Thread: Have you lost interest in things as you got older?

I know it is normal for kids becoming teens, and then teens becoming adults but what about adults simply getting older? I feel like just over the last 5 to 10 years of adulthood here, my interests in things have shifted a lot. I don't see too many people talking about this though. I am wondering if it has happened to any of you here and what things you have lost interest in, and why?

Originally Posted by KorinKitty

I know it is normal for kids becoming teens, and then teens becoming adults but what about adults simply getting older? I feel like just over the last 5 to 10 years of adulthood here, my interests in things have shifted a lot. I don't see too many people talking about this though. I am wondering if it has happened to any of you here and what things you have lost interest in, and why?

Not sure how old you are, but yes i do feel it to an extent. Overall, people are reaching full-blown adulthood much later than they used to, so i don't think it's weird for us to feel a shift in our mid twenties when we may have in our mid-teens 120 years ago. Our interests and priorities are meant to shift, but in a more granular sense the media I am/was interested in shifted around age 19-20. I more or less entirely got out of music, around 24 I toned way back on being a full-blown otaku freak (i haven't seen an image online yet that matches how anime-d up my old apartment was), and nowadays new games are getting less and less interesting although my interest in games as a whole is not diminishing.

Some of it may be biological that my brain wants to distance itself from childhood things and divert me towards MATING AND BREEDING. Or perhaps i'm shifting along with culture as much as I think I may be immune to groupthink? Maybe I got what I wanted out of music and watching anime 24/7. After getting engaged I realized how much I was using anime/music to fill a void rather than actually enjoying it. I'm not out of music or anime entirely by any means, and I still watch more than most self-described fans. I haven't been an adult for 10 years so I can't fully address your question, i feel. (Mantis prefers unpaid child labor to fill his website staff)

Excuse me because once again I am not exactly sober, so once again I'll just be giving the tl;dr answer.

tl;dr yes.

Nothing major, but one thing I certainly have lost interest in is going out. I don't mean completely, but the general idea of "yeah weekend let's go talk shit over a few pints!" in a large group now makes me physically sick. I've grown to hate crowds in cramped environments.

Originally Posted by Zemekis

Not sure how old you are, but yes i do feel it to an extent. Overall, people are reaching full-blown adulthood much later than they used to, so i don't think it's weird for us to feel a shift in our mid twenties when we may have in our mid-teens 120 years ago. Our interests and priorities are meant to shift, but in a more granular sense the media I am/was interested in shifted around age 19-20. I more or less entirely got out of music, around 24 I toned way back on being a full-blown otaku freak (i haven't seen an image online yet that matches how anime-d up my old apartment was), and nowadays new games are getting less and less interesting although my interest in games as a whole is not diminishing.

Some of it may be biological that my brain wants to distance itself from childhood things and divert me towards MATING AND BREEDING. Or perhaps i'm shifting along with culture as much as I think I may be immune to groupthink? Maybe I got what I wanted out of music and watching anime 24/7. After getting engaged I realized how much I was using anime/music to fill a void rather than actually enjoying it. I'm not out of music or anime entirely by any means, and I still watch more than most self-described fans. I haven't been an adult for 10 years so I can't fully address your question, i feel. (Mantis prefers unpaid child labor to fill his website staff)

LOL that last line was funny.

I am 30. So technically I have 12 years of "adulthood" under my belt. While I feel I matured a lot faster than other people around me (lost a number of friends because of it), I still feel like I hit the shift late and more than once. Maybe we grow and change depending on who is around us? Like the friends I had in my teens and early 20's would not be people I want to associate with because my lifestyle is a lot more recluse. I don't like going out to large social gatherings, I don't enjoy newer movies or music, most tv puts me off, I am not into sports, I don't drink... Basically, everything that is considered mainstream entertainment I am not interested in for the most part and I used to think this was what "growing up" was but most people my age, even older are still heavily into everything like this.

Originally Posted by KorinKitty

Basically, everything that is considered mainstream entertainment I am not interested in for the most part and I used to think this was what "growing up" was but most people my age, even older are still heavily into everything like this.

I've had the same experience in terms of those around me and growing up/passing by my peers in terms of adult oriented activity. I'm the only one out of my current friend group that is married, save for one outlier friend who is 40 and from another country. I'm 26, and historically speaking 26 is pretty ancient to be getting married/having kids. Hell, I'm the youngest in my friend group and most aren't even concerned about getting out of the house, dating, or owning any property. The dudes I was friends with in my first 2 years of college were 3-6 years older than me, but we got along because of video games and such so age didn't matter. That was until I looked at their lifestyles...closing in on 30 (31-32 in some cases), working as a waiter/piercing pagoda guy/UNEMPLOYED FOR 5 YEARS AND NOT APPLYING FOR WORK. That last guy moved to California in the end and just prays every day that they implement some kind of loan forgiveness. He wants YOU and I to eventually pay off his loans so he could spend age 25-35 playing super smash. He pays rent with his....mouth. We don't talk anymore. Off topic, but I just realized how hypocritical even I can be. That guy just wants to get through life by staying at home and

sucking dick

, which makes me think what a loser he is. Change that to a woman and it's wife material.

All that to say, yes I changed rather rapidly in terms of maturity from age 20 - 26. I have lost interest in several things, but I don't know if it was out of maturity or necessity to make room for things I need to do rather than like to do.

