What's your "old person" trait?

I think that a basic lifestyle should be affordable for a basic person

Found the left-wing extremist! /s
- 🤣🤣😂🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂im dying 💀 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀👌👌👌👌😂😂😂😂👌👌👌😂😂😂👌😂😂😂
i’m gonna go one further:
i think everybody should be allowed to live a decent enough life, whether they can work or not.
- I'll go even further and say that meeting the needs of a population is the only point of having a society at all.
- I don't think that is an old person trait. You are just secretly Nordic.
- One further, and one better
Crazy how that is an unpopular opinion these days
As a very basic person, I agree
All this automation should mean that there's less work to do for everyone's needs to be met. Not sure where all this scarcity came from.

My OPT is that you should be able to buy and own your software instead of perpetually renting it.

My old person trait is that I think we need less acronyms
That said I do agree with you
- My old person trait is to inform people that they meant to say "fewer."
- Haha. I typed it that way out of laziness, sorry 😺
Come to open source... you don't have to rent or buy software. Find yourself a good alternative.
- Thanks!
  I've been a happy Linux user since 99 and Mandrake was my first distro 👌
  Still, the only piece of (subscription-based) software that's keeping me from deleting the windows partition: Premiere pro 🤡
- Thanks for that link. Honestly. I think an old thing is that I’ve gotten used to convenience and a going through a list like that sometimes doesn’t seem worth the time even though I know deep down that it is.
And this is why I buy still buy copies of 2015 Office from eBay
- I'm so goddamned sick of Microsoft and its greedy bullshit. I just looked at a recent KB update from them and the article must have breathlessly mentioned the word "subscription" 50 times.
  After years of being a MS corporate stooge type, I finally started messing around with LibreOffice. It can read MS Office files. Check it out if you haven't already.
You can. I think it's called "pirate bay", but don't quote me on that. ;)
- When I was younger I would be there with you. Now as I’m older I just want it to work and the Pirate Bay is hit or miss sometimes.
I don't think you can "own it" in the traditional sense, but I'd be ok with a software purchase being a perpetual license for the specific version you purchased.

My old person trait is that none of the things mentioned in the linked image happened on accident.

They happened because capitalism doesn't give a fuck about anything except bleeding as money as conceivably possible out of each and every human.

Apps allow companies to suck more data out of your device than a website, allowing them to sell more of your data and... make more money.
Video games needing access to the internet is simply Digital Rights Management and a way to prevent piracy and... make more money. Remember, most companies view something pirated as a "lost sale," not that you would have never purchased it to begin with. As Gabe Newell once said:

“We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable."

This one speaks for itself. Being able to be in control of the products you buy is freedom. Having products controlled remotely by a corporation is giving them carte blanche to make more money off of you.
Removing accessible customer service means more people will just give up on trying to get their problem solved, effectively allowing the company to steal from people and... shocker... make more money.

I agree, in theory, in respect to ghosting, but we live in a society that teaches us to be isolated, and doesn't teach interpersonal skills unless the interpersonal skill is "Fuck you, got mine." (which is, not surprisingly, a thing about making more money.)

In other words, these aren't old people opinions. These are "I'm not gonna let capitalism absolutely fuck me endlessly" opinions.

At least in Europe I suspect those of us who grew up before neoliberalism took over in the 80s have a different take on the normality of the whole "being treated as a mark to scam money of 24/7" thing...
In terms of piracy, I wonder how much could be prevented by having demos, like Factorio does
- Demos used to be everywhere back in the day! I think they have a huge impact, because it's a way to try to play a game without dumping all the money on it without knowing what the gameplay is like and if its actually fun.
  When I was a kid, DOOM having the first episode of the game available as shareware was huge and I used to walk to my friends place after school and watch him play until he would get bored and let me play for a while.
  From an old interview in 1999 with John Carmack about this very subject (emphasis mine):
  Carmack: DOOM 2 was explicitly a commercial release. We sort of half heartedly did some shareware distribution with Quake, but I think the industry has almost unanimously decided that the three or so level demo is the best test vehicle.
  A lot of people consider themselves to have "finished DOOM" when they just finished the shareware episode.
- Funny how Steam has been making sales and events around demos for a while (called Next Fests) and some games absolutely blow up out of nowhere thanks to them.
  Also some people think FF16 having a demo was some weird, oddball marketing move by Square Enix, except they have been making "try now, continue later" demos for games since Bravely Default.
Where do I sign up to buy the awards around here?
Kidding…great post, tho
- That's what the emojis are for. Unlike the shitshow most of us just came from, here it doesn't cost real money to add a tiny picture of 🏅 to a comment.
It's specifically capitalism driven by GDP. Capitalism is bad but adding GDP is like removing any ethic and moral compass.
- Well said, I'm going to save this for when my friends inevitably say something about it and I have to explain why the economy, expessially in the US sucks and why I might eventually leave
Lol

I think cars should not be dependent on a touch screen for ANY of it's functions (or really have one at all). They are more difficult to use than tactile buttons, distracting, and do not receive long term support from the OEM.

What do you do with a 10 year old car that runs but the touch screen nuked due to age, firmware bugs or mechanical damage? Ford isn't going to be selling replacement units 10 years later and I have yet to see an 'infotainment' system that has aftermarket replacement considerations.

My old person trait is that when I purchase a printer, I should be able to use whatever is the cheapest compatible ink without the printer treating me like I'm smuggling unicorn blood out of Narnia

My old person trait is that instructions do not need to be videos.

my old person trait is thinking that all of the above are extremely reasonable expectations and it's a sad world we live in where most of those aren't the case anymore

I prefer written guides to video guides.

Video has some clear advantages when showing off a 3D space and otherwise, but I dislike pausing them over and over. Especially if my hands are covered in oil and grease, a paper version is superior to a screen.

I refuse to use subscription software. If I can't buy it outright, I either use an alternative or take to seas.

I love software like Lightburn where you just pay a set amount for so many years of updates and support and when it runs out you can choose to leave it like that or buy more updates and support for a smaller fee.
- That tactic is used some companies I have stuff from. It's on the razors fucking edge of acceptable to me.

