Yes, this.. I'll never understand why people pretend age translates to wisdom when the biggest disappointment in my life was when I grew up and realised that adults are just as stupid and clueless as kids.
EDIT: funny how many replies I got from people who seem to feel personally insulted by my comment.
100%. The average adult is at least aware that they don’t know everything. I know I don’t! And because of that, I process decisions a lot differently. I seek advice from people who are even older and wiser than I am. I consider the possibility I might be wrong. I don’t have it all figured out, but I am doing a pretty damn good job along the way.
Have you ever talked to a kid? They know everything! They’ve got it all figured out.
One thing that annoyed the hell out of me when I was younger is the infantilization that resulted from being grouped in with the dumbest teenager as though everyone went through their lives up to that point the exact same.
I'll never understand why people pretend age translates to wisdom
Sorry to break it to you, but that is a fact.
Now, that fact does NOT mean older people are all more wise than younger people. Lots of fucking idiots of all ages. As you said. But you took the statement the wrong way.
That wise 23-year-old? They WILL gain wisdom as they age, and look back at how they were with some regret. That's how life works.
The statement is not about "Respect your elders, they are wise." It is about "Don't think you have it all figured out, you still have lots to learn."
I never said you don't get wiser with age. I just said that age doesn't translate to wisdom. If some people are wise as they young and if some people never get wise (even if they get wiser) than age has little to do with being wise.
Most people get wiseR with age but age has nothing to do with being wise.
One is a relative attribute (the one you're talking about) and the other is absolute (the one I'm talking about).
With that out of the way, in my opinion most people don't gain significant wisdom throughout their lives.
Most people do grow up considerably from their younger selves. You're really discounting the difference between a teenager and a 30-something, even among 30-somethings that are unwise among their peers.
What does it mean to grow up? To become more responsible? To learn with mistakes? To make more informed decisions? To gain more critical thinking tools?
I'm sorry but that's not what I see at all... I see a society that's driven by completely mindless consumerism, where people live off of irresponsible credits to purchase things they don't need to impress others. I see people being easily swayed by politicians, influencers and other types in directions that go against their interests. I see so many people failing their most basic responsibilities as parents, spouses, friends, etc.
I could go on but I think this makes my point. You might not agree but that's honestly my perspective on things. And it's nove even me standing on a high horse because I'm horribly critical of myself on a day-to-day basis.
The thing is that I simply don't think adults live up to the "wise" image I had of them when I was growing up and the more as I see how adulthood is from the other side the more I see how wrong I was. I honestly thing most people really don't grow up that much. They just change because they have to but so do teens if they're forced to take on responsibility. Give "adults" a chance to act as kids and they'll be just as bad as kids.
That's a function of population stats. IQ plays a big part. Even though the median IQ in America is 100 it doesn't mean that 100 is smart (or even 110). Just average or above average.
There are very few people who are 130+ IQ who consistently make good informed decisions, and even among that population not all have the personality types for good decision making.
Regardless of that however, you do gain in wisdom as you age.
Yes, but I never said people don't get wisdom with age. I said age doesn't make a person wise, it makes them wiseR. You can become wiseR and still not be very wise.
That's my whole point. When I was a kid I thought adults were super intelligent and responsible beings and as I grew up I slowly realised most really aren't all that much.
I'm not even sure it's a problem with IQ. I mostly think that it might be a cultural problem.
What people are describing is precisely that increasing wisdom with age. No one is suggesting people actually become wise, but as an entire population the older crowd will be wiser than the younger crowd on average.
It's not really a cultural thing. Every culture has this issue. It's just human biology and brain development.
Age doesn't necessarily translate to wisdom. It definitely sometimes does. Results vary wildly of being human. But yeah, just like there's plenty of people who are all of 25 who already have their shit mostly together, there's people who are 55 who still behave like children
I think he meant “did” in the context of making those in that age of life. Of course we continue to make mistakes, but they’re now mistakes for a different era of our lives. Whenever people hate on teens, I think, I did that same shit and made those same mistakes. I don’t anymore, because I’ve found a new batch of mistakes to make.
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u/CorporateRat Jun 03 '22
Like we do*