Slashdot Mirror
Over-50s Invade the Social Networking Scene
An anonymous reader writes "The Telegraph newspaper reports that over-50s are invading sites like Facebook and MySpace in massive numbers. A recent study showed that nearly one third of Facebook users are aged between 35 and 54, and that this group also made up 41 percent of MySpace users. "Because the mind of an over-50 is likely superior to that of a drink-addled undergrad, at first there was uncertainty about whether older users would find the Facebook-led social-networking phenomena attractive." Looks like dad just turned up to the party."
To Catch a Predator.
So are they 'over 50's' or are they 'between 35 and 54'? I know that from the perspective of a teenager it all classifies as "really old", but some of us make more subtle distinctions...
nt
Will it take them less than 4 days to find the email addresses of old friends and then realise that the rest of the site is pointless crap, and that they can't remove their profiles?
Headline: Over-50s Invade the Social Networking Scene
Then: one third of Facebook users are aged between 35 and 54
Gives some evidence that you may well feel like 50 if you are 35 (especially if you are looking for a job in Germany). Luckily, this does not apply to me, being well over 50 and having 'retired from reality' (as someone mentioned here).
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
"Because the mind of an over-50 is likely superior to that of a drink-addled undergrad, at first there was uncertainty about whether older users would find the Facebook-led social-networking phenomena attractive."
So the over-50's were never drink-addled undergrads? Does this mean I'm not going to make it to 50?
Is that Brazilian over-50s or over-50s in general?
My mom's on myspace and its really embarrassing. All my friends at school are saying how hot she is and its really disgusting. Can you please e-mail her and tell her to hop off because she's ruining her son's life? thx
We do not want their spam in our boxes, hell, I wouldn't even join let's say my uncle as my "friend" in these sites.
Please do not invade our "privacy" (not really privacy though), and stay outside of our home-sites.
Read and Comment at my BLOG
!!!
Apparently, the title was just based off the fact that the age range must have been in hexadecimal. Right? Yeah...
actually all the over50 people are there to politely invite their nephews to logout.
"that's enough play for today johnny, come eat some, brush your teeth and go to sleep; damn computers."
"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
34
People should pray on the elderly (best done with people slightly older). What you do is you pose as one of them, say you've only just hopped on the internet that your son bought you and ask for help. Over time gain their trust and friendship, and then once they genuinely care about you reveal you're actually a teenager. I did this a couple of years ago and the results were hilarious!
Previously, my desires to flame the dean of students, trick him into clicking a goatse link, and infect his computer with gay porn had all been sadly unfulfilled due to his troglodytic eschewing of modern technology.
But now that the elder generation is seeking parity with the younger, we can at last unveil the full weaponry of the internet.
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
Coincidentally my Dad just signed up for Facebook last week (he's 58). So having noted that, I can now definitively say, without having actually read the article (because, really who does that?) and having examined exactly one piece of anecdotal evidence: the over 50 crown is definitely joining social networking sites in droves.
Because the mind of an over-50 is likely superior to that of a drink-addled undergrad, at first there was uncertainty about whether older users would find the Facebook-led social-networking phenomena attractive.
I've passed my [drink]-addled college years and haven't passed 50 yet, but I have to say, FP author, you've managed to write a summary that insults pretty much everybody! Kudos!
That said, clearly the presense of these older folks on the ego-aggregator networks demonstrates that some of them still do have drink-addled minds.
A recent study showed that nearly one third of Facebook users are aged between 35 and 54
Statistics abuse time - That also means that a third of facebook users have ages between 35 and 84! Quick, re-write the FP title, the Octogenarian Invasion has begun!
The first two answers that came to my mind: the computer industry and the Cold War.
I'll give you two contra-answers: Political Correctness and the current Presidency.
Get off my Lawn!
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
"get off my lawn" via a facebook post?
Monstar L
Welcome to GetOffMyLawnBook.com!
"A nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it." - Churchill
lol, just because they are over 50 doesn't meant they don't like "poking" people!
Son?
How long before we start seeing our parents posting embarrassing messages on our walls though?
"Hey son, those are some rad tunes on your interblog site! What's that? It's got a good beat!"
Thank god they can't dance online. (obligatory Mary Whitehouse experience reference)
In fact my mother just set up a facebook page, the horror.
It's My Tea and I'll Drink it if I Want To!
couldve just put something in AARP mailers and saved some money ;)
Apple Address Resolution Protocol or American Association of Retired Persons?
(Unix System Administration Handbook)
What about drink-addled over-50 year olds?
"I think it would be a good idea" Gandhi, on Western Civilisation
As a over 50 guy, I guess we will have to re-educate you as to how you received life. Since you are posting here you are probably a product-(as are most of the smart-assed comments here) of a boomer. We stopped the Vietnam War, gave women and minorities the same rights as everyone else, won the space race, gave you the ability to even post your snarky comments due to the fact that we pushed technology forward. These are just a few of the many things we have contributed to the greater good. Now please tell me what your chicken-shit generation have done except sit back on your ass and whine about how shitty every thing is. The difference between us and you is when we seen something that was wrong we DID something about it!
Won't Bow.....Don't Know How
I've seen older people with Facebook all the time - my father's boss, my old Bishop... My Bio 100 teacher has a fan group, but that doesn't count... This is amusing, though, I must say. Absolutely great. Especially at 4 in the morning.
To quote one of your own generation: "what have you done for me lately?"