My old person trait is that I think I should be able to have anything I purchased repaired/serviced by whomever I wish, with whatever parts they deem acceptable.

Right to repair is a human right.

For the love of god stop with the QR code menus. I don’t want to have to scroll up and down a million times to figure out my order.

my old person trait is that you should keep your internet identity completely separate from your real one

My old person trait is I shouldn't have to scan a QR code for the menu at a sit-down where I'm dropping $100 on entrées. Give me a dang physical copy of the menu!

I hate all websites that move things around as they load. If I see a button, that button should stay where it is when I try to click it.

In regards to OP's comment about ghosting, I just want to ask, are you a man? Because women all-too-often have to deal with men who can't take no for an answer, and some of those men go from mad to violent very quickly. You might say "well, no man should act that way, they should be able to hear 'I don't want to see you anymore' and just accept it and move on" but the fact is they are not all able to do that. So should women do the respectful thing and stop ghosting, even though some of them definitely WILL end up being yelled at/attacked/killed?

(I know my example doesn't cover all situations involving ghosting, like for instance if the ghoster is a man. If you want to modify your claim to be 'ghosting is unacceptable, except in cases where having a face-to-face conversation could put someone in danger' then I guess I'd agree with that statement. It's just that it's really hard to know which person will be dangerous when they are turned down.)

As someone who works in a call center, screw that last person on here. So sorry you hate the automated system. Sorry you had to wait on hold. They can't keep enough of us employed because y'all are fucking mean and no one wants to be abused for $15/hr.

Er, I mean, Thank you for calling, sorry about your wait!

An urge to destroy fascism.

Owning physical media > "owning" digital media.

My old person trait is dislike of video-form social media. I consider blaring my phone speakers at max volume disrespectful to those in my surroundings and generally annoying.

Hence why my social media of choice was reddit and is now lemmy+kbin. It's mostly text posts and images.

My old person trait is I hate short-form videos e.g. Instagram reels and TikTok videos. The back and forth boomer vs millenial vs gen z videos remind me of someone who is talking to themself with different personalities.

I think I should be allowed to order food from a restaurant without needing to scan a QR code which requires me to have a smart phone and an active, paid plan in order to access their menu.

Yes! My OPT is that people shouldn't have their phones out when you're out for a meal. The whole QR code menu thing forces you to start your outing staring at your phone!
- Wait, you mean you're sat down AT the restaurant and you need to get out your phone to view the menus???
I think the move to delivery apps is also a bad move.
- I agree. I never understood why having a stranger deliver your food was considered safer than just picking it up yourself during the beginning of covid. That's another person handling your food.
  Not to mention restaurants and drivers get ripped off.
I'm on the fence about this. On one hand I don't get handed a wet plastic menu someone has just wiped off, or maybe has dried sauce on it. Also it is easier for them to add updates to their menu digitally instead of using a sharpie to cross through items and prices that no longer apply. But I also agree having to look at the whole menu on my small phone screen isn't the best experience.

I like having a keyboard and mouse. Doing things on a smartphone is a last resort.

For me I'll add to this the touch pad on my laptop. Using those things drives me crazy.
- I hate using PC touchpads but my Mac touchpad is /chefskiss
I see computers as content creation devices and phones as content consumption devices, so IMO it's mostly fine.

My old person traits are most of all posted here because I am an old person.

But I'll add that my old person traits is that I think a living wage should support... er... living, including a place to live, food to eat, paying for services, buying clothes, getting decent public health and education, and even have spare money for your free time (hobbies, eat out, theatre, concerts, etc.).

Capitalism enters the chat
Capitalism: Nah bro. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work. Are you lazy and don't want to work anymore? Be loyal to your company and work for them for 60 years. Your hard work will reap you many rewards so that your CEO can buy a new yacht.
Reaganism enters the chat
Reaganism: Oh hell yeah we're about to trickle down some wealth, everyone! My newfound wealth and yacht will trickle down to you all, somehow potentially. So that's your benefit. Trust us! Check out the next comment to this post and get ready for that economic stimulus that you paid for! It's coming!
Inexorable machinery of capitalism whirs into the chat
Machinery of Capitalism: Hey, working class! Give us more blood so our gears can continue to whir.
Working Class feebly crawls into the chat
Working Class: We're too tired from work. We're too tired fighting with each other because the Wealthy Class pits us against each other. We're too tired and distracted to unite because we think the others in the working class are against us rather than focusing on the real problem. We are too manipulated by you and believe we're in a culture war, when the real problem is the inexorable class war where you transfer all the wealth from us to you. We just want to have freedom, pay our bills without worry, not destroy our planet, and retire while being happy. We just want to be able to afford to eat. If you keep this up and break us to the point of no return, we just may have to eat the rich.
Capitalism: Gulp! Let's think of something new we can distract you with or some other corporation/wealthy controversial person we can exploit to manipulate you all into being divided again. We summon Ron DeSantis! I choose you, Vladimir Putin! Use "War on Ukraine" - it's super effective! Ron DeSantis, use "scummy villain civil rights" Special Move! It's Super Effective! Now stand still while we take away your rights, your money, your choice, and your autonomy.
Working Class: ... Okay, you win again. You're right - as a farmer, I definitely see that the hunters are trying to take away my pitchforks. The butchers are trying to steal my chickens. Farmers - unite! Let's kill those hunters and butchers.
Machinery of Capitalism, smiling and satisfied, continues to do parasite things while the Rich riches their riches harder
- Repeat this cycle for all of time and humanity's history *
- Wealthy Class: Oh heck yeah I'm about to trickle down some wealth to you all! Everybody hold out their hands.
  Proceeds to trickle a small handout only to the Butchers
  Butchers: Thank you!! This is so generous!
  Farmers + Hunters: WTF?! How come you Butchers got the money? Let's go complain to the Wealthy Class and figure out what happened!
  Wealthy Class: WTF? How can this be? Butchers - explain yourself!
  Butchers: We worked hard for this and we need this money.
  Farmers + Hunters: Hey, screw you! How can you be so greedy when we need the money, too? Let's fight!
  Butchers: Them's fighting words. You guys suck, why can't you work harder?
  Farmers, Hunters, and Butchers proceed to rassle
  Wealthy Class:
Wow okay gramps. Check out old boy here not juggling three jobs to pay off crippling debt and eating ramen 3 meals a day.