Relationships. Dated quite often as an older adolescent before I became an adult and now I've been single for a long time. It just doesn't bother me, nor do I seek validation from others for what I do with my life. In the grand scheme of things, nobody cares anyway. As for other things like entertainment, I used to watch more anime when I was younger (but I was never an avid watcher) and now I watch it every once in a while.

I don't play nearly as many video games and I suppose this one is quite closely tied to adulthood. I think a lot of it is tiredness, but as a teen I loved the satisfaction from winning, approaching the top of leaderboards, speedruns, so forth. Gaming was usually a competition but I also liked single player a lot. Now though, I don't really care about winning games. Saying that, that's the point, right? I just don't play that much multiplayer and would usually choose a single player game with a strong narrative. I wouldn't be able to go back to being a Doomer.

I like TV shows more than I did when I was younger. I think this offsets the lower interest in video games and anime. If I lack the energy or the care for a game, just use that time for a TV show...

Originally Posted by Zemekis

I've had the same experience in terms of those around me and growing up/passing by my peers in terms of adult oriented activity. I'm the only one out of my current friend group that is married, save for one outlier friend who is 40 and from another country. I'm 26, and historically speaking 26 is pretty ancient to be getting married/having kids. Hell, I'm the youngest in my friend group and most aren't even concerned about getting out of the house, dating, or owning any property. The dudes I was friends with in my first 2 years of college were 3-6 years older than me, but we got along because of video games and such so age didn't matter. That was until I looked at their lifestyles...closing in on 30 (31-32 in some cases), working as a waiter/piercing pagoda guy/UNEMPLOYED FOR 5 YEARS AND NOT APPLYING FOR WORK. That last guy moved to California in the end and just prays every day that they implement some kind of loan forgiveness. He wants YOU and I to eventually pay off his loans so he could spend age 25-35 playing super smash. He pays rent with his....mouth. We don't talk anymore. Off topic, but I just realized how hypocritical even I can be. That guy just wants to get through life by staying at home and

sucking dick

, which makes me think what a loser he is. Change that to a woman and it's wife material.

All that to say, yes I changed rather rapidly in terms of maturity from age 20 - 26. I have lost interest in several things, but I don't know if it was out of maturity or necessity to make room for things I need to do rather than like to do.

That last guy sounds like he is going to struggle for a long, long time. Nothing wrong with being a stay at home dad, but there is no kid in the picture... Or partner... Or job. He seems like he just wants to coast. I know quite a few people like that and it is sad. The younger people in my family all want free healthcare, $15 minimum wage, and free college but no one wants to work for it. Some people stay in that kind of mindset for like I guess.

Originally Posted by Mantis

Relationships. Dated quite often as an older adolescent before I became an adult and now I've been single for a long time. It just doesn't bother me, nor do I seek validation from others for what I do with my life. In the grand scheme of things, nobody cares anyway. As for other things like entertainment, I used to watch more anime when I was younger (but I was never an avid watcher) and now I watch it every once in a while.

I don't play nearly as many video games and I suppose this one is quite closely tied to adulthood. I think a lot of it is tiredness, but as a teen I loved the satisfaction from winning, approaching the top of leaderboards, speedruns, so forth. Gaming was usually a competition but I also liked single player a lot. Now though, I don't really care about winning games. Saying that, that's the point, right? I just don't play that much multiplayer and would usually choose a single player game with a strong narrative. I wouldn't be able to go back to being a Doomer.

I like TV shows more than I did when I was younger. I think this offsets the lower interest in video games and anime. If I lack the energy or the care for a game, just use that time for a TV show...

I don't care much about winning games either in terms of multiplayer but I still have fun. My husband doesn't have fun unless he is winning. I think that is a guy mindset when it comes to video games and anykind of sport in general. I have lost interest in a number of games though and struggle to find new ones I can really invest in an enjoy.

I have and I dislike it greatly. For me it is single player video games. I absolutely love video games and have every since I was very little. I could easily spend hours upon hours playing exploring the worlds, and tackling the long stories they had to tell. But as I got older I have less and less time to devote to single player games and end up finding myself playing more multiplayer games as it easier just to play a few matches of something before I have to stop. I just don't have the blocks of time like I used to, to gain traction and get immersed in games like God of War, Horizon Zero, and Nier Automata.

Originally Posted by Kokirininja

I have and I dislike it greatly. For me it is single player video games. I absolutely love video games and have every since I was very little. I could easily spend hours upon hours playing exploring the worlds, and tackling the long stories they had to tell. But as I got older I have less and less time to devote to single player games and end up finding myself playing more multiplayer games as it easier just to play a few matches of something before I have to stop. I just don't have the blocks of time like I used to, to gain traction and get immersed in games like God of War, Horizon Zero, and Nier Automata.

Hmmm...it doesn't sound to me like you've lost interest, more like you don't have the energy or motivation to take the plunge anymore because your life and schedule have become too hectic. I'm in the same place as you, but instead of cutting out single player games I cut out all multiplayer games to have even the slightest hope of keeping up with my backlog. Sure I'll get weird responses when a friend asks me if I'd like to get into Monster Hunter World together or log into World of Tanks...I turn them down every time. I need to keep up with Grandia and Lunar: Silver Star Story! Last night for wxample, I didn't finish everything I needed to do and settle down in the game room until 12:30am...on a work night...so I just tossed a quick half hour into my Dreamcast to reach the next save point in Grandia II.

Not having time to play games makes me MORE interested in the genre I enjoy rather than less. It's like being told I can't do something. Reverse psychology and all that.