Old people can be serious drunks at parties and do wild, stupid, and crazy things. They can be needy, impulsive, and wanting popularity. The only difference between them and me is that I'm cool and they're not!.. and also i don't have kids or a mortgage or any real responsibilities other than myself.
----
Go canucks, habs, and sens!
Why the surprise? 'Silver Surfers' as the article describes these over 50 internet users, surely have more of a need to make new friends and less traditional opportunities than young people. It's precisly because dad can't 'turn up at the disco', that on-line socializing is more attractive. Over-fifties need to make new friends: as the article points out people lose around half of their social network when they retire. I retired at 50 and can vouch for this. Over-fifties also become widowed and divorced over-fifties are less likely to re-marry, so many end up being 'grumpy old men (and women).
You would think that the trolls would have updated their bot software to point to an actual goatse mirror by now.
mirror
Facebook Terms and Conditions prohibits user registration of age under 18 Friendster prohibits user registration of age under 16 MySpace prohibits user registration of age under 14 I have seen alot of people including a 5 years old sister of my friend having a profile of age over 50.
Friendster prohibits user registration of age under 16.
MySpace prohibits user registration of age under 14.
I have seen alot of people including a 5 years old sister of my friend having a profile of age over 50.
Just because you're older doesn't mean you're a techno-moron. I'm in that demographic, and I even hang out with the Slashdot crowd once in a while and I, ah, what was the question? Why am I downstairs?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Couldn't afford it, not on a student grant.
(Strangely, now that there are no grants, and students have no income at all (UK, this is), they manage to drink more. Haven't quite understood that one.)
To me, this isn't surprising. .
.
Older people, like everyone else, have a need for social interaction. But as they grow older, they are less and less willing to go out and/or meet up in the traditional sense - bars, restaurants, etc. Soc. network are ideal for them - they are easy to use and through them, the older crowd can fulfill their basic human need without having to leave their home.
Anyway, if Facebook make just one mother stop complaining to her grown up children about not visiting - we should all rejoice!
Magazine 13 - We like to think its funny... sort of
they are all on there chatting to and "grooming" all those young 30 year olds. We should inform the police.
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
Dude totally! I found that our from ya moms!!
Oh great!
I thought the whole point of "Social Networking" was to be socialiable??!!
One of the great aspects of the Internet was anyone could take part, no matter your race, religion, colour or *age* everyone is equal behind the keyboard.
After reading some of the negative comments on this thread it saddens me there are people who obviously find people of "a certain age" offensive.
Me? I am 37 years old and have no hang-ups or insecurites about my age at all (I never did)!
As this thread continues I am hoping many more positive posts will outweigh the negative comments I have seen so far otherwise I will have to re-consdider participating in Slashdot.
The funny thing it is *inevitable* *you* will reach this age one day...HaHaHa
I think that was his question, actually.
If it said that the arm of a shot-putter is likely stronger than that of a newborn infant - an exactly analogous situation - would you come out with some stupid comment that shot-putters can't ever have been children?
Informative my ass.
1/3 of jokes get modded OT. If you get the joke, mod 1 in 3 insightful/interesting/underrated to restore karma balance.
A 35 year old is not a baby boomer Anyone born in the 68-82 is generation X.
;-)
Which includes
Gwen Stefani
Cameron Diaz
Drew Barrymore
This is not your moms generation this is your younger hot stepmoms generation
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
And again, you limit yourself to what happened in your youth failing to understand that your useful lives were not limited in your twenties; but the problem is that you refuse to see how sick we are of listening to your pompous pontification and your refusal to see yourselves in the mirror.
My grandad was a much more interesting guy that you will ever be because he accepted his old age and he was a respected old man and also because his stories about the 2nd World War were always much more interesting to the endless "We stopped the Vietnam War, gave women and minorities the same rights as everyone else [and outsourced the economy so that you will never have the opportunity to live in the economic stability we enjoyed from our fathers]"
Asshole.
So you want us all to die huh?
Okey dokey....You can pay your tuition, room and board and get a part time job for spending money. You may want to work more than part time if you want a social life or a car, and don't forget gas, repairs, and insurance.
You'll have to find a place to live when you aren't in school. We are dead and gone and so is the house and the lifestyle we have given you.
When you graduate you can get a job without any help from us. Then you can buy a house that is equal or better than the lifestyle we gave you. You can buy all of the furniture, appliances and buy your own tech toys and cars. Oh yes, don't forget health insurance, property taxes, Federal, State and local taxes. Then there are the day to day consumables like food, clothing, electric, heat, water, etc...
If you want a social life or vacations or hobbies as well you better get yourself a very good job.
Sorry we have been such a bother. We'll be going on our way now.
MySpace Invaders. Bada-bum!
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
We stopped the Vietnam War,
No you didn't. You tried for seven years but it was the powers that be that finally pulled the plug (then tried to save face by blaming it on you).
gave women and minorities the same rights as everyone else,
No you didn't. It was Lyndon Baines Johnson and his Supreme Court appointees, such as Thurgood Marshall, who passed and enacted the laws. And they weren't quite baby boomers, now were they?
won the space race,
No you didn't. It was not-quite baby boomer engineers who did the lion's share of the work, mostly you got to see it on the teevee. And even then, the case can be made that the Space Race took the most expensive and disposable shortcut, thereby scuttling future platforms that would have created a more pervasive human presence in space today. All due to irrational fear - then it was the communists, now it's terrorism. You've never been able to erase the nuclear bomb drills in elementary school from your mind, have you?
gave you the ability to even post your snarky comments due to the fact that we pushed technology forward.