I prefer landscape videos over vertical videos. I still remember when vertical videos were clowned on so hard that there were songs written about it. Now it's how everyone consumes their content!

My old person trait is thinking a family should be able to live in a house if one member has a stable job (maybe two people if both are at minimum wage).

These aren't "old person traits". It's common sense.

I want a proper headphone jack on my phone! Bluetooth can be convenient, but I prefer wired headphones.

my old person trait is remembering that it didn't use to be this hot in the summer where I live.

Oof.

My old person trait is that I want video to be horizontal.

Honestly short form videos are so dangerous to my already short attention span
Doesn't help that even YouTube is shoving them down people's throats now
- Because the video is short, people don't need a seek bar right? Right?
- You can somewhat avoid them on YouTube, but they're really annoying on Instagram, given that I'm using the platform for photography, and augmented by the fact that I can't disable autoplay.
- Don't watch them then? You can blame everything on other things, or you can avoid short form content.
Don't say that, I am 19 and also want horizontal videos. Is 19 old nowadays?
Don't say that, I am 19 and also want horizontal videos. Is 19 old nowadays?
Don't say that, I am 19 and also want horizontal videos. Is 19 old nowadays?

My old person trait is only tipping if someone is actually providing a service for me. I don’t tip at all if I’m lifting a finger for anything.

My fucking back hurts. Knee joints as well. And I think socializing is overrated.

My old person trait is thinking that the internet shouldn't just be a place to sell products.

My old person trait is that I'm unreasonably annoyed by people who don't write in full, correct, complete sentences, punctuation and grammar included.

Something interesting I've found is that people use 'lol' to show disinterest or mock the person they're replying to, not to show amusement. And that's not the kind of person I really want to engage with.

I have a few. And I'm not even that old (mid thirties)

People who talk on phone calls using airpods or similar look ridiculous in public, like they're utter lunatics talking to themselves or their imaginary friend.
people who view life through their mobile phones are unfortunate and sad. Like...why pay money to go see a gig if you're going to view it through your phone screen? I went to a wedding last week and I was one of the very few who was actually watching the procession with my own eyes rather through a camera app.
Not being on social media should be an accepted norm, not a fucking exception. This is an issue when dating, unbelievably.

- I used to always buy physical pc games and then redeem the codes on steam! This was back when I ran a gaming store for a couple of years. Got Fallout New Vegas and Portal 2 cheaper than on steam this way, and with staff discount on top too
  Still have the boxes and dvds! I miss the old big box monkey island era tho, dial a pirate lol
I went to a wedding last week and I was one of the very few who was actually watching the procession with my own eyes rather through a camera app.
Exactly why that during our wedding we made a PSA to not take pictures or videos, and we have a dedicated professional taking care of that and we'll give access to those photos after.
The not being on social media one sucks when dating for sure.
"How do I know you aren't a weirdo, creep, stalker etc?"
"You don't and me having social media wouldn't change that either."
Sure I could play ball and make myself a presence but honestly I'm happy enough being single that I'll gladly dodge any lady who isn't on board with my lack of social media.
Just a shame that in a numbers game that a relatively high proportion choose such a non issue to be a sticking point.
- I think the numbers may work in your favor the other way. The coolest / funnest / most interesting people I know have minimal or no social media presence. There are fewer of them, sure, but a much higher percentage of them are cool people vs the mindless drones who see everything in life as a photo op which they can post on their curated online persona's webpages.
the social media part - I'm so tired of justifying why I don't have Instagram or Twitter to people. They think you're weird if you don't have one. I usually just say I used to have it but deleted it because it was stressful, but I don't think I should have to justify it at all
How I see it, not needing to be in the big social is a privilege. If you can stay out, enjoy. I know a lot of artists etc. who, if they left the big social, would soon have no work or income.
Me? I open LinkedIn when I need a new job, that's all.

The idea of "keep it simple, stupid" is lost. Everything, from beauracracy to apps to games to social interactions, is mired in unnecessary complexity that makes it difficult for everyone to keep up. I want a simple website with information that I need (thank you Wikipedia for upholding this). I want an airline loyalty membership without insane fine-print rules. I want to tip services based on service provided and not mess around a tablet's interface. I want dental insurance where I'm not leaving the office with a bill that's almost half my rent becuase they did something my insurance said in fine-print wouldn't cover. Maybe these aren't "old person" traits and I'm just here venting. But damn if I don't miss when certain things were simpler.

When I buy an aplliance or something simple like a speaker I don't want to have to connect it to the web to work properly. I want to just plug it in and use the function I bought it for.

I'll got a step further and say that I don't want anything to connect to the internet except my computer. And even then I'd prefer if programs didn't try to sync settings or check for updates or anything else without me saying they can use the network.
(I'm in a shrinking minority that doesn't use the internet on their phone. I feel that somehow makes me even more of an old person than my parents...)
My water heater has wifi. Isn't that the most ridiculous thing you ever heard?? Lol!!
- Friend of mine had his house switched to smart lighting without buttons. All controlled via WiFi. Then his WiFi broke. 😂

My actual old people trait is that there should be two spaces after a period. I will die on this stupid fucking hill. Even though computers automatically change it to one space. Like here.

I'd downvote but I've come to the understanding that I shouldn't downvote if I disagree, so... Take my upvote, truly an old people trait
It was necessary with typewriters.
Then the earliest word processing programs didn’t do layout well, so the habit made the leap to computers.
Then years later it’s seen as an old person’s habit by people who’ve only ever known systems with smart text layout.

This is the only true OPT in the thread. The rest are middle aged traits at best.
I succumbed to the single-space-after-periods madness a few years ago. I'm used to it now, but the transition was hard.

These are not old person traits, these are just things that most people agree upon.

My old person trait is that most of these sound like very recent problems

I DO NOT owe you a text back. If I'm not physically w you, I owe you very little in terms of interaction. I come home, throw my phone under the bed, and ignore till morning, and I prob won't answer you then either. It's not personal...usually.

