Do people get progressively more boring and uptight as they get older?
 

I'm 24 now and I've noticed that people especially adults get progressively more boring and more uptight as they get older. Maybe it's just me not wanting to growing up, watching everything decay around me. I don't know what it is. I'm not saying that all adults are like this but from experience most seem this way. What do you think?

I find the exact opposite with me. I have learned to relax and deal with things in a better manner. And to also be a lot more open minded to things I don't understand or didn't previously believe in. So my 'uptightness' has certainly been on a down swing. As far as the boring part, I disagree as well. I think as you mature, some things aren't as much fun anymore, and you begin enjoying things in life that was once taken for granted. I'm far from old, but I certainly in a better place mentally and physically then I was at 18, and having a hell of a lot more fun.

I'll have to agree with Wile on this. It's not that I'm more boring now that I'm in my mid30's. It's just getting better and better. When I was in SE Asia I thought the adventure was grand. Staying in small little huts on the beach and drinking all night. Now I like to stay in a nice bed with soft sheets, and drinking all night? nah... I'd rather be up early and ready to go than have a hangover haze...

Now I have the $$$ that I didn't when I was younger, so I can go and do some of those things that I only sat on the sidelines and opined.

Uptight? Nah... I just like things they way that I've gotten used to them over time, and then someone comes around and changes it. It's annoying, everyone has some issue with change.

No. Getting all wound up about things that will happen anyway is counterproductive.

I ride motorcycles, I have a SeaDoo that I love to ride at max speed, I rock climb and rappell, and I still go to rock concerts. If I'm boring no one has pointed it out to me.

I do get a little more republican every day though.

I think that people that sit around and watch the world go by do tend to get uptight and boring because they never do anything fun or interesting and it's frustrating.

You have two choices, you can watch the world go by, or, you can jump in and take your chances.

Do people get progressively more boring and uptight as they get older?


IMHO I think in most cases,yes. thats just that way it is

Re: Do people get progressively more boring and uptight as they get older?
 

This is such an excellent demonstration of the perspective on being older from someone younger.

As far as I can tell, as we get older, we gain some amount of wisdom - principally as a result of having more life experience. That wisdom has the propensity to create a large deal of cynnicism (sp?), which someone who was less experienced might call "being uptight". Those of us who have clocked a few more hours on the planet can easily become jaded about the fact that human (and especially Americans) are so easily amused by such soulless drivel. This usually comes out in remarks that sound especially uptight.

As for the boring part, some of us don't have the need for constant excitement. It's what happens when one is allowed to develop an attention span that belongs to something larger than a gnat. Instead of boring, you might try serene, or better yet, wise. Any way you slice it, it's a touch slower and more involved.

Relax, young grasshopper, and save this thread. Read it when you're 40. But be sure to take a piss first, because you just might wet yourself laughing.

Boring: well, your metabolism slows down--it makes it hard to react as fast or change tracks as quickly as you did when you were younger. that means that you can do long, monotonous tasks for longer. boring, but also possibly more productive.

Uptight: on a similar note, your mind tends to calcify as you get older--it's harder to buck 40, 50 years of experience and try something new. Even when people realize it's happening to them, they have trouble getting out of ruts. On the other hand, it also keeps them out of trouble, by trying a tried and true method over something that might break their rheumatic brittle hipbone.

According to family lore, my great-grandfather once told my grandfather he'd disown him if he wasn't a liberal at 25 and a conservative at 40. Maybe that's sort of what you have in mind here...

I remember how SHOCKED I was to discover dubbed Led Zeppelin albums among my dad's classical records. He'd taped them off friends' copies back when he was in the Navy in the way-early 70's. Unbelievable. I was into classic rock at the time, too (this was probably '91 or '92), so I snagged them.

I'm now 30 and I'd have to say yes.
Most of my friends are now boring and uptight.

It's like as soon as people get into their late twenties they start planning for getting old.
It's depressing when folk around you have given up having fun.
I hope when they do get old they don't regret having done nothing but work, sleep and watch teevee in their (relative) youth.

Shit, you could die tomorrow - live a bit.

Re: Do people get progressively more boring and uptight as they get older?
 

