Why do YOUNG people feel OLD?

 Why do young people feel old and... worst of all, they really have reasons for this?

Well, don't you feel old even though you're only 20 years old? Don't your friends complain more and more often that the years are flying by, it used to be like that, and in general it hurts in the lower back and why stay at a party until 3 a.m... it's better to sleep.  

But that's not the worst. The worst thing is that you look at people who are literally a few years younger than you and... you feel like you don't understand them. Their way of expressing themselves, looking at the world, even their sense of humour and the content they watch is somehow... different. 

Look at this, brother. The same narrator, the same scriptwriter, the same editor... but is it somehow *different*, rel? Because here some *pop* sounds appear, memes, everything faster, dynamic, everything a bit acoustic. Oh, and those words that you can't understand. Bruh. 

Why do young people feel old? In a sense, you know, it's not about the physical (although there is pain in the lower back). But it's more about mentality. Because if you are almost 30 years old and you watched the beginning of the movie, you probably thought "Gituwa, new NWASD for dinner." But as soon as the concentration of pop sounds per minute increased dramatically, you probably felt *discomfort*.

Now imagine that young people live with this pop music. I did in-depth research using the scientific method of "rural male intelligence" and found the moment when everything changes in a young man's life. This moment is… 

END OF HIGH SCHOOL

Up to this point, everything is… easy. Usually, we know that everyone has a different story and could have had a very difficult time in life because, for example, their mother is a sex therapist. Seriously, don't take mothers who are sex therapists.

As you approach the point where you graduate from school, suddenly, at random moments of the day, you start to be haunted by the fantasy of Makima... that's it, but apart from that you're also haunted by thoughts like "what to do next with your life."

Imagine that you have a folder on your desktop called this and you collect all your experiences there. School, tests, first joint, playing lol until 3 a.m. and TikTok tidbits. And you have this baggage of experience locked in a folder. You open Pracuj.pl and start looking through the requirements for the position of "adult person" and there are things like:

• earnings of at least 10k per month to even start thinking about your own apartment with an area of ​​17 square meters;
• beautiful, flawless appearance, because only then will people take you seriously;
• Additionally, you must have your own box diet to stay fit, because everyone influx has one;
• having a purpose in life, the ability to fill out *a pita* and two cars - one for weekends and the other for everyday use... 

And so you look at these requirements, then at your experience folder... and again at the requirements... and you come to the only correct conclusion, the conclusion of which can be "ehh, it used to be...". POV: You've become a boomer. Because seriously, it happened once! Easier, more pleasant, lighter, without pressure and responsibility. 

It's all *social pressure*. I keep seeing videos on TikTok of someone taking a huge hydraulic press. And he puts some random delicate object into this press. And this is exactly what happens to a young person when he or she finishes school. He faces pressure that he must cope with. But there's a problem. When your father was your age, not only was he older, but he was already building a house, had a wife, and a child, and maybe he had even met your mother. 

Seriously, everything had happened before in our parents' lives. Earlier they moved out of the cottage, they started families, earlier they took leave to do renovations... But now they have such expectations of us. So see. They expect from us what was the norm in their world. But since then the young man's environment has changed. It has changed a lot.

But beyond all this there is one more thing. And it is… PACE.

Every person is able to adapt to changes. It's just that we adapt at different paces. Some faster, some slower. The problem is when the pace of change is faster than our ability to adapt. So it's a bit like if you were a teacher and projectors were SUDDENLY introduced to school - you just couldn't keep up. 

And in general, people who are now in their 20s have a certain sensitive spot. This *nostalgic* feeling accompanies them when they think about... 2019. But seriously, life until this year was... great. A year later, Covid came and things... changed a bit, and these young people were accidentally robbed of some of the best years of their lives.

What you just saw is a new style developed for the needs of people, probably younger than you. Note that such a seemingly insignificant thing as the demand for content is different - and even serious topics are presented slightly differently. You and the viewer of that content are only a few years apart, less than one generation apart. But this is precisely the symbolic border of entering early adulthood, after crossing which life changes dramatically. 