For me, I miss the days when you could browse a website without popups for cookie consent, creating/signing up for an account, paying them money, and disabling your ad blocker.

Dumb TVs, its either 1.5k plus or you will literally never find one. I don't wanna be profiled or have some stupid android is on it. All it needs to do is display images on screen.

Mine is that a cellphone should be a phone first, instead of being a shitty computer first and a celllphone as a distant afterthought.

This might be the only actual old person trait in this thread (OP included). The rest is basically just “I don’t want to be fucked over.”
- It goes along with how they've stopped calling it a user interface and started calling it a user experience. Interface implies the computer is a tool that you use to do things, while experience implies that the things you can do are ready made according to, basically, usage scripts that were mapped out by designers and programmers.
  No sane person would talk about a user's experience with a socket wrench, and that's how you know socket wrenches are still useful.

I disagree that you owe a face to face conversation. No one should forced to go meet someone if they don't feel like it.

In the context of dating, if you get ghosted, consider that the person is not interested in you after all - and just move on. No big deal.

It'd of course be nice to be rejected directly, and i much prefer it over getting ghosted, but I'm a big boy. I can handle not having things my preferred way all the time.

Likely an outdated one, or one that's already been given a number of times, but – Physical Books.

I'm not entirely 'anti' e-reader, the benefits are obvious. I'm just VERY pro physical book.

I don't use an e-reader, but I found a long time ago I prefer audio books to physical books.
Its purely a comfort thing. I can read a lot faster than any audio book, but I just have a hard time finding a comfortable position to read a real book.
Also the added benifit of listening in the car, while working, or falling alseep.
The only times I find myself with a physical book is reading technical things like textbooks, or when I'm on a plane.
I love physical books, but I love eReaders more. I've loved digital books since before digital books existed.
My love for digital books started when I was in college, and was lugging around a backpack full of fucking heavy dead trees. I spent countless hours fantasizing about a future where I could carry my entire library around in a single, small device.
You often see the lament: "it's the future! Where's my flying car‽" But, my friend, we are living in the future, one where my most cherished desire - the ability to literally fit every book I own into a single portable device - has come true.
I even have a second device, the dimensions of a standard US sheet of paper, on which I can write and easily read PDFs formatted for print; I can even run OCR on the notes and get pretty good results - this eliminated the endless, unsearchable notebooks that were my second plague. One day, this device will be foldable, and I'll be able to combine the two uses into one device.
I do still own, and occasionally buy, paper books. When I do, they're books I've already greatly enjoyed, and want to have hard-bound copies of. I curtail this behavior, as I've moved home a dozen times in my life already, and each time culled large portions of my library. For years, nobody accepts paper books, and they mostly go to recycling, which I always fine painful. It's one of the worst parts of moving, choosing either to haul around more heavy boxes or send less cherished books to be destroyed. The books I do buy are destined for the bookshelf; I buy these only for nostalgia, and it is unlikely that their spines will ever be broken.
My true love is e-ink; my library exists both on my computer (backed up) and on my eReader, always and fully accessible whether at home or travelling, and never taking up more space than a notepad. I had moved on long before the means to move on were available, and have never looked back.
- If you're in the UK, next-time you're forced to do a cull, try to see if you can find (or just start) a Bookcycle/Shelfcycle nearby. There aren't many yet but they're growing. It's a charity explicitly designed to do a better job of valuing donated books than existing infrastructure. They worked out that places like schools in developing worlds can often make great use of the books that other charity shops would destroy because they don't sell quickly in UK charity book shops. So Bookcycle sells the ones that would to raise funds to send the ones that wouldn't as a donation to communities that would value them. They try really hard not to destroy any book that someone might still find value in somewhere.
Physical books are amazing and I'll always buy physical copies of the ones I love. Looking at it from cover to cover and taking in the cover art, the smell of the pages, the sound of it as you rustle through pages, the thunk when you close the book shut after finishing it. Not to mention just staring at all your books in a bookshelf and reminiscing about them. It's a lovely thing. You can't get that experience with eReaders and smart devices.
But I do purchase eBooks because I love the convenience. I prefer to buy DRM-free versions but they are difficult to obtain due to modern publishers. When I'm forced to buy one with DRM, I always break the DRM so that I can archive them and use them on any device I wish. Knowledge should be free, always.
I read somewhere that most people who read actually prefer physical books over e-books. The thing is a lot less people want to read now.

My old person trait is when someone offers me coffee, I look at my watch.

Since being forced back to they office only to sit on calls with the TV in the meeting room, I take every opportunity I can to make snide remarks about staying home.

The third one is my old person trait. Also, grumpiness, and wanting the right to repair my own devices.

I don't want an iPad glued to my car's dashboard. Touch screens are fine but the current screen sizes and placement are ridiculous. It's a car, the screen shouldn't be distracting you.

Absolutely with you. With physical buttons you quickly have the placement of your controls in muscle memory and you can just blindly change your A/C settings or skip songs without taking your eyes off your road.
- That's why I still simp for Infiniti. They haven't yet updated the Q50 interior to the new trend and I hope they never do. I love my buttons for things I need to do while in motion. I hate Tesla for popularizing this crap.
  Thankfully the luxury brands and Toyota are still holding out.
My old person trait is almost this but just the buttons. You cannot convince me that a touch screen is safer than physical buttons I can identify by touch while keeping my eyes on the road.
- I'm fine with the touch screen for things like inputting gps info, adjusting car settings, etc. I just think anything that we'll do in motion, e.g. adjust volume or temperature, should have a tactile button.
but how can we put ads on your tiny screen?

Mine is that I miss the days when physical media (DVDs, VHS, etc) was the main way to own media

In my 40’s I feel like everything about me is an old person trait.

As a trauma survivor, all of the people I’ve ghosted in my life were toxic and bad for my mental, physical and emotional health and I have no regrets. It’s kind of like the Billy Crystal speech in When Harry Met Sally, except the opposite. When you realize you don’t ever want to see a person again for the rest of your life…you want the rest of your life to start immediately

10pm being late. When I was young I would stay up until 2-3 am doing stuff.