I'll lukewarmly grant you the fact that a microscopic minority of baby boomers have been visionaries, albeit some with monopolistic tendencies, giving us mediocre, vulnerable and crash-prone file-oriented software.
Humbly and with awe, I'll grant you Bob Dylan, whose messages (gospel?) you seem to have completely eradicated from your mind. Many baby boomers who get nostalgic when watching Forrest Gump think that the guy ranting and raving in Washington was Dylan, when actually it was Abbie Hoffman.
Now please tell me what your chicken-shit generation have done except sit back on your ass and whine about how shitty every thing is.
We tried in 2000 and 2004 to stop Baby Bush from being elected, but baby boomer mainstream media did a great job at disaffiliating a large percentage of the electorate. Add to that your resting on your laurels and adopting a "screw the community, I want less taxes", and you overwhelmed the common good.
We've protested en masse that the current scenario of globalization is nothing more than "What's good for McDonald's/Wall-Mart is good for the world", even as you are baffled and irritated by our outrage - "What are these spoiled brats complaining about? They're free (to choose from twenty different hamburger chains)! Get off my lawn!!!"
All of this may sound familiar, as it's almost the same as your indignation about the powers that be back in your promise-filled youthful heyday. But there is a striking, hypocritical stance that is new: you have hoarded a large slice of the economic pie, not giving the same opportunities to your youngers that your elders gave to you. You've made us work for peanuts, pontificating that flipping burgers is a great opportunity.
Also, you elected Reagan and Poppa Bush, yet nothing compares to Baby Bush (baby boomerism personified) and his dismal corporate policies, as well as stances towards science in general and global warming in particular. BTW, kids shoot each other in Columbine? Blame Marilyn Manson, panic and turn schools into preludes to Airstrip One (that's Mr George Orwell to you, buddy)!
Regarding the paleolithic sixties, we suspected that you had the power to transcend. It seems that you either didn't, or you blew it (to quote Easy Rider). Either way, the majority of the baby boomer generation has become The Great Disappointment. Your fears have made you selfishly irrational. We don't trust you, we don't believe you, we've tried to like you but you've made it soooo fucking difficult it's damn near out of reach.
Signed,
Proudly, cowardly anonymous.
So the over-50's were never drink-addled undergrads? Does this mean I'm not going to make it to 50?
No, you'll just have a missing year. It will never have happened.
I figure that's where all my customers are hanging out so why not be there. It has nothing to do with my social activity and everything to do with their social activity.
Thank fuck I'm not the only person who immediately thought the former, not the latter.
cmd-q.co.uk - some sort of stupid fucking internet bullshit
I've been using computer-based social networking since the 1980s, at that time on dial-up systems. Sure, now I'm over 50, but I haven't invaded anyone's party, all you young guns have joined in ours. And that's not an invasion: you're welcome (as long as you've brought a bottle).
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Your mom's on facebook!
Juh-heez.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I've NEVER voted for a Republican in my life, so you can't blame the Bushies or Reagans on me. When the Iran-Contra scandal came out that we were trading arms to terrorists in lieu of hostages I knew right then that the right-wingers had taken the Constitution and wiped their ass with it. It has been downhill since then.
Since your rant left out what has your generation done and only criticized mine, I'll give you another shot
.
Could it be the Media's-(all staffed by younger folks than me) love affair with all things trivial and not one bit news-worthy be the bane of so-called news? Look at all the talking heads-Ann Coulter ring a bell?
You tell me that we have the biggest slice of the pie-(and maybe we do) but we worked for it at those menial jobs also. Your generation seems to think that they should go right to the top with little on no work experience or life experience. And being young gives you no more insight and clear thinking. Remember we were ALL young once and thought the exact same things, nothing new there, Sparky.
As for Marilyn Manson, et al. we had Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath who our parents hated just as much, and they blamed all the terrible things on them also.
Please tell me who "the powers that be" that stopped the Vietnam War? Evidently it isn't you or you would have named them. Ever heard about the 1968 Democratic Chicago mess?
As for the paleolithic 60's in music will any of your fly-by-night wannabe bands ever last as long? Not a snowball's chance in hell. They are retreading the same stuff over and over trying to create something new-here's a news flash-it ain't happening Britney.
So take your thumb out of your mouth, and shut your mouth and DO SOMETHING with your life! Because actions speak louder than words. Buh-Bye young whippersnappers.
Won't Bow.....Don't Know How
In totally unrelated news, a mass exodus of teenagers who were erstwhile Facebook users begins
...and then we elected Republicans left and right, rolled back those social an civil gains, and generally made a big stinky mess. We're more technologically advanced, but, frankly, it's the over-fifties that are shitting up the nest and setting a wonderful example for those following. Why should they care? They're inheriting a royally screwed world that has gret bread and circuses.
Amen. I think what pisses these whinny self involved children off is that the population bulge is so big that we have and will continue to control the social and economic agenda.
I don't know about you but I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Although what scares the hell out of me is that these are the people who will be running the world when we finally do get old.
Looks like dad just turned up to the party.
Funny when that happened, I would start either packing up to leave with him or looking for a way to leave before he sees me... either way, I left the party.
