When people age, they become increasingly less tolerant of certain things, such as small talk, shopping, and loud noises. These may be hard for the younger generation to understand at first. However, being more knowledgeable about these things will help our parents and grandparents feel more comfortable as they face the many changes that aging brings into their lives!
How Fast Time Flies
When we were kids, we always wished we would become adults sooner. However, the moment we become adults and face more responsibilities, we instantly regret it and wish we’d be kids for longer. Time flies incredibly fast, even more so when you’re getting older. At times, you’ll even feel like life itself is a ticking time bomb.
Small Talk and Surface-Level Conversations
When you’re older, you become less tolerant of things that don’t bring value and meaning to your life. Small talk and surface-level conversations are examples of things that prevent you from making more meaningful connections and conversations with others. Aside from this, most people believe that the topics and reactions brought up during small talk can be boring, pointless, or even fake!
Driving
Young people, especially those in their 20s, love to drive because of the freedom it gives; after all, you can get anywhere, anytime, if you have a car and know how to drive. However, driving is becoming more and more of a chore as one gets older. With age comes decreased vision, slower reflexes, and even impaired hearing. When one drives, all these things must be in the best shape for the safety of the driver and other people in the car.
Unreliable People
As people age and become wiser, they become less tolerant of unreliable people. This includes people who can’t keep promises, are always late, and can’t be reached when needed. Middle-aged people are more aware of how important time is, so they simply can’t stand people who don’t value these things.
Shopping
Shopping is an activity enjoyed by many people, especially the younger generation. However, because it requires a lot of time and energy, older or middle-aged people are simply losing their patience for it. Instead of viewing it as a way to enjoy and pass the time, some even consider it a chore now!
Leaving the House
When you’re young, it’s easy to be a social butterfly who can go to different places in one day. However, as people get older, they become increasingly hooked on peace and quiet. Most middle-aged people now have to be forced or convinced to leave their homes simply because they enjoy relaxing inside the house too much!
Crowded Places
Middle-aged and older people prefer to keep to themselves rather than be in the middle of a crowd. Aside from preferring peace and quiet, they are generally less tolerant of rude or inconsiderate people who abound in crowded places. A user on Reddit shared, “I just hit 50, and I’ve been thinking about this recently: I find myself looking at individuals and groups in large gatherings and recognizing ‘types’ of people that I have already met or interacted with over the years. They are no longer novel and interesting to my brain.”
Loud Noises and Music
It may seem ironic to hear that older people are more over-sensitive when it comes to sound, as they usually say they can’t hear what you’re saying. In fact, if you’ve lived around your grandmother or grandfather, you might have experienced having to tell them something over and over again before they actually hear and understand what you’re saying. However, over-sensitivity to sound is not the same as hearing ability. According to Hearing Aid Specialists of the Central Coast, Inc., “The aging listeners were over-sensitive to noises and were less able to tune out irrelevant distraction sounds.”
Noisy and Annoying Neighbors
As people age, they put more and more importance on achieving peace and quiet in their environment, especially since they become increasingly sensitive to noises and distractions. Because of this, they are less tolerant and patient with noisy, annoying neighbors who aren’t considerate of others. Their constant loud music, partying, and more can negatively impact an older adult’s overall sense of comfort and peace at home.
People Pleasing or Overextending Oneself
When we’re younger, we tend to overextend ourselves or be a “yes” person because we’re afraid of criticism and rejection or want to achieve more at work or school. However, when someone’s in their 50s or so, they better understand their self-worth and how important it is to protect their peace of mind before anything else. Additionally, with age, someone usually gets more confident with their own beliefs, choices, and capabilities; they no longer need others’ validation to feel accomplished!
Wasting Time
Time is a finite resource, and older people are just getting closer and closer to the finish line. They are more aware than the younger generation of the preciousness of each moment. Aside from this, according to an article from University Hospitals, “The passage of time is directly related to quality of life—a life filled with variety and new experiences affects your mood and your personal well-being.” This means that they are, now more than ever, more inclined to pursue meaningful activities and connections to live fuller, happier lives.
Overworking or Chasing a Career
A common question nowadays is, “Do you live to work, or do you work to live?” Most older adults know true happiness lies in living life to the fullest. At this point in their lives, they have no desire to continue climbing the corporate ladder; instead, they want to relax, travel the world, and spend time with loved ones.
Rude and Entitled People
While older people often develop a greater appreciation for kindness, humility, and compassion, they also become less patient and tolerant of rude and entitled behavior. Sadly, more and more people are becoming rude in today’s society. Christine Porath, a management professor at Georgetown University, was quoted by Yahoo Finance, saying, “Research shows that rudeness is like the common cold: it’s contagious, it spreads quickly, anyone can be a carrier—at work, at home, online, or in our communities—and getting infected doesn’t take much.”
Extreme Weather
Older adults can’t take bad weather, for example, the extreme summer heat or the frosty winter temperatures. Aside from being hard to deal with or uncomfortable, extreme weather could pose higher health risks for older people. For example, they are at a higher risk of developing heat stroke than young people because their aging bodies aren’t as able to adapt to changes in body temperature.
Fad Diet Trends
Fad diet trends are usually quick-lose systems that do more harm to one’s body than good. They’d usually restrict certain food groups, like eliminating almost all carbs from a person’s diet. While this isn’t good for anyone in the long term, it could be especially harmful to older adults, especially those with existing health conditions like diabetes or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Inefficient Services or Service Personnel
Older adults value practicality and reliability. Because of this, they prefer quick, effective services that don’t put too much stress on their time, effort, and physical capacity. They usually have a lower tolerance for services that fail to meet their expectations or lead them to waste their time and resources. Additionally, older adults have limited energy and patience compared to the younger generation, pushing them to expect more efficiency from service personnel.
Long Lines
Similar to their dislike for inefficient services, middle-aged or older people abhor long lines—even for the checkout counter. In fact, you’ll never catch them waiting in a queue for a hyped-up restaurant! They’d rather wait months and months to try something new than line up for hours. They simply don’t have the patience for it!
Too Much Social Media
While social media helps connect millions of people worldwide, it also has many cons. In recent years, it has been known to breed inauthenticity in users and those who connect on the platform. Aside from this, scrolling for hours on end can get pretty toxic, which can never be good for one’s mental health, especially when one is older!
Complicated Technology
Old habits die hard, and because of this, the older generation sometimes finds it hard to keep up with the never-ending advancements and innovations in technology. In a more scientific sense, as people age, their cognitive abilities start to decline. This may push them to prefer more intuitive and straightforward tools compared to complicated ones.
Uncomfortable Shoes
When you reach a certain age, you’ll understand the concept of function over fashion. Gone are the days when you’d wear sky-high heels just because they looked good. In reality, when you’re older, you have less tolerance for anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, including shoes! Plus, wearing uncomfortable footwear for long periods may increase the risk of injury and speed up bone deterioration and damage.