My old person trait is when someone tells me what they mean, they better damn well be telling me what they mean, because I'm not gonna play mind games with them. If you tell me you're not upset then I'll believe you're not upset, I'm honouring you and your words and trusting that you're being upfront and honest with what you want me to know. And if you secretly are upset, it's not my responsibility to know that, you did not tell me.

I have adapted this policy. With a bunch of trying to understand why this person is acting a certain way.
- Personally I'm not great at reading people and I've found they get even more frustrated when you get it wrong than when you just don't do it. After a certain point I found myself miserable and I kinda stopped and went "wait, why is it MY job to know what THEY want from me?" And I eventually just kinda. Stopped. Most people hardly noticed because I got it wrong or overlooked it so much anyway but it was tons less stress on me, and now they knew how to effectively interact with me

I kinda agree with you op on ghosting being unacceptable, but NOBODY is entitled to see my face NO ONE. It is not ghosting to straight up tell someone "I am no longer interested in continuing to stay in contact with you."

Likewise, my old person trait is the belief that your identity and all details pertaining to it are PERSONAL including voice, likeness, biometric statistics, location, interests - basically, the default human presence online is TEXT ONLY AND NO DESCRIPTION OF ANYTHING CONCRETE until and unless they choose to intentionally disclose more, and nobody, not one mother FUCKING person OR THING has the right to demand of you any more than that. Lastly, that you should guard your information greedily and viciously.

My old person trait is that I don't like short form video, I learn and internalize less and find that my day is chipped away at by tiktok or youtube shorts when I allow myself to watch them.

Yeah that line was used by my abusers way to often. They just "can't understand" why I'd go no contact. As if the last 300 explanations were somehow non existent. Nope. I don't owe you anything.

And my old person trait is my walking stick I suppose.

My old person trait is that I think it’s insulting for there to be an option to tip when going through a drive through.

As someone from Europe, the fact that there is a tipping screen is annoying enough.
Never ever let them ask you for a tip before you get your food. If you give no tip they will park you for 45 minutes. Tell them you'll tip cash once you get your food and see how fast they go. Then don't tip them because it's a fucking fast food restaurant and they should be fast regardless.
- because it’s a fucking fast food restaurant and they should be fast regardless.
  You know, I hate tipping culture as much as the next person, but what even the fuck is this opinion?
  Yeah, they should be fast, working with a skeleton crew, or all alone in the middle of the night by themselves, because management refuses to hire enough people to actually make "fast" food. They're paid minimum wage, which last I checked isn't a livable wage in pretty much most of the US.
  I'm not saying they should be tipped, but I am saying you shouldn't mistreat them because they didn't make your cheap, shitty food fast enough because you're a fat lazy fuck.

My old person trait is I think cashless-only businesses should be illegal.

My old person trait is that a digital file I paid for should be DRM free.

bandcamp Fridays babay.
DRM-free FLACs where the artist gets the full cut.
We'll see how long that lasts with Epic Games owning bandcamp.
- Music isn't the problem. I want to buy Movies and put it on my NAS, so I can watch it on any device with the player of my choice.

Can't tell if this is face value mockery of younger generations willingly submitting to being fucked over by corporations for profit (maybe because of dependance on the convenience of modern technology), or if this is actually younger people making light of the abysmal state of consumer protection (probably caused by the older generation).

Maybe it's Poe's law, maybe it's a bit of both, or maybe this is just my own old person trait.

People love licking boots? I don't know, couldn't tell ya.

I dislike and distrust short form video based social media. But that seems to be the common response.

IDK if I even consider that an "old person" trait though because there are lots of Zoomers that seem to hate it to. Though I wonder if that's because generational cultures are melding together more because of the internet.

Most of these "old person traits" are stuff most people agree with, just like r/unpopularopinion. We've been cursed with reddit.

My old person trait is that I don't trust paying with your phone. My whole family does it and it has never gone wrong, but I feel uneasy

Just installed a messenger. It uses more RAM than my first PC had for displaying a simple, empty list. I find that inexcusable.

Welcome to the world of abstraction. Now developers can pump out shitty apps 10x faster and it only cost all your computer's resources
Electron is built on several layers of inefficiencies that each grant ease of development. We also have a thousand times more RAM than we did back then. I think it's a fair trade.

My old person trait is that I want to not be milked for data

What would you like to be milked for?

My old person trait is that I think that the company I buy a product from should be the seller and the shipper of the product.

I think everybody here has an old person trait. Joining the fediverse

Is it old to join the fediverse? I assumed it'd be a young person thing cos it's complicated and hard.
- It’s a familiar process for those who lived through the early days of the internet.
- The Youths™ prefer short attention span, rapid gratification things like TikTok/Snapchat/Instagram/Facebook video reels... generally.

I don't understand TikTok... at all. Like, what's even the point as a user?

My OPT is that if it's loud and expensive, I probably don't want to go there. And I haven't since I was 20.

Loud and/or expensive.

My old person trait is nothing on the internet should expect a fee for use, streaming services excluded.

I remember the days when you paid for having the internet and that's it. No content hidden behind some patron paywall or membership fee. Content was willfully shared and distrubuted because that's what the internet is for that and infornation.

Content was willfully shared and distrubuted because that's what the internet is for that and infornation.
This is still going on, just saying.

My old person trait is if you have something to ask me that is going to require a detailed answer call me or email me, don't text me. I'm not going to spend time typing out an long involved answer on that freakin' tiny ass keyboard.

My old person trait is that I listen to old radio shows and watch a ton of classic movies and shows.

I'm 28 and don't even know when I discovered this exactly but on archive.org there's a group of people called the Old Time Radio Researchers Group who catalogue and archive all of the old radio shows. Some of the episodes sound like they could have been recorded yesterday just because they're in such high quality.

If you put something in my mailbox, where it is explicitly labelled that your unregistered shit is unwelcome. I will come out and find your parked car.

Did you think your stupid shit was that important? If I am selling my house I will never use Ben Gow. Or any of the others that are too stupid to read. Those people who cannot read basic requests - "NO JUNKMAIL" meaning your advertising shit, are not going to get used.