It would appear you have a dilema - you're 24 and look at others as being adult - What do you consider yourself to be? Age has nothing to do with being adult - some people who are 70 years old are still immature in action and some that are 17 are adult. I think that as some people get older they act older and some peoples ideas of older is probably what you and I both would call boring - You are 24 and I was born a long time ago - Age has nothing to do with how one acts.

Yep, to that question not a doubt about it.

I am also 24 and am probably more "boring and uptight" than you.

But I have a girlfriend of two and a half years, have a settled financial situation, etc. I am probably more "boring" than two or four years ago. I am also happier and more content. If I have children, get married, etc. i may get more uptight (with more concerns). But I think I'll still be happier yet. Don't know if that makes sense, and I don't consider myself old nor wise, but I think getting going in the right direction breeds a certain comfort that may be seen as boring.

It's just something that comes with wisdom.

I'm a lot more boring and a lot less uptight.

I no longer have any interest in getting wild-ass drunk and falling down. My body can't take it.

I can't take big risks anymore. I have too many people depending on me. It wouldn't be fair to my family or my company if I broke my neck skiing in the manner I once did.

My kid needs me to lay on the floor and play Hotwheels, not play sax in a bar all night.

Boring me. Boring, but mellow.

More boring, no. Less energy, yes. When I was 24 (and I'm only 33 now) I never could understand why the old folks didn't want to go out and have fun all the time. Drinking and carousing and partying all the time and staying up all night to do it was the only thing I knew and I wouldn't have believed I'd ever do it differently. but now, sitting on the roof and sharing a 12 pack with 2 other people and shooting the shit until midnight is sufficient entertainment to keep me going. None of this is to say that partying all night is completely off the menu, I just can't do it more than once a month or so. I just don't have the energy.

As for uptight, I'd say that for the most part people's tension capacity doesn't change all that much throughout life. What I've noticed is that what often looks like someone being uptight is really their way of saying "Hey, I've made that mistake before and I don't want to see you go through the same world of shit I did." The problem is that they usually phrase it like this: "HEY, YOU KIDS STOP THAT RIGHT NOW, YA HEAR ME!"

No way! The older a person is, the more fun they are! They've heard all the good dirty jokes, and they want to tell you how great life can be! I just don't think they feel comfortable acting like kids again.

A lot can be said about hormones. As we get older, Men have a steady decline in the levels of testosterone. Lower amounts of that make us less impulsive, and make us a little calmer. In other words, as we get older, we turn into women. Thats why old men and old women all tend to look the same and act the same.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

no.. just grumpier

It has been my experience, that like a fine wine, I have mellowed with age. I no longer feel the need to close the bar every night, party till I can't move etc. I led a very exciting life in my youth, and it's kind of nice to be able to relax a bit now. Boring? Probably to a lot of people. Satisfying? Extrememly so. As far as uptight goes....i am one of the most laid back people that i know.

btw...I'm in my mid 30's

In general people do let themselves go - IMO.
Is it a necessary thing? Not at all.
Why do people do it? They are lazy. It's easier to let your looks deteriorate than it is to work out or watch what you eat. It's easy to become sex-negative, have a boring marriage, drift apart, stay together, turn inward, get depressed, get grouchy, become bitter at your failures, etc.
It takes effort to go against that tide.
Now here's the rub: all those folks who do that are the same ones who were young once- like you. So it's predictive that this will happen to you - because you will let it.

Does it have to happen? Not at all.
I knew Allen Ginsberg and Tim Leary as old men - and many more like them. They were way cool - totally fun people - totally sexy and creative - the opposite of boring.

There are a lot of things you can do to stay as young as you want for as long as you want. The fact is only a few of you will make the effort to do that. It's too bad, isn't it?

I think many people change their attitude and style as the get older.

Winston Churchill once said "A young person who isn't a liberal has no heart. An old person who isn't a conservative has no brain."

Of course, this doesn't apply to everyone, but with age and experience, sometimes the pendulum swings.

Absolutely kids...Us old folks, I'm 41, lead a boring, sedated lifestyle that consists of no fun, no more horse play, no intimacy, no life, we don't go out anymore and are out of shape, and very uptight!

If you don't believe me check out, Tilted Exhibition and my vacation thread. Yup, boring!

If they didn't, then they wouldn't get such good deals on car insurance :)

But seriously, I think it's a combination of mellowing out after the wild years, and the younger generations becoming less conservative and even more wild.