if I wanted to. Now, I just think that constant online shopping and the throw-away-and-repurchase-cycle makes you feel empty on the inside and hurts the environment. I’d rather have kind people and joy in my life than things."
21. "Work. I remember the naive motivation I had to get old, jump into the workforce, and make my own money. I’ll gladly go back in time and go back to begging my parents for rides to places and new shoes again."
22. "Cynicism. Humans are cute, things are good, flowers exist, that girl who’s a huge bitch at work might actually be cool once you get to know her."
23. "Chasing a career. We whip ourselves into a fury chasing this thing. Our entire society is built around the assumption that everyone wants one, that it's a way to be happy. It's not. It's a waste of a great gift we've been given. You enrich others. Always. If you're lucky, you'll get some cream off the top. But most people won't. They'll just pump hours of their life into the comfort of other people who had the fortune to be born into the right class of people. You'll chase it and chase it and feel like you're getting somewhere, but at the end of the day, it won't matter. The only things that will matter are the things you couldn't do because you were playing by someone else's rules for a happy life. Fuck. That. Shit."
24. "Traveling. As a kid, traveling is almost always a fun vacation. I dreamed of having a job that let me travel. Now, I’m almost 30 and have a travel-centric job, and going to the airport is anxiety-inducing because it’s always such a miserable experience."
25. "Being the oldest sibling. Somehow, it's always my job to look after and take care of the kids, be the successful one, handle most of the chores, etc. Using kids as servants is really boring after being yelled at not to be a fuck-up in life. Then, you see your siblings as hawks focusing on your every move, and you realize they will either follow your lead or one-up you. Then, if you fuck up, you'll be a disgrace to the family, and everyone else will be the favorite while they look at you in shame. It's a responsibility I didn't ask for, unfortunately. But, I guess it's destiny."
26. "Screens. The omnipresence of smartphones and TVs is really taking a toll on everyone's mental health, attention span, and social skills. People are addicted and don't seem to notice or care about it. I've been looking at screens less and less. Now, sitting down to look at the sky or read a book (as well as getting off social media and abolishing caffeine from my life) has diminished my anxiety so much that I feel in some ways I've re-learned how to think."