1. I come from the opposite angle. Mom... well, make no mistake, she loved us sincerely, but... entirely too much, you know? It took some almost violent verbal clashes to get her to just leave me alone and live her own life. That started when I was around 30 years old, and continued for some 5 years, give or take.
As far as I can tell, she's still not over it, but has learned to control herself by now.
Her first conclusion was that someone's obviously manipulating me and my brother against her, when I too started telling her to mind her own business. (My brother had been at it since childhood.) Again, as far as I can tell, she still isn't convinced that that's not the case.
So, trust me, noone really wants 100% of their parents' attention and devotion. And if anyone actually thinks they do, I doubt that they'd be happy with it, if they actually got it. Even the most affectionate lap cat needs some time alone, or it _will_ go neurotic. A human, doubly so.
2. That said, well, humans
A) judge each other all the time, so big freakin' surprise that they judge their parents/children too.
B) are judged by the company they keep, or the company they drag you into, all the time. And parents, well, are a company you can't easily change.
Being annoyed by some of your kids' or parents' habits doesn't necessarily mean you want them as a manservant or anything. When you can look at your kids (and/or co-workers, friends, etc) and say that you truly don't care what they do, it's all their choice how they want to live your life, have your full support in anything whatsoever... well, then you'll have earned the right to ask the same in return. Until then, nope. If you've ever thought you're so embarassed of something your son did in front of the guests, then he too has a right to feel embarassed by something _you_ did in front of _his_ friends.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
If we consider the "space race" to being the time between Sputnik and Apollo 11, we are looking at the period of 1957 to 1969. The oldest boomer would would be only 11 or so when it started and 23 when it finished. The space race was really won by the previous generation. You know, the one that won World War 2.
Brian Laptop: myspace is like the vegas of the internet.... a lot of people want to go but no one wants to admit what happens when they're there
from bash
Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
Intertoober 2: "I don't know, maybe it's an old woman"
Intertoober 3: "Woof woof! On the intertoobs, nobody knows you're a geezer!"
Looks like one of the geezers running the Telegraph finally got an internet connection, and with awe and amazement discovered that he wasn't the only one.
I've been on the internet since 1997 when I started my web site, originally hosted by my ISP before registering the domain. I ran a FPS gaming site from late that year for a few more years, and got on MySpace in 2004 IIRC, although I don't go there much. I've spent most of my "social networking on the intarwebs" at nerd sites.
And it annoys the hell out of me to get junk mail from the AARP. I'm not retired, damn it, I'm only 55!
On another NEWsworthy note, somebody found a new continent. Sheesh, these kids today...
mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Your 35 year old "experienced old lady" is my hot young sweet thing.
Please don't think I'm bragging, as being a nerd I don't get laid much (and when I do I have to pay for it), but as I somehow managed to live over half a century, miraculously not dying, I've had sex with women from 18 to 50. And I have to say, experience is more than just age. This old diary entry is about the very best sex I ever had in my life; the woman was in her early 20s (as was I).
OTOH I had trouble getting it up for 50 year old Chris, who wasn't worth a shit in bed. Fortunately the most she ever cost was a beer or two. The most expensive I ever had cost me a house, a car, and part of my pension.
The worst thing about being a single 55 year old man is that all the women my age are ugly.
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
They have the time, they're wealthier than previous generations and more aware of technology. My aunt has a Facebook page that she keep tabs of my cousin, her grandsons and granddaughters, grandnieces, grandnephews and of course nephews and nieces (my sister and I). Being that we're all geographically disperse (Puerto Rico, New Jersey, Germany), it makes it convenient for her to have a centralized location for her to be aware on what's going on with her family. I've been very surprised that many of the people I'm getting connected in facebook have been old acquaintances from grammar and high school. I would not be surprised if the same motivates older generations to use social networking sites. My 2 cents.
Vi havas e-poston.
As I 36 year old, this article makes me feel really old.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
35 is greater than 50, in Microsoft Excel.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Give us a little time. Shit, we've barely been in the workforce a decade at best.
Who put 99 as their age? does it count this in the numbers?
We came,we saw, we kicked it's ass!
Facebook and MySpace were never cool to begin with, "old" people or not.
How about the environment? When I was a kid you had to roll your windows up when driving through Sauget, even when it was over 100f (38c) because the stench would burn your lungs. My parents' generation ripped a hole in the ozone, my generation outlawed CFCs worldwide and the hole is shrinking. My parents' generation started AFDC, which actually caused the poverty LBJ declared war on to get worse. My generation abolished AFDC and started TANF, which is geared to getting poor people into the workforce and out of poverty.
My parents' generation started the Vietnam war, our protests stopped it and got a President to resign in shame. Look at what your (cowardly anonymous GP) generation did - RE-ELECTED the worst President in history who started an even more senseless war just so he and his oil buddies could get rich at the expense of his country.
The only thing my generation fucked up was that we never managed to legalize pot.
And again for the cowardly anonymous GP, back in the '70s there was no incurable STD and "free love" was everywhere. Even nerds could get laid! Women would walk up to ME in bars and ask "wanna fuck?" Nowadays when a woman asks me that, my stock response is "You're a policewoman trying to bust me on a prostitution sting, aren't you?" Eat your heart out, boy. Now get the fuck off my lawn and no, you can't have your balls back!
Fucking kids... *walks away mumbling*
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
We would have drown you all at birth, but we need someone to serve us our food.