You will never get commission (or a purchase) you dumbshit losers, too dumb to read a mailbox sign, your definately too stupid to be given the risk of selling my asset.

My old person trait is thinking that you should be able to read posts on Twitter without an account.

This is less a "old person trait" as much as it is a "7 days ago when they made it that way trait"

online shopping, mainly Amazon. i would rather try 100 different stores looking for what i need than to shop on Amazon.

Amazon is a company that mistreats their employees, most of the crap they sell is wish.com Chinese garbage, and the reviews are gamed so it is ever more difficult to find good things there.
However I do still value buying things online. I prefer to shop local but some niche products can't be found near me so I have to either drive 2+ hours to a city or shop online.
Why? Can you elaborate further?
- id just rather not contribute to the Amazon machine. From what I've seen and heard conditions for their workers are not great. I also don't want to the community brick and mortar dissappear because of online giants like Amazon. So if I can help it, I'll buy locally

My old person trait is that no one is allowed to be mad at me for not answering a random phone call. Sometimes it's ok to leave your phone in the other room while watching a movie, or (gasp!) At home while you're out gardening.

I only answer random phone calls when I’m looking for a job.

My phone opens links in a browser and they don't work in the browser ¯⁠\⁠_⁠ʘ⁠‿⁠ʘ⁠_⁠/⁠¯

My old person trait is that I think kids today are underinformed and overopinionated, especially when it causes them to hold opinions with which I disagree. All other times the kids are alright.

It's that everything annoys me?

My old person trait is beginning any request with “May I…?” instead of “Can I…?”

Sometimes, in jest of course, if someone asks me for some permission using "Can I [...]?" I reply "I am sure you CAN but you MAY not" :)
- Cambridge Dictionary says:
  We use can, could and may to ask for permission. We use can and may, but not could, to give permission.
  Merriam-Webster Dictionary says:
  The use of can to ask or grant permission has been common since the 19th century and is well established
  So you're not only being petty, you're also plainly wrong

That all current, popular, music really sucks.

I saw a youtube video talking about why all current music kinda sucks and sounds the same. I think you'll find it very interesting.
Playlistification of music in Youtube
It's worth noting though that the shitty music of yesteryear doesn't persist in the public consciousness. When we think of music from previous generations, we're thinking about the stuff that was good enough to last (or bad enough, I suppose, if it's notably bad). So the popular music of today may seem to be dominated by shit, but you'd have to examine what else was on the airwaves of a given era to really make a good comparison.
I also think there's two major factors brought on by technological advancement and they both have a positive side. There are a lot more avenues to discover music than there have ever been. Musicians no longer have to be extremely talented and have broad appeal to reach an audience. From the listener's point of view, it's much easier to find good music that fits your particular tastes. And I think that in turn leaves more room in the mainstream avenues for lower quality but broadly appealing music.
The other factor is the accessibility of the technology to make and share music, which I think makes it easier for both "good" and "bad" music to find it's way outside of the artist's bedroom, so to speak.
- well said. well said. you dont exactly need a record company for your music to reach an audience these days, you can do what you like and no one can say 'this wont sell, fuck off,' you can have your own small audience that loves and respects you.
  but another argument is that the current 'top' artists are 'on the top' because they have their names. if they published an album with another name, i believe it would be challenged. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stephen King gained significant popularity as a horror writer. However, he wanted to test if his success was solely due to his name or if his writing could stand on its own. To do this, King created the pen name Richard Bachman, and people loved the supposed Richard Bachman books.
On one hand I think every generation says the next generations music sucks, but I also think overall things have gotten so streamlined and repetitive that finding good current music is a chore.

My age.

Where should I start? I like to own my music, stream it from my server @home, I like to use a calculator, just because I like them. And I like to do things in a terminal, even when it takes 5x the time and a hand full of code. I like to connect things with cables instead of wireless, still faster and more secure, got a full cupboard of cables and adapters, I even collect movies and ebooks on my drives with the thought of "the day the internet brakes down I'll be the king here". Maybe it's because I AM old?! That kind of old, there was a time I spent money for a ringtone.

I backed up a ton of reddit porn in June.
I also have like 8tb of movies and tv on my home server.
Still haven't setup port forwarding through my website, but I intend to.
I also wanna make a little app, just for me and my server. But Plex is exactly what I'd be trying to make, so...
Wait. Can I actual do some things faster with a mouse? I've been outside of terminal last time seven years ago, don't remember that well...
- For me the terminal is rarely faster the first time, but the second, third, nth time I need to do it it's way faster than using GUI. Also have a history trail of what I did.

I prefer to talk to individuals on phones rather than texting a long conversation. If it's a quick question (yes/no) or short answer texting is ok. But I find it taking longer and more tedious to text out an ongoing conversation over 20 minutes versus just calling and getting straight to the point and getting the information you need in 5 minutes.

All you old people sound pretty cool honestly.

My OPT is that not everything makes me cringe. If you cringe too much your face might really get stuck like that.

My boomer trait: I don't use big social media apps like most people my age (19). You could argue that it's pretty common but it always comes up in conversation. I'd rather not be concerned about someone else’s life, but engage with people who talk about their experiences and knowledge.

I don't like social media.

I guess I'm older than I thought.

My old person trait is that I write primarily in cursive and prefer it.

Cursive with the oddball printing letter thrown in will always be my preference. It's just plain faster than printing.
- I write in cursive about half the time, because it's satisfying. But I always switch to print for acronyms and initialisms, because I think multiple consecutive uppercase cursive letters looks dumb.

My old person trait is that I don't think websites should require JavaScript to render, only use JS for interactive elements that are absolutely necessary for the function of your website. I generally accept that I may have to use JS to post and comment, but to read something should never require me to enable it.

