Are you a Grumpy older person?

That is really sad. I wish I had a solution for you.

I really miss cheese on toast, being lactose intolerant is such a nuisance. Being allergic and intollerant of so many foods is a nuisnace and people can be so horrible about it, does it never occur to them that I might get fed up with it? That I might like to eat an icecream on a sunny day like everyone else and an ice lolly dosen't really do it in the same way. Or that I really can't eat meat, even a little bit or meat products such as gelatine or stock? Do they think it dosent' count if its not a visable lump of flesh on my plate?

Mine does that. I have to kneel in front of it with my oven gloves on, ready to pounce!

My grill is on a free standing oven, so you have to bend down to see what's cooking - highly dangerous and annoying. I've tried using the air fryer and it works really well for cheese on toast and toasties.

I've done that with a cardboard cut out of a slice of bread from my bread machine, people do think you're strange, but I don't care. I wish I had a grill that wasn't in the oven and that you didn't have to shut the door on, one second you have barely warm bread the next cinders

I was fed up buying toasters that didn't have slots wide enough to fit my favourite bakes. So, I went to my local Curry's armed with bread and crumpets. Luckily, I the assistant didn't bat an eye and let me test them out! I did get a few strange looks from other customers, but job done.

So many of these things are supposed to be labour saving, but cause a load of aggravation to get them to do the most simple and basic functions, I don't want a toaster that will do a dozen different things, I want it to make toast and take a proper large slice of bread not half a slice, nor do I want a bagel warmer, just toast.

lol the smart fridge thing killed me, yeah I feel this, everything is overcomplicated now for no reason, I don’t need my toaster having a personality either, just make the toast and chill.

That's the hope, thanks!

Acquiesce said:

so need to make a change somehow

You're already making change by thinking about it!

While I've always been somewhat abrasive, I've found life I increasingly intolerable as I've matured. I say matured - in my head I'm still 15 or whatever. 

Anyhow, this weekend has been particularly tough in terms of just being a stream of negativity and frustration, which generally comes out in the comments I make and questions I ask when with my family. None of it is particular nice. 

I can't keep being like this  - I've actually got to the point where I wouldn't want to be anywhere near me if I was someone else. I don't want to be this negative so need to make a change somehow; I don't want to be this bitter. 

Seemingly being the only person who refils the water filter makes me grumpy, whenever I go to use it, it needs refilling.

Really Jamesmac? Well I must have a bad dopamine release system then as many of the things that count as nostalgia make me angry and want to throw up.

I really find that theory unbelievable and possibly made up by those who either enjoy it or make money/power from it.

Jamesmac said:

Nostalgia is simply a survival instinct.

Yes, this evolutionary explanation makes sense. Perhaps it should not be surprising, in the light of the discovery that we all still have Neanderthal DNA. Very interesting insight, Jamesmac 

Nostalgia is simply a survival instinct. Our brains are programmed to release dopamine whenever we perceive something familiar regardless of how good or bad it may be because back when it actually mattered, familiar spots and sights were often safe from predators

I actually detest nostalgia and the "things swere better in my day" attitude I think it's a national poison, I don't think things were better when I was younger, I can think of plenty of things that definately were not better. It's looking back to a mythicl golden age that never was, but I don't see this as being the same as being grumpy or that everything about modern life is good.

For me its much more about how for all the so called advances there are disadvantages, I do feel we have less choice as thing "advance", no one ever asks us if we want all this stuff, and many of us just want a bit more simplicity and things to do what they say on the tin.

ArchaeC said:

A problem shared/get it off your chest etc. seems therapeutic in short blasts only. 

That's what age-related grumpiness is all about! As energy tails off, you can do the above more easily than fretting about it. No one listens otherwise. Ageing = slowly becoming invisible .

Hi Martin.

From my perspective the real issues with AI are the very big and existential ones. Im not referring to the sci fi nightmare scenarios of it going rogue and physically destroying humanity, but the very real financial risks to all of us. Here is just one, property insurance:

AI makes calculating risk vastly more accurate and super quick. Insurance companies are not obliged to insure people and companies, so with this very accurate assessment of risk they will only insure where the risk is low enough to make sufficient profit overall. Consequently certain risks become uninsurable, flood risk being one very notable example. In some parts of the USA it isn’t possible to insure properties in large areas due to this, therefore no bank or financial organisation will give loans on these properties, so their resale value plummets. Then these areas decay, society there ceases to function and you have just a swathe of the very poor, structural decay, then anarchy. 

This assessment of risk has already happened to some areas of flood prone parts of the UK, hence the government’s Flood-Re initiative, but which has either ended or is due to. In a capitalist society this is all inevitable, its alternative of common ownership always ends up in a dictatorial system where the financial in-balance between rich and poor (in terms of finances and power) is even great than under capitalism. It has been tried in the 20C in both Russia and China with just this result, and in many societies over millennia (Including, provocatively, the in the early Christian church as described in Acts of the Apostles, whose “all equal” ideals lasted a very short time).

Alice

I agree McFrost. A serious concern about this in my opinion is that this “grumpiness”, which most contributors to this thread talk about as a positive, is as you say part of the “everything was better in my day” attitude, which in turn is very much part of the demographic being targeted by a certain right wing party in this country. Overseas the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement is the same but worse and directly linked to President Trump. 

I find I often think I have become grumpy due to so many changes and so many things being more challenging. I often question the logic of things. 

In respect of clothes, it appears that a lot of things have been cut differently so many of us have issues with parts of them. Trousers often have tight parts in the wrong places. 

I also think that many people have become less considerate of others. This changed briefly at the beginning of the pandemic. One thing I have an issue with is people not clearing up after their dogs. Sometimes they are so busy looking at their phones or talking that they don't see. This is even worse with those who don't use leads. Another thing is people parking on pavements so no one can get past.

There is also a world leader I would like to ask a few questions to, but I would probably be too annoyed by his answer.

I do try to be less grumpy and be more positive, but there always seem to be so many challenges to this. I try to use walks in nature to help, but this can have its challenges. The garden has less and can be a peaceful place to be, unless our neighbour lets dogs out to bark for ages or is using a noisy gadget. Hoping for a peaceful few days as there is more sun at last.