I don't care why you're posting AC
IHBT
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
gave women and minorities the same rights as everyone else - You definitely get partial credit for this. However... Rosa Parks was NOT a baby boomer. Martin Luther King? NOT a baby boomer. The suffragettes? NOT baby boomers. Heck, Mary Tyler Moore? NOT a baby boomer! You guys helped, but you were only continuing the momentum started by previous generations.
won the space race - O RLY? Baby boomers born between 1942-1962 (or so, ish) were responsible for the moon landing in 1969? It was a bunch of 7-27 year olds who pulled that off?
I think you may be confusing "Thing that we did" with "thing that I happen to remember that happened before you were born." I'll give you some credit for Vietnam, and sure, you get credit for a lot of great technology in the 80s and 90s. But by the early 90s, Gen Xers were also participating in the tech boom (Gen Xers include: Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell, Larry Page, Sergei Brin, Linus Torvalds, Tom Anderson).
Also, if women's lib and civil rights for minorities defined your generation, I would guess that gay rights is the parallel movement that would define Gen X in many of the same ways.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
A quote from the Wikipedia Generation X page:
According to the US Census Bureau, from 1993 to 2006, males grossed less than their fathers (defined as the cohort 30-years prior, about the average age of fatherhood) at the same age, using combined real median income and based on the following criteria:[6]
* At ages 25-34, those born from about 1965-1981
* At ages 30-39, those born from about 1963-1976
* At ages 25-39, those born from about 1964-1981
It's been widely reported that Gen X is the first generation that will not surpass its parents' standard of living.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
older women can fuck the panties off stupid high school girls
Having actually lived 50 years, I can report that in my small but personally significant sample this is absolutely true. But I would extend the age range to about 35. They finally figure it out around age 35-40.
Oh, great job, Pops. Anyone can LOSE a war.
Yeah, and I'm a white male. Guess who got the shitty end of THAT stick?
Err, no, that was YOUR parents. You dropped the ball. Where's the moon base? Where's the L4 colonies?
We're working our asses off trying to pay off the debts your generation incurred.
Of course, you realize that YOUR generation is currently using no-fly lists, terrorist watch lists, kidnappings, and police brutality to prevent Gens X and Y from repeating your activities. YOU guys are in power now, and you're doing everything you can to make this country totalitarian (so much for all that hippie "peace and love" crap, eh? There's Iraqi civilians to kill in the name of God, America, and your precious Cadillac SUV, which you bought because of the commercial which used Led Zepplin to make you feel like they cared about you). Of course, you people SAY it's "for the children" or "for the war on terror" (the concept of a war against an abstract concept started with Reagan, who you boomers just LOVED).
The "evil men in power" are YOUR guys, not ours. "The Man" is YOU. How does that feel? What is it like to have said "Never trust anyone over 30" when you were young, and now, to suddenly realize that YOU HAVE BECOME THE VERY THING YOU HATED?
As long as your crowd is acting out the "imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever" meme, you have no right to claim any high ground at ALL.
There's nothing worse than a hypocrite.
Don't know the difference between a flame and a troll.
Pathos. Full of pathos.
-mcgrew (55)
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Reading these posts has been a bit surreal. "Old" really is just a point-of-view isn't it? Don't fear this demographic, OK?. For most of us, this is right about the time in our careers where we can finally afford the really "cool" toys.
As for me, not only do I have a MySpace page, I have an "Artist" MySpace page because I do stand-up comedy in the Baltimore/DC area.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
My boss opened a MySpace account largely because he wanted to keep an eye on what his high-school-aged kids were up to online. First thing he saw on his son's page was a blowout party the son had at their house the weekend before while the parents were away. As the son never understood the MySpace blunder, he thinks his father is the all seeing eye. Anyway, just one example of a 35-54 getting sucked in due to parenting.
Having actually lived 50 years, I can report that in my small but personally significant sample this is absolutely true. But I would extend the age range to about 35. They finally figure it out around age 35-40."
Whew...then you can have them!! I'm not near 50 yet...but, heading that way. I don't like them any earlier than 30 really, and if you have enough money...you can get younger.
When you get much older, they've had kids...and things stretch out and sag, and that is huge turn-off. I like things to be firm and be where they are supposed to be....
There are some exceptions, but, after they've had kids, that's hard to find these days.....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
It seems like 69 year olds have had profiles on MySpace since the second day it was live!
"The only thing my generation fucked up was that we never managed to legalize pot."
Suddenly your moronic post makes a lot more sense.
I dearly have to say that I take issue with that statement. "Because the mind of an over-50 is likely superior to that of a drink-addled undergrad"? WTF? The mind of a 50+ is superior to that of a 20-something college student (drink-addled or not)? I'm not saying that the minds of many 50+'ers are not sharper than some drunk-ass sorostitute or some frat jock that is perpetually recovering from the night before, but this is a broad and sweeping statement that demonstrates the lack of faith in youth that this country has. We're labeled as being in general irresponsible, ignorant of the ways of the world, and as a whole unable to forsee the consequences of our actions. This is bull. Frankly, I believe our generation has (for our age(s)) has become more informationally aware than generations that came before and the ones we are currently coexisting with in this day and age. Not to say those generations aren't to be thanked for getting us this far, I mean heck the Internet would not be here today if it weren't for a significant portion of the interligentsia in that 50+ generation(s). The point is, our generation is the one that has mastered it, and we are the one's that understand it. It has helped us come further in a shorter amount of time than the generations that preceeded us could have ever hoped for. We are a generation that _DOES_ understand consequences of our actions far better than any of our predecessors. After all, they were the ones that taught us, by demonstrating fully how bad things can get when you do not anticipate the consequences of the actions you undertake. Debasing us with comments such as this is unwarranted and robs us of any recognition of how far we've come and how much more quickly we have been able to do it.
