this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
593 points (94.7% liked)

Showerthoughts

29786 readers
561 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    • 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    • 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    • 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I was born in 1989 and the math is HARD some days.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] GeekFTW@kbin.social 50 points 1 year ago (3 children)

'84 here. For years now I just round myself up or down to the nearest 5 and call it a day lol

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 year ago

For like 3 years I legit thought I was older than I am because I did the math wrong on the fly once and never bothered to recheck it..

Your system is easier.

[–] b00m@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hello fellow 40yo coming next year

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (2 children)

its just 11 + the current year.
I am 1988 so i am 12 + the current year.

Didn't think of it like that until your post but it is pretty easy.

[–] timidgoat@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're 2035 years old? Wild..

[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

On the other hand, it makes it easier for the people who have to check your ID when buying alcohol. Any birth year that begins with 19 is automatically old enough.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh trust me, my face is evidence enough alone.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's so flattering when I get carded.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Do you guys not remember how old you are year to year? Are you frequently calculating your age from your birth year instead of just adding 1 to it on your birthday?

[–] Relic5646@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I always thought it was nuts that people don't remember, then I turned 30 and got married to someone who has a birthday less than a year before mine. Now I have two ages to remember (that are sometimes the same) and it takes a second for me to remember which is me when asked.

[–] Underwear@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's not about your age difference. It's just hitting 30. My wife is 5 years younger than me and I couldn't tell you how old either of us are

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] pfannkuchen_gesicht@lemmy.one 15 points 1 year ago

I frequently forget, because I rarely need my age in my daily life.

[–] dylanTheDeveloper@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Bra I don't know where I am let let alone how old I am

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] AmIAwake@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

I find that the older I get, the less I discuss or think about my age throughout the year so it gets more difficult to remember. Also, my birthday is in January so it's over pretty quickly and I don't tend to think about it again while I'm busy thinking about my 4 kids birthdays that are coming up, instead!

That's exactly when I started having trouble remembering. 30 was a milestone, but now I have to think for a few seconds before answering.

[–] Stan@lemmywinks.com 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m guessing you are younger than 40.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Got to tell you, friend... birthdays don't matter that much after you're a few decades down the road. Just another day closer to death, but maybe you get to go out to a nice restaurant.

[–] QueenAlucia@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Does anybody need to calculate their age? It's not a hard thing to remember :|

[–] Robbsen1@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sometimes I just forget ok? I mean it's changing every year

Also I think it matters less and less in your life. As a child/teenager you got asked for your age all the time

[–] MarekKnapek@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

It changes all the time (once per year) if you finally managed to remember it, it changes again.

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago

As someone who is well out of the range where people need to ask for ID when I want something, I don't concern myself with my age and frequently forget since nobody asks.

On official forms, they want to know my date of birth, not my age. Everyone I know socially, doesn't care or already knows an approximation of it, thus I'm never asked. All my work colleagues are interested in is getting the job done, not how many years I've been in the workforce/how many years till I get to retirement age/whatever.

I don't think about my age for more than a few hours a year at most. I don't even celebrate my birthday. So the years come and go, and I think about how old I am so little that I often don't even know how old I am.

You're not wrong that it's not hard to remember, but when you think about it as little as I do, you tend to lose track.... So when someone asks me how old I am, I often don't reply because I'm too busy doing math in my head to try to figure it out, quietly hoping they'll move on from the question and I won't have to answer it.

[–] netvor@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

The hard part is which one will you remember. (I already had 43 different ages.)

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not too long ago, I was filling out a medical form and I had to ask my wife how old I was. She had to think about it. We're the same age.

[–] CuriousGeorge@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

At some point, I've been asked less and less my age, so I just forget about it heh

[–] Priyathium@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago

It's great. When people ask me how old I am I just ask them which year is this and repeat the last two digits.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.de 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

You'll get people ridiculing you for not remembering your own age but believe you me, you're not alone in the struggle. My husband and I started dating in 2000 so that's awfully convenient.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] darkkite@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

how do you not know how old you are?

[–] mrmanager@lemmy.today 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I think it's fairly common that people do some math in their head, specially when they get older than 30. Because it doesn't matter really, you never need to tell anyone how old you are anymore. Well unless you use dating apps I guess, or date people... Nobody else asks your age.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] TellMeWendigo@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I was lucky and was born in 1990. I've always appreciated that all you have to do to figure out my age is add 10 to the year. Like, when it's 2054, I know I'll be 64.

[–] hairysonorth@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Only 90 babies will get this

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] darkmugglet@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago

The entitlement of the younglins these days. I swear, they are getting soft. I have to take the current year, and add twenty, but the lazy ass youth just have to subtract their birth year from the current year. Maths will suffer because they don't have to do addition. Pure insanity and liberal malarkey.

Oh yeah, /s

[–] Korne127@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There's still the part of the year before the birthday and the part of the year after the birthday.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Spoilt@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The hardest is my parents' age.

  • 1965 to 2000 -> 35
  • 2000 to 2023 -> 23
  • 35 + 23 = brain leaking
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Betch@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

But you still have to know what year it is.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why do people even calculate this? It's an integer you only have to increment once a year. Just remember your age.

[–] GrapefruitDoggo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hardly remember what I was doing 5 seconds ago. Sure, that's more complicated than a number, and I think about my age rather frequently so remembering it is rather easy, but storing anything for a year and remembering it when I haven't thought about it for a while is difficult.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Just Google "Taylor Swift age" like the rest of us creeps.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] LonelyWendigo@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I understand that people are scared of "new" math, but for a 1989 birthday just take the last too digits of the current year, add ten, then add one if you've already had a birthday this year, e.g. 23+10+1=34. Almost the same math I used to count change when I worked retail.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] eochaid@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Math like that is really simple if you take it in easy chunks.

For example, to calc your age, just take the years from birthday to 2000 (11) and add it to the years since 2000 (23). 11 + 23 = 34.

Best part is the first calc never changes - so if you remember thst number it's just like having a 2000 birthday. Just add 11.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] jg1i@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Trying to do this mentally:

1989 + 1 = 1990
2023 - 2000 = 23
2000 - 1990 = 10
23 + 10 = 33

33 - 1 = 32 Ha! Easy!... Wait.

33 + 1 = 34 Shit. Double+1. Ok, I thought the -1 at the end would undo the +1 at the beginning. But, I guess the 2000-1990 messed me up.

Maybe

2000 - 1990 = 10
1990 - 1989 = 1
2023 - 2000 = 23
23 + 1 = 24
24 + 10 = 34
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] WuergerLarsDietrich@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Today year - 2000 + 11 is that hard?

[–] Judgy_McJudgerson@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

Dude, I’m lucky if I remember what “today year” even is, much less the math! Time got weird after 2020…

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] CaldeiraG@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Virgo@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Born in 99. Can confirm I just take the year and say I was that age for most of it

[–] xePBMg9@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Unless you are like me. I forget what year it is.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] narikov@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I thought I had it easy. Born in 1990. 2022? I'm 32. 2023? I'm 33.

But now I am married. Dec 2019. So it's always hard to calculate how many years.

And to add to it. My daughter is born Nov 2021.

Good luck to anyone that asks me how old she is. You gotta wait until I count on all my fingers.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›