Does Age Quash Our Spirit of Adventure?

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by lizziebith

I couldn't listen to the show here at work, but the summary seemed to indicate that we don't crave new experiences so much as we age. ...

Anyway...I suspect that the LoT denizens will not support this gentleman's thesis.

The summary is the guy conducted some surveys to discover some interesting benchmarks;

age 35 was a mark where 95% of the population was no longer interested in listening to new music

at age 39, 95% of the population who had not already tried sushi would try sushi

When it cam e to tongue piercings 95% occured between the ages of 16-23

So, yeah I think this group will skew those results - but these studies just hit 3 areas so I have to wonder if as we age, our interests target us for more adventure in some places and less in others?

There was also a baboon study of older baboons not trying new foods when relocated - I supose you could construct a biological reason for that, but I wonder how music and fashion fit in - as well as travel and other sorts of adventurousness.

[innerSpaceman]

Well, I will agree with some of those benchmarks ... but, for me, it's just that having newness in the same old area can itself smack of oldness. I did get less enthusiastic about new music at some point (it was more like 40) ... but I want more new visual arts now.

I have always liked both new and tried & true. But with so much life under my belt at this point, new doesn't even seem all that new unless it's also in a realm that's new.

[SacTown Chronic]

No declining spirit of adventure. No less disdain for order, structure, and the way things are (and have always been). Age hasn't contributed to my mellowization, but children have.

Priorities change. Anarchy can wait 'till the youngest graduates college.


Musically, I'm friskier than ever. Much credit to our fifteen year old for that. Thanks to him I'm fed a steady diet of new alternative music and such. We bond through music even though the totality of my musical tastes is too far out of the mainstream for even him, a teenager trying hard to affect an air of disinterested disdain for society and everything else.


Much like it is for iSm, age ain't nothing but an illusion for me.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

It seems to me a lot of what we're talking about here has very little to do with adventurousness. I don't find it adventurous to listen to a song someone wants me to hear, no matter the genre. Worst case scenario is that I don't like it. I may have to say "that's not my thing". How is that adventurous?

Tangentially, a person that actually enjoys various kinds of music isn't adventurous to me. If they have an appreciation for many different genres then that comes naturally to them and isn't an adventure at all.

Why is piercing/tattooing adventurous? Either you want a piercing or you don't. I guess you could make a case for a careless teen getting something they'll regret later. I would say that that's not adventurous, that's just a bad decision.

I'll watch any movie you want me to try - at least for a while. I'll try almost any food (can I exclude things like haggis and prairie oysters without being called a wuss?). I'll travel most anywhere (again within reason). I wouldn't say that this is adventurous in the slightest.

So what IS adventure? Adventure is climbing Everest or investing everything you have in your own business or working with the Peace Corp in a 3rd world country where children die every day (I have a coworker who did that last one - too much adventure for her, she came home).

I can't believe that "trying new music" is listed as adventurous. The way I see it, nearly all of us were born normal and boring and so we shall live for the rest of our days.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I can't believe that "trying new music" is listed as adventurous. The way I see it, nearly all of us were born normal and boring and so we shall live for the rest of our days.

It is in the context of the linked story which is exploring a and document phenomna of aging and perhaps discovering the psychological or biological reasons why

[Not Afraid]

The things I try and do in my life I wouldn't consider adventerous - until I travel and find people who think "spicy" is an evil thing and who eat meat and potatoes and listen to The Eagles like they were the latest and greatest. Compared to most of the people I've ever met while traveling for work in other parts of the county, I am VERY adventerous - or at leas they consider it so.

I think the age thing may work but I know some reasonably young people who act like thery are old futzes - and many old people who aren't.

[innerSpaceman]

The fudz phenomena. More and more of my (ex) friends have succombed to it over the years. The not having get-up-and-go, or let's go play, or yeah, sound's like fun.

Hahaha, the first wave came when I was barely out of my twenties!!! My friend Jim, who I didn't hang out with much before then, became very close because many of our mutual or respective friends faded fast as their 20's faded.

Since then, all but the truly young-at-heart have fudzed out. Some in their 30's, some later. I am truly fortunate, at 46, to know so many people who are truly young-at-heart ... otherwise I'd have no one to play with (well, except for all the truly young people I tend to get along well with).

To me, this is the gist of it. Some softening of energy-levels notwithstanding, I still have just as much get-up-and-go as I always did. And falling prey to the "normal" benchmarks of music, tattoos and cuisine don't change that fact.


Sactown hit something squarely on the head. I haven't had a steady stream of new music introduced to me since my teenager lived at home. Similarly, I haven't gotten into anything active like rollerblading or snorkeling since I broke up with my last girlfriend. It seems that I don't self-motivatingly seek out unknown music or fun quasi-sporting ... but I'm all for it once I'm in range.

I just need to find some way to keep getting in range.




.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I just need to find some way to keep getting in range.

I think that's where I was going with, with my mention about Anamie and Manga - there's just so much, that I require a guide to help me find the cool stuff - and truely appreciate the media - so that I don't just throw up my arms and call it all crap.

Fortunately these boards are full of people with a broad range of interests who continue to guide me to things that are truely new and cool.

Thank you all

[MouseWife]

That is definitely true. My kids introduce me to quite a lot. Of course, I pick and choose.

They did introduce me to Nirvana, Sublime, Green Day, Cake...but now I have taken that and found my own niche.

I think that a lot of people my age find music {the kind I listen to} and going to concerts as 'too much'. Most people my age watch 'American Idol' and love Kelly Clarkson....{well maybe not now since she's 'changed' }

I think the connection between age and making these choices is that most people over a certain age have minds that are pretty set and unwilling to accept change.

I was discussing this with my daughter today and how some people have open minds throughout their lives but eventually their minds are open...to people who think like them! LOL This is a person in their fifties now who was totally a groundbreaker/open minded type.

Oh wait, we were also discussing how when I grew up, we were open to evolution and creation. It wasn't a big freakin' deal. But today, it seems the kids are being raised one way or the other. We are raising our kids to believe in both, religion being one they have the option of but I still give my opinions and expect them to respect me.

I think music & fashion are adventurous. Do you know how hard it is to be a bold dresser? Or to listen to music when people criticize you for it? To not sit down with the women and talk about cooking and your men but instead jump up and shake your booty to 'Baby's Got Back' or shake your fists at 'BYOB' while everyone else is afraid to say anything against the president?

When you get to a certain age, in my opinion, it's like they want to put you in polyester and loafers and shuffle you away. We aren't supposed to have fun. Really. It is insulting when people seemed surprised that we go on hikes or whatever.

Getting old happens~peoples' attitudes can suck, though. Oh, like at Disneyland when I turned 40. I got my sticker and my Hubby told them my age and the CM chuckled and wasn't going to write it down but I said 'Go for it.'

I'll stop there....I can rant all night....

[Disneyphile]

I must be weird, because I'm just the opposite. Every day that passes builds my desire to roam the world in search of exciting new stuff.