Troll? Really? If I had mod points, I'd mod you up Mr. Cowardly Anonymous.
My parents' generation ripped a hole in the ozone, my generation outlawed CFCs worldwide and the hole is shrinking.
We've been able to quantify the ozone for a couple of decades. Several decades of measurements of a several billion year old system does not a scientific fact guarantee.
My parents' generation started AFDC, which actually caused the poverty LBJ declared war on to get worse. My generation abolished AFDC and started TANF, which is geared to getting poor people into the workforce and out of poverty.
Your parents' generation started AFDC.... and the oldest boomers likely voted for the people who created it. Those same people (elected with the help of boomers in 1964) were the ones who declared the Social Security taxes to be part of the general fund (oops, I mean, we'll write IOUs to the Social Security Trust Fund) to balance out their budget for the increased spending.
Fast forward a couple decades and TANF is getting a handful of people into the workforce, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem of families receiving welfare generating large numbers of kids who will, in turn, either end up in jail or on welfare themselves. Your generation, not satisfied with voting in politicians (and later becoming them), who gave us a $8 trillion debt, in addition to spending the Social Security Trust Fund ensuring that your kids will have to pay for your retirement, now wants the government to permanently take over 1/7th of the US economy.
That is, of course, after your generation sold out our economy with programs like NAFTA. What won WWII? Our manufacturing ability... so lets send the jobs and capacity overseas. Meanwhile, we'll raise minimum wage again, causing mass inflation to benefit some teenagers while those who make more than minimum wage (read low income adults who can't get a manufacturing job anymore) don't get a similar increase.
As long as we're on the subject of money, let's double what we spend on education while results continue to get worse. Kids today can't make change, they don't understand logic, have a hard time spelling even trivial words in their infinitesimal vocabulary, etc. Why? Because their parents, your generation, is too busy working two jobs so you can have the mansion, two cars, take a dream vacation every year, etc and you ignore your kids. From the time they're born, they're sent to daycare. Once they go to school, it's up to the school not just to educate them but to focus on their self esteem, hand out birth control to your 11 year old without your knowledge so you don't have to have an awkward talk with them, etc. All of that while you haven't prepared them for school by teaching them to count, know their ABCs or to add and subtract numbers because that would interfere with your "me time."
My parents' generation started the Vietnam war, our protests stopped it and got a President to resign in shame.
Your generation allowed the genocide of 3 million people at the hands of fun guys like Pol Pot when you decided to just cut and run (much like you want to do with Iraq now). Your generation spat in the faces of drafted soldiers who had no choice but to fight when they did finally get home. If your generation was the one that fought Hitler, you would have likely surrendered the day after Pearl Harbor because who gives a crap about alliances and national security anyway... I mean, it's not like we need borders anymore. Let's naturalize the entire world and let them come in without scrutiny or limits.
Your generation gave away the Panama Canal (btw, GWB wasn't the worst President in US history, Carter, that guy your generation elected, was), stood idle while the Shah was overthrown and our embassy overrun in Iran, and trained and funded Osama bin Laden. Your generation ended the Cold War (well, you opposed every step of it but we'll give you credit for being alive and middle-aged anyway).
started an even more senseless war just so he and his oil bud
Stop Koolaid Politics
I'm not 50 quite yet, but joined FaceBook as an alum through my grad school (yes, many people over thirty are in grad school!) mostly to see what all the fuss was about. I "friended" our college age daughters, who might have cleaned some things up before responding - I don't know. I was surprised when their friends felt snubbed when I did not friend them. (I thought that would be kind of creepy, but I guess not since I am a "Mom" figure.) So, now I have a small circle of "friends" who are mostly relatives, friends of our daughters and other young 20's who are like family to us, i.e., people I already know who want to stay in touch. They seem to like seeing group pictures of family events where they are "tagged". We like to know what's going on with them and they don't have to repeat themselves as often. As teenagers, I think having me there would have freaked them out.
As someone else commented, most of the other applications are not that interesting, and I don't spend a lot of time updating and checking it.
Recently, looking at fellow alums from my undergraduate days, I have to concur that I have seen more people my age joining. Some are just dabbling, like me; another belongs to what appears to be a well-established Christian group. So, there you have it; perhaps soon Facebook will be full of boring over-thirty people.
I'm not much of a myspace person but I have an account (I'm 42), the reason was a friend of mine said to check out her myspace page and I had to sign up in order to do so. I am sure the same goes for many others.
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
My mother used to say that by the time your kids are old enough not to embarrass you, you embarrass them.
Except that we have the balls to post with our names and not as AC. As for a "boot in the face" look in the mirror asshole. You helped elect the Bushies, not me.
Won't Bow.....Don't Know How
We ... gave women and minorities the same rights as everyone else, won the space race...
Which is why the leanders for the civil rights and feminist movements of the 60's and 70's were mostly from the silent generation, right? That's yet another thing that you boomers have given us -revisionist history. Your comment about 'winning the space race' is patently stupid on the face of it. How many boomers were in power in 69?
Exactly.
Fuckwit.
>Now please tell me what your chicken-shit generation have done except sit back on your ass and whine about how shitty every thing is.