This is clearly visible in the demographics of the channels, because the traffic jam channel, which is entirely created in the style you saw just now, has a different audience in terms of age. 

If you like such comedic school-related content, if I may ask you for something, please help in the development of a new project called "Traffic jams". It used to be "He who reads does not err", but the name was changed. Together with the editor and screenwriter, we work hard to reach young people and try to convey valuable content in their language. 

“ In my case, it is related to the feeling that it is too late for everything. I often see people on the Internet who have just finished high school and already run their own companies or work in "serious" positions. They can afford to go out every evening, live alone, travel, and invest the rest of the money. I'm 24 years old and I haven't found something I want to do yet, so comparing myself like this makes me feel like the time to make a decision has passed. "

The topic of economic pressure that young people face comes up again. This is further fueled by their financially successful peers who can be viewed on the Internet.

And while people used to be confused about "to have or to be" - which is more valuable, now they may wonder whether it is not necessary to have in order to be. Because if you don't have it, it's like you're not important to anyone. And this results in something that is not noticeable at first glance - because this whole pursuit is not only about money. It's all about agency, which can satisfy the human ego and build self-esteem. 

Let's take the example of a 25-year-old who, like the viewer from the comment, has not yet found his life path, does not have a good position, does not have his own company, etc. He is perceived as a person of low social status, with low agency. And knowing that people think this way about him greatly lowers his self-esteem. 

With each passing year, such a young man begins to realize that he is taking part in a race that he has no chance of winning. In the past, people spent their entire lives in one workplace and this was basically normal. They could even be more or less in the same position, at the same level. Today, changing jobs is the fastest way to promotion and increase earnings. Nowadays, competition on the labour market is brutal, because thanks to the Internet, you compete with people from all over Poland and even abroad for one position, and not (as before) with people from your region. The probability that someone better is lurking around the corner to take your place is huge. So if you don't manage to get on the right track in this race by the time you're 30, you may actually feel like an outsider or a retiree in a dynamic market. This fight for status, agency and satisfying one's own ego obviously promotes the best, but it can make ordinary people feel quite senseless. It may give them the impression that they are late for something - as if they have missed something and there is no turning back. 

But this whole "crazy" attitude of the young generation has one more reason. It's not without reason that I mentioned lower back pain earlier. In general, lack of physical condition and unavailability of the body are associated with old age, and there is no doubt about it. 

And what contributes to this unavailability? For example, a sedentary lifestyle, which can literally be called the disease of the 21st century. So young people not only feel old mentally, but also physically. You can't cheat biology, if you sit most of the day (and currently many people have such a lifestyle), the body simply degrades . 

You sit at school, you sit in the car, you sit on public transport, you sit at the computer. The human body is not adapted to a sedentary life. So this inheritance takes place even literally in the physical dimension. 

More and more young men, due to an unhealthy lifestyle and pornography, have problems with erection and potency, as mentioned in the episode "Epidemic of testosterone decline", which is why they reach for blue pills - which, some time ago, was reserved for men who they are over 50. 

"Traumas (then you often feel like an old person, as if you have lived many lives), too many opportunities to take advantage of, starting long relationships and parenthood later and later, civilization diseases, loss of bonds and living only for yourself or overwork and living only to survive until the first one. Life used to be enjoyed, now it is chased .

Because it's a bit like that, we want to catch up with the vision of the future that we have created in our heads, looking at people who have succeeded. But when you run after it all, what is beautiful and worth experiencing may escape your attention. You may feel that as a young person you are trying to live up to expectations and therefore you are missing out on the opportunity to try new things, experience, take risks and... maybe just smile more every day. "

Stress ages you.

According to a 2022 survey by the American Psychological Association, more than a quarter of American adults say they feel too stressed. Even though older people think that young people have nothing to worry about, stress at school, relationships with peers, media bombardment, social expectations, an uncertain future, and even things like the housing market cause one thing: stress, often chronic. . 

