I am old

I am old.

And when I say old I don’t mean wise for my age or my body feels old, I mean that I’m an old man in a 24 year olds body. Everything about today’s generation baffles me, I know that I’m a millennial and that according to previous generations we have it easy (Questionable really, speak to anyone my age about owning a house and then see how easy it is being a millennial and buying a house with no deposit and it only costing £10,000). I am a millennial with a problem, I don’t fit into today’s bizarre generation, I went to a coffee shop at the weekend and I bought a coffee and I read a book, it was great. But I didn’t conform to social standards: the coffee shop spelt my name correctly. I didn’t “Snap” or “Gram” it (god knows why people can’t say the word correctly anymore, like seriously!? is Snapchat or Instagram too fucking difficult to say?), I didn’t tweet or Face it (I’m assuming that’s what hipsters call Facebook these days) and I didn’t Bebo or Myspace it. So basically I went to a coffee shop and read a book and no one knows about it. So I ask you this, what is the point and why did I go if I’m not going to let other people know? It’s all about self-validation based on other people’s response to a shitty picture no one gives a fuck about. Why do you need to live up to other people’s perceptions of life?

Sad really.

Nobody liked it or hearted it, nobody knew, in a world where everybody has to post everything and share anything even remotely minor in their lives. Why would I have a coffee and read a book without posting a heavily filtered picture with all of the hash tags under the sun? #book #coffee #loveme #makemefeelsociallyacceptable #cantdoanythingwithoutsharingit #FUCKINGPOINTLESS #attentionseekingcunt. The coffee shop was full of people all taking photos and sharing them, who actually gives a fuck? Who sees that on social media and thinks “You know what? I do like that, it warrants me showing some kind of gratitude and attention towards a menial part of someone’s life”.

I feel the same about the gym, a gym isn’t about fitness anymore, because who wants to get fit without anybody seeing, and why would it ever matter if someone got fit because they wanted to become fitter? Exactly! This is why every conceivable place you can go now has members of the public asking if they can use the Wi-Fi. I just don’t get it. I’m not asking anybody else to get it, and some people will and some people won’t, that’s just life.

But I think the real question here is, why? Why would anyone care if I have a coffee or go to the gym, I don’t need the social approval of other people to make me feel validated. And I can apply this to so many things these days, going on holiday without posting a picture of a glass of wine in the airport, decorating without having to share it, buying a new car etc. NO ONE CARES. And this can be broken down into a simple circle of friends, people who like each other’s posts to show that they are keeping up with each other. It just doesn't make sense because they are all most likely in a group chat together talking all hours of the day about the insignificant aspects of their lives.

I am an old grumpy man and I find most of today’s generation a puzzle, it’s all about one upping other people and showing how much better you are. When people aren’t actually proud of other people’s achievements because they are constantly measuring their own lives against others and forgetting whether they are happy or not.

I am a sarcastic lonely angry man and I hope you don’t like or heart this.