OUR generation popularized this little thing called 'open source' -you might have heard of it if you weren't so busy sucking gate's cock like the other boomers do.
Linus Torvalds? One of us.
Theo De Raadt? One of us.
Jordan Hubbard? Ditto.
Gordon Lyon? One of us.
Hell, you think you're on a site run by some fucking boomer? Get the fuck over yourself grandpa. Your race is won -get back to the nursing home and GTFO our internet.
[blockquote]"My parents' generation started the Vietnam war, our protests stopped it and got a President to resign in shame. Look at what your (cowardly anonymous GP) generation did - RE-ELECTED the worst President in history who started an even more senseless war just so he and his oil buddies could get rich at the expense of his country."[/blockquote]
#1, in case you haven't noticed, voter participation by those under 40 is quite dismal in the United States. So in reality it *is* your generation that re-elected Bushie. You cannot blame something that happened on the generation that happens to be in their 20s - 40s at the time it happened. This country is run by dirty old men mostly of the "peace" generation.
#2, this site is visited by many people from different countries. When you speak of what each generation has accomplished, perhaps you could frame it as your United States point of view.
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
...gave women and minorities the same rights as everyone else, won the space race, gave you the ability to even post your snarky comments due to the fact that we pushed technology forward. These are just a few of the many things we have contributed to the greater good the greater goodYou cant really make much of a dent into a sub-network unless you possess an email address of that domain. That works pretty well for college and company networks, because email addresses there are very restricted. High school, city and other networks dont possess this advantage.
This generation is working hard to get global warming under control. You know, that what was done by the same people who stopped the Vietnam war or who were anti atomic energy.
You were anti-esteblishement and now you ARE the esteblishment.
You pushed your will through then , you push your will through now. To me that sounds like a bunch of selfish people. And all under the comforting idea that you all did it for somebody else. Sounds like 'think of the children' to me.
The greater good? Don't make me laugh, there was only one greater good and that was yourselves. The difference between you and them is that you took interest in only yourselves and did not even bother to educate your children to care about anything else but themselves.
If you think this generation is a mess, remember who brought them up and blame them.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
You guys didn't do crap, you just showed up and took credit, you guys only stoped nam because you were the ones being drafted. Look at your presidents: Nixon, Carter, Regan, A bunch of boobs who are all the most extreme kind of useless, that gave America what is easily the most vile exploitative time in its history since the outright slavery of the south. Just like your post, you seem to think that youth owe you everything and the achievements of older generations are yours to claim, when the sad truth is, you didn't contribute anything to the greater good without charging 21% interest. At least it seems more and more likely that y'all won't be able to retire and live off the backs of the young much longer, so there.
"Youth is wasted on the young", in case nobody was paying attention. Oh, the places I'd have buried my face if I could go back to my high school or college years...
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Didn't this slashdot article linking lead poisoning to crime suggest that everyone born prior to the mid 1970s is brain damaged? (The implications of this are enormous.)
Over-50s Invade the Social Networking Scene
Make that over-90's! And I'm not even talking about people who are exactly 99 on MySpace, I mean come on, has someone been pouring massive doses of testosterone in the water back in 1907 or what?
You just got troll'd!
While I'm only mid-forties, I did make a myspace page. Kept it up for about a month. I received numerous invitations from a lot of silly people for odd things. The majority of these were women who wanted me to see their web cams or wanted to be 'reely goodly frends.' The latter came mostly from former Soviet-bloc countries.
I cancelled it, and fortunately hadn't used any real infomation (except my age). So, do the younger guys get the same messages? (I don't want to think about the crap my 17 year old daughter gets.)
That is, some level of involvement with your kids.
I'm on Facebook and MySpace, the only reason: My kids can be on only if they add me as a friend.
I don't post random embarrassing messages on their walls or post those fun playing-naked-in-the-kiddie-pool pictures from their younger days. The message is that I care enough about them to want to have an awareness of what is going on but also show them they can trust me enough not to be snooping around all the time and getting in the way.
Truth is, I haven't logged on to either for months. (And no, they don't know my Slashdot id.)
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
You're just bitter because the best rallying cry you can think of is "Give us free entertainment!"
We'd deliver the message by Usenet,
but as Yogi Berra said, "Nobody goes there anymore - it's too crowded."
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I'm sorry... you seem to have confused the accomplishments of Republicans with those of Baby Boomers
And I tell you what... Republicans STILL go out and right wrongs, leaving Democrats to sit there and whine about it (which is why their approval ratings are even worse than President Bush's)
Hey, what are you whining about? Who raised this chicken-shit generation again?
#1, if you don't vote, you are casting your vote as "whatever..." which seems to be the younger generation's motto.
#2 true, but I'm a US citizen living in the US YOU tell ME about your generation (or your kid's or dad's) in YOUR country. How would I know what kids are like in Tierra Del Fuego? And unless you are a Tierra Del Fuegan, how would you know?
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
This article and the comments posted as a result show an interesting trend in prejudices in our society. I thought we were a society that praised youth.. And yet contained is a descriptive account of blatant disrespect and hideous prejudice to our younger generations. I think it is largely irresponsible to expect unbiasedness and democratic egalitarianism in a society that is so contradicted over something as simple as youth.
I have to say that, as a young person finishing up my years at university, I am saddened to see the embitterment that the older generation seems to wear on their sleeves. I have seen far more hope in remedying the ills of our society in youth, than I have in most worn-down 50 year olds.