Stress can also lead to chronic fatigue, obesity, digestive problems and immune system disorders, which can collectively make us feel older than we really are. There is research that says stress makes middle-aged people feel older than they actually are , said Shevaun Neupert, a psychology professor at North Carolina State University. 

Lack of hope for a better future does not help young people. More and more expensive apartments, the specter of war, cumulative inflation over recent years, demographic crisis, mental health crisis, family and relationship crisis, strange EU climate policy...

Nowadays, teenagers no longer look 14 or 16 years old. They look 25 years old. The "weird phase" called turbulent adolescence that we all experienced as teenagers was and is essential for proper brain development. Imagine that if you behave mentally and physically as if you were 25 at the age of 15, this special time of puberty will slip through your fingers.

All the girls who will be thrown under the roller of cosmetics and makeup companies are a very clear example of this phenomenon. There was a time when girls aged 13 did not use 5-step care and 7-layer makeup. And now it's just everyday life. The beauty industry has accelerated the process of growing up for girls.

It's a little less noticeable in boys, but still... Do you remember the times when a young boy bought Nike Mercurial shoes and wore them literally everywhere? To the playground, to school, to church (especially when he was an altar boy). These were sports, formal and casual shoes in one. Nowadays, shoes have to match the rest, so there are usually several pairs of them. And of course it's great that people have an increasingly higher financial status and can afford such things. But at the same time, these holidays in Nike Mercurial had a carefree flavor - no worries about whether the shoes matched the rest of the clothes or not, because, after all, "I'm 14, so what does it matter, I just want to kick the ball." 

So we can risk saying that young people, from their teenage years, struggle a bit to be older than they actually are - maybe they want to be more accepted as a result? Get closer to your idols? We don't know, but if you are that age and feel the pressure of youth, or you have teenage children... then chill. Everyone has their own pace of maturing and reaching certain decisions. 

That's why certain periods in life are incredibly important, and when children quickly stop being children (instead of doing what children do, they do what adults do), we have a ready recipe for feeling old at the age of 25. 

What to do when you feel old, even though you are actually at the beginning of your life? To answer the question of how to be young, you need to examine the life of a 4-year-old child and look at how he or she behaves:

1. First tip: Avoid stagnation, try cooking new dishes, watching new genres of movies or reading books you would never read. Feel like a 4-year-old kid trying new things. Feel the desire to experience new sounds, travel, or meet people. Trying and experiencing new things is literally the essence of youth. The next chance to try everything will probably come in old age, when you get settled in life, but then... let's face it, it may be a bit too late. 
2. Second tip: Do some physical activity every day, your spine, psyche and nervous system will thank you. It's hard to keep the baby in one place. He even has the most fun running away from his mother. You also have to be that child and run away from the things that keep you stuck. Additionally, you will feel like a young god when you pump your biceps with blood, you will feel indestructible. Therefore, physical activity is a cure for old age. 
3. The third piece of advice: stop following social media. Just. I won't convince you why. You can even choose not to watch this channel - if it makes you feel better, then engage in things that are refreshing to you. 
4. The fourth piece of advice: Don't look too far into the future, focus on the present, previous generations survived wars and communism, if these people survived, we will cope in other times, with other challenges. So stay strong, committed and responsible today and you will be able to cope with tomorrow, no matter what awaits you.

“We live much shorter than we are dead.” That's why you have your 5 minutes, don't waste them on stupid things.

But above all, don't complain, complaining is contagious and has a negative impact on your life. Don't pour out venom on those younger than you because you don't understand them, because they have different values. It's not their fault. Try to understand, appreciate, laugh with them... And try to get back to enjoying life yourself, at least by slowing down its pace a little. I wish this for you. And if you want to support our activities, visit the traffic jam channel, where we create content for slightly younger people - maybe you will reawaken that element of the old days.

Sources:

1.Dewan P., Young people feel old. Scientists have found an explanation (online), access: https://www.newsweek.pl/zdrowie-i-nauka/zdrowie/mlodzi-ludzie-wygladaja-coraz-starzej-eksperci-wyjasniaja-zjawisko/fwn77xn , [access date: 20/04 .2024].