My back has been sore for a while, and I was always 'rounding' it to try and stretch it out (child's pose, touch my toes, bath with Epsom salt, rolling on my back with my knees tucked into my chest etc)
What really helped relieve tension was doing the opposite, and forcing my butt/hips backwards. Basically, enhancing the dip in my lower back by either using my hips or my shoulders.
Like, standing captain Morgan style (one leg up on stable coffee table, or bathtub) and lifting your arms up and leaning back while also pushing your hips back and stomache out. This should be a gentle stretch! Obviously don't do anything painful and listen to your body, but bending (flexing?) backwards has helped my back where bending forwards just made everything worse.
Try and maintain this shape when bending down, not just stretching, maintaining a straight back when bending over has helped a lot with both keeping tension away and being aware of my back form.
Basically, try to keep the shape in the second image (DON'T LIFT IF YOUR BACK IS SORE). When I stretch like this I'm generally standing straight and not bent over. this pic is just the general shape you want to maintain and 'exaggerate' while stretching.

Also, use ice packs and not heat to relax tight muscles.
It's Kind of hard to explain, but the tension in my back went waaaaay down the next day, and has been significantly better since.
If it helps, I don't go to the gym or anything, by back pain is born of mild sloth lifestyle, bad stretching, and poor form bending over.
Your general practitioner MD has no clue what to do about backs. Go find a physiatry specialist, no need for a referral unless you're on an HMO. They're the most knowledgeable MDs (not chiropractors) for spine problems. The professional sports teams use them. They'll definitely do an MRI first and then prescribe PT. Next would be cortisone injections, and their last resort is surgery.
Hey google “phoenix stretch” for a great lower back pain relief.
Also no shit your doctor does nothing. Our society has decided to task doctors with being the brunt of junkie interaction (instead of just legalizing drugs to let adults make their own choices, and let doctors focus on medicine, and cops focus on crime with victims).
Even if you make it 100% clear that you are not seeking pain management but rather want to identify and fix the problem, they interpret it as a cover story for drug seeking.
It’s horrific. Doctor refused to prescribe a scan for my knee once, because she thought I wanted pain meds. I told her “no I want to see what’s going on with my knee”.
Here’s the facts:
- I was skiing and fell. My knee made a popping sound as I fell. The ski was pointed backwards and didn’t come off
- I was able to walk, but developed sharp pain on the inside back of my knee
- my leg was wobbly and unstable. I could barely balance on it
- my knee had a persistent sort of “hollow” feeling, which was exactly the same feeling I got in my wrist when I snapped a ligament in my wrist
Based on that, she saw no reason for further diagnosis as obviously nothing was wrong. I could, after all, still walk albeit with pain and tons of tightness developing in my calf.
Why? Because she thought the whole thing was a scam to get drugs. Using a scan to actually observe the knee tissues and see what was up, would have answered that question. But in her mind it wasn’t a question. She wasn’t thinking “Is this guy a drug seeker?”; she was thinking “This guy is a drug seeker”.
Despite me saying again and again the pain was well within tolerable limits and I had no need to reduce the pain, and had no desire for any pain meds. I wasn’t the one to bring it up. I just started talking knee and immediately she’s like “I’m not giving you pain medication”.
I said “fine. I’m not here for that. I want a scan to diagnose this”
Anyway, can you tell I’m a little bitter about doctors?
But it’s not their fault. The way our drug laws are structured, it funnels all of society’s junkies straight into their waiting rooms. Then they’re not spending their days practicing medicine, but rather counterespionage.

I'm so guilty of ghosting, but I feel like it really is difficult to stay in touch with people, the more time passes. However, I do eventually answer after 2 months to 2 years from when the last message was sent, though

Usually after 2 months I feel so bad that I don’t have the gut to reply… I hate when people ghosts me and when I do it I feel like shit! But I’m extremely introverted so sometimes I can’t function with people…

My old person trait is that if you're going to do a ticket, don't code the bare minimum saying that you'll "get back to it later". You never have time later, and now there's shitty code in our app that needs to be fixed or worked around.

I don't use any social media except LinkedIn, and I have that set to all private. Just use it when I am looking for a job. I do stare at my phone all day though, but instead I am reading about board games, world news, and technology from other places.

Mine is I get unreasonably annoyed whenever teenagers are loud in public places.

My OPT is that you should be able to buy and own your software instead of perpetually renting it.

Shouting at young people who blast bad auto tuned rap music in front of my house :D Or"answering" with very very loud good rap music or black metal :D

Driving slow, leaving early and arriving early. I usually drive a bit below the speed limit, and always follow speed limit signs. It keeps people safe, even if their own impatience makes them tailgate eachother 10 cars in a row behind me. Some people like to be in a hurry when they drive and don't know how to relax and drive calmly, I've never been sure why.

Breaking wind when I cough

I don't use my phone to pay at the POS and I refuse to do so. I will always carry around my card and use that.

I somewhat agree with your old person trait. But not face to face. At least a text saying not interested/I don't want to hang out anymore and then ghosting. Nobody owes you a face to face conversation. Especially if they're not interested.

Mine is that hook up culture is a lazy alternative to finding someone to build a meaningful relationship with

I guess so, but it's also a short cut to finding that person and to understanding what you want in that person by finding out what you don't like first.

Curated Tumblr content is always so much better than Twitter's. We need a Tumblr posts community in here.

My old person trait is refusing to buy things on internet and wanting to buy them in person. The funny thing is: My mom (63) have no problem on purchasing things online; while I (31) am afraid to do that!

Everybody should be in bed by 11pm, midnight on the weekends. Nothing good happens after that. Get your beauty sleep.

I've never tried it but I've heard that if you swear at the cosomer service robots enough they'll automatically send you to a person. Again, never tried it so unsure. I normally just try to avoid things that require me to call CS.

Smashing zero usually works just as well.
It depends on the bot, but yeah I've tried this a couple times that I was frustrated.
The second I said "put a fucking human on," the bot immediately responded with "let me get someone for you."
Doesn't always work, I've had some that just said "I don't understand."
I've tried that a couple of times, at least once the robo-service just hung up on me.

I remember my bestie in 1995 complaining up a storm at the ridiculousness of paying 45 cents a litre in Ontario, Canada...

My ankles crack like someone is throwing those little rock baggies that pop with every step way too often. I have declared that my wife finds it enduring despite her near constant shock at the loudness and frequency. Also her PT friends says I have loose ankles for which I am uncertain how to prepare or prevent for whatever fate has for me.