Cheers,
I doubt that a busy adult with a family would actively use myspace or facebook. Whether we openly admit or not, most of us are using these sites to hook up or make new friends.
>>The difference between us and you is when we seen something that was wrong we DID something about it!
So, I guess you're saying that you all just stopped doing anything in 1982? Because, if I understand you correctly, my generation doesn't do anything. Your generation does everything. So by your logic, if nothing has happened since 1982, it's because your generation hasn't done anything. Right? Or have you just forgotten what you were doing when YOU were 20-25? I suppose that while I was missing college to be in Iraq during that period, you were inventing the transistor, the digital watch, and pet rocks? Right? Because Your Generation was just so inherently smooth like that. Must have been the radiation from Trinity that turned you all into super-mutant-fantastic-forty-somethings, right? With Dan Rather as your twitchy but lovably poster boy?
Or maybe you're the product of your time, just like I am.
>>We stopped the Vietnam War...
Really? You mean it stopped when you pulled out and the country was overrun by the north vietnamese? You mean when you sort of, you know, lost the war?
Who *Started* the (american involvement in) the vietnam war? Grenada? Both Iraq wars? Surely not you. It must have been all those teenaged Gen-Xers and their Pepsi.
The paradox here is that, by your logic, the boomers did have at least one major foul-up: Me. If you were so great at everything you did, then why did you raise a generation of stupid slackers?
Why did you invent video games in the first place?
Why did you take advertising and consumerism to such morbid extremes?
Why did you not invest in cleaner energy?
Why did you resist so much when mandatory safety devices were introduced in cars?
Why did some boomers shoot other boomers on college campuses?
Urghhh! Cognitive dissonance! It's like brain freeze, but more depressing and/or humbling!
I realize that I'm not involved with your original conflict with OP, but for crying out loud, I'm sick of being a whipping boy for boomers who won't admit that they spent their younger years getting high and trying to have sex all over the place.
We're either your fault or we're not. If you say we're not, then how can you take credit for anything else you claim to have done? I would say that you can't have it both ways, but I see that your politicians have done a great job of doing just that. Fantastic. Yeah, Gen-X sure does suck.
-b
No offense, but I've stopped responding to AC's.
[Well, I think I'm close enough at 47. My wife is 50]
Hint: We've always been there. I've been on LJ for over 3 years now, and MySpace as well (although the latter just points to LJ).
Your generation gave us George W Bush, so I would shut the fuck up.
Yeah, because all the kids these days are Republicans. I mean, just listen to the popular music, it's all about how great GWB is.
OHWAITNO. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the vast majority of the young voters are Democrats (because they don't know any better) and the boomers were the cattle herded into the GWB camp.
But don't blame me, I voted Badnarik.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
You're forgetting that if all you boomers dropped dead there's all that social security money you're stealing from us that can come right back to our pay checks.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
Browsing through ComScore's website for the study that's quoted in the article, I found this study from October 2006. The numbers quoted are awfully close to the info in the news article, so I'm guessing that we're looking at one of two things:
- The newspaper is using statistics from an Oct 2006 article and presenting it as current information, where actual 2007 information will be completely different from what it was a year ago; or...
- There is a new statistic report out with an Oct 2007 date on it, and the numbers of older people using social networking sites haven't changed in the last 12+ months.
Which is the more likely case?Our generation may be one of the most informed of all. We have the Internet, we have a born cynicism because of previous generations constantly trying to screw us over. However, we can only wait until boomers finally retire for us to outnumber them in the corporate world. And we'll have to wait until you all die until we can outnumber you in politics and society. Guess who runs the music companies and radio stations?
Our generation has a much better taste in music than TV and radio make it look like. Local and regional music is stronger then ever, everywhere in the world. Musicians are playing because they like it, not just to make an assload of money.
Our generation will most likely do many interesting things if we can get out of the boomer's controlling shadow.
Bullish Machine Tzar
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Nicely done... While not 50 yet, I don't have many years left.
Today's college aged folks are way too distracted by trivial stuff to bother to put together massive protests against Bush & Co. The protests in the 60's had a lot to do with getting out of Vietnam. But where those same protesters failed was in blaming the troops for evils done over seas.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable" - JFK
of the older generation complaining about the spoiled youth. Guess who raised the spoiled youth? Yep, that's right.
It seems that a dose of hard times does wonders for a populations attitude in life. I keep thinking back to my grandparents' generation and what hard-working no-nonsense people they were, unlike my parents and their protesting of this chicken-shit war or another. No wonder today's generation is so good at whining. You just wait until your country gets invaded and then you'll see how quick you gain back the respect for science and engineering.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Today's Republicans should be ashamed to call themselves such. I thought the GOP was supposed to be conservative, as in conserving the constitutionalist principles, not this bunch of fascist marionettes we have today (in both major parties).
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Anarchy is like, bogus, man.
And may I say thank you for all of us grateful boomers out there. You better believe that we appreciate it. Have you priced micros lately?
>>the Baby Boomers would just die.
...
;-)
>>anything that the Baby Boomer's
I am just puzzled why you sometime's employ an apostrophe, and some sometimes not...
Any particular reason? Perhaps a babybummer could help you.
Ala's, excitable chappie, I am just looking for answer's in life....
.
- aqk
F U
I didn't say whether the credit was a good thing or not. Consciously decided not to bother even going into that. *shrug* He seemed to want to take credit for it...
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.