My old person trait is that cars should have physical buttons for at the very least climate control and media.

I think people who deliver food should actually hand it to a person instead of just leaving it by the door.

See now lots of us would much prefer not having to interact with strangers on our doorstep at all
I am always happy when they don't. During the pandemic they placed the delivery right by the door and rang the bell. That was nice. Ordering food without any human interaction. I wish they would still do it.

I get worked up over other people's spatial awareness, especially as it relates to walking on a sidewalk or driving. People will take up all the space on a sidewalk, they will open their doors as cars are going by, they will walk out into traffic, they move around as if other people do not exist, they will stand and congregate in the middle of a walkway. I find it wildly disrespectful and dangerous. I feel like when I'm driving people are constantly putting their wellbeing into my hands and gambling that I have the skills and awareness to not let them get in a wreck or get run over. When I am walking down the sidewalk, I feel few people are managing space in a way that keeps the sidewalk available to as many people as possible while other people are basically pushing me off the sidewalk entirely so they can all walk like a wall, or bulldozer.

Glenn Howerton, is that you?
- The actor? Does he also shake his fist at the sky because zoomers cant walk right?

I think that buying something should be more convenient than pirating in.

My OPT is gardening and also being so out of whatever "it" is

I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!

My age

Company call centers should - after a reasonable wait - put you in contact with a bone and flesh human and not a fucking 010001101 robot, also those humans should be paid decently, since I don't envy the insults they, unfairly, take

My old person trait is I think people should remove their headphones when interacting with each other IRL

Add to this not being worried about their phone more than the people they are talking to/ or spending time with

My old person trait is that often prefer phonecalls over text messages.

I'm okay with instant messaging, but similar feeling.
Give me a full keyboard or give me death. I fucking hate typing on the chiclets of a virtual keyboard.

On the last one, a lot of places have switched to SMS to talk to someone faster. Even if they take just as long it's a lot less frustrating that waiting on hold.

I was about to say SMS isn't an an old person trate but then I realized SMS has been around for awhile and I might be the old person.
yeah, i do that too. SMS will be delivered and SEEN, there is no 'oh, i havent seen it' excuse. i asked a girl on a date once, using SMS and she said she hasnt seen it, and now the service provider and the glowies know about it but i know for sure that it was a no.

My old person trait is that anything that unnecessarily connects to the internet is suspicious and leaking my info.

Is wanting kids to get off my lawn an old person's trait?

My old person trait is that I always prefer physical media over streaming media.

Tabs belong below the address bar on a browser, not above. Also the menu bar should always be a thing and there should be a title bar as well, not merging the two or three (including tabs) into one single bar.

All the words of wisdom I ever needed was in Grateful Dead lyrics.

My ye old ass trait is to take sunglasses off when talking face to face with someone, looking people in the eyes creates a more connected conversation.

Videos should be landscape, 4:3 preferably, not portrait.
When I turn on a computer, it should be ready (and pref say READY) in a few seconds, not minutes and need Internet access.
Email should be fully punctuated, have correct grammar and a premise, argument, and conclusions.
I'm tolerant on short SMS or pager texts, but if it's used as immediate mail, all texts, IM, and social media messages should also be like #3.

My old person trait is that I exclusively wear bathrobes unless I begrudgingly leave the house.

My old person trait is that my knees started to pop and creak in my early 20s

My trait is I think cars are too digital and should be analogue. Giant touch panels are distracting and have generally bad UI design. You can control an A/C with 3 dials, 4 if you have zones and don’t need to look down at all. Pinnacle of engineering.

I will never own a car that has features behind a paywall or that I can’t directly control. Computer cars are fine as long as I have root.

Turning off my phone when I got home and during week end to enjoy the moment

I got shingles when I was 11

Can’t upvote these enough.

My old person trait is you should be able to order a "coffee", small, medium or large at Starbucks, without having to learn a new language.

You can

Taking notes with a pencil. Since everyone likes to type their notes. I don’t.

Restaurant menus should be on paper, not a QR code.

My old person trait is that I am saving money for retirement

i have never stayed out past midnight and i don't plan to start any time soon. if i get drunk enough and you try to keep me out i'll literally just fall asleep somewhere.

My old person triat is that i dont think i owe you shit and if i ghosted you it might be for a reason.

Even if vinyl is a big hit these days it's still my old guy trait. I just bought new high tech dampener feet for my turn table.

My old person trait is that I exclusively wear bathrobes unless I begrudgingly leave the house.

Mine is that photos should ideally be printed, not stored in a cloud somewhere that you have to pay for forever or you lose them.

My old person trait is that I think ‘ghosting’ is completely unacceptable and you owe the other person a face-to-face conversation.

Sadly "ghosting" is the norm where I'm from. Sadly.

I agree to all of that...

And I agree with you.
- Take my upvote, then.

The dishwasher (houses that have them) in most cases is located next to the sink. Put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, let’s cut out the middle man.

The way it works in this house, the dishwasher is always full of clean dishes.
- Yeah that’s a whole other can of beans!

Being annoyed by kids these days wanting this new thing called "money" in exchange for necessities

Calling these "old person traits" is making it sound like they are no longer valid. All points in the image are things any sensible person would agree with

I have to eat dinner by 5pm

Old person traits vary with generation from what I'm reading

My old person trait is... get off my lawn you little sh*ts!!

Ghosting never happened in the days when all correspondence was written

Preferring to see people in-person rather than remote. I wasn't too happy when a bunch of my coworkers switched to remote work. It's really not the same.

My old person trait is being completely unwilling to use the self checkouts because they always brick out on me

Too many to choose from.

Yeah, once. Or 732 times but at some arbitrary number you have all the right in the world to ghost people IMO.

Test

my old person trait is that i am a 30 year old caravanner

My old person trait thinks far left are bloody stupid, far right are slightly better.

The 'far' anything is going to be further than you'd like. But what counts is 'far' depends on who is talking. So saying things like "the far left are bloody stupid" tells us very little, other than that you hate someone. (And saying "the far right are slightly better" suggests you are aligning yourself with a group whose identity is based on hating people...)