I am doing my darnedest not to become a "get off my lawn" sort of seasoned citizen, but I do

[Atticus]

sometimes feel like a fossil when trying to communicate with today's "up-and-comers".

It is mostly my fault. I start with a multitude of unjustified assumptions about them. If I just stop and think about it---which I seldom do--- there is no reason for them to understand what "dialing" a phone means. Or, for that matter, what in the world a "phone booth" is or what "long distance charges" might be.

The same thing goes for "broken record", "LP" and "stacks of wax".

And if you really want go see them glance at each other and roll their eyes, mention a song titled "Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel", a band named "Strawberry Alarm Clock" or movies titled "A Clockwork Orange" or "I Am Curious, Yellow".

To be fair, I am sure I wore the same expression when I was asked if I knew how to "air drop" a song from one phone to another.

Sigh-------I AM a fossil.

[LakeArenal]

1. Haha. I spent decades working with college students.

I remember ….

They did not know Paul McCartney was in the Beatles. And only a very vague knowledge of Ringo Starr. (“He’s in some band, right?”)

[Irish_Dem]

10. Once a young person asked me if I knew that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings.

I was dumbfounded.

[Not Heidi]

24. . . . .

[3catwoman3]

19. Maybe they saw Ringo as one of the conductors in...

...Thomas The Tank.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. My son, the engineer/tech/math braniac

Asked me how do you mail a snail mail letter.

[Irish_Dem]

11. My daughter, straight A college science major, asked me where did people buy stamps to mail letters.

She was with a friend and I said DO NOT LOOK IT UP ONLINE.

Put your thinking cap on girls. Where do you buy US stamps?

They could not even imagine the answer.

I guess I failed as a parent.

[Captain Zero]

22. Gave my granddaughter a letter to mail,

She was in the car with me. I had something to mail. I asked her to get out of car and mail it at a postal drop box. One of the blue ones you will see in a commercial area.

She was confused which one was US Mail, because there was a UPS and a FedEx box at the location. THEN. She did not know how to pull the handle and insert the letter in the door to drop in the box. No clue at all.

We got through it and she knows how to mail a letter now. This happened when she was 14. She's 17 now.

[Vinca]

3. Today I was at the grocery store, patiently waiting with my goods on the conveyor

belt while a young woman with a big bill tried to use her phone to somehow pay for the order. She tried a few times and whatever she was doing - it looked like she was whacking it on the terminal - wasn't working. Then she dragged out the card that is apparently associated with the card and did something with it that didn't involve swiping or chips. The working retiree who was operating the register looked at me with a grin and rolled her eyes and I got the message. Finally, something the young woman did worked and she proceeded on her way. When it was my turn, I told the cashier I was going to do something totally old fashioned: pay with cash. We both laughed. I seem to always feel like a fossil at that grocery store. Last week I was behind a young woman wearing a tour sweatshirt of a band I'd never heard of. She proceeded to tell me they'd been around for about 10 years. Oh, well.

[jimfields33]

6. Swiping is pretty easy. A heck of a lot better then the chip method.

[yellowdogintexas]

15. I have mastered the CHIP business

but that tap business just makes me nuts.

Even at the Costco Gas Pump

[jimfields33]

17. Please tell me.

Seriously, I have to shove it in three times to get it to “register”. Sometimes I even have to wipe it on my shirt. Drives me nuts!

[ProfessorGAC]

18. There Are Card Quality Issues, For Sure

There's an independent bank here that is the most popular bank in town. One of debit cards is from there.
I have regular issues with that card, but local merchants tell me it happens a lot with bank's cards. So, whoever makes that Visa debit for US Debit Card has a problem.
What I don't like about the tap feature (my other debit card) is not knowing how the "no PIN" ceiling is set. I don't know how much it is, and I can't find anything at the bank website to find out, or how to set it where I want it.
Not that I'm in the habit of losing cards, but the ability to purchase without a PIN seems like a security gap.

[yellowdogintexas]

20. sometimes it is the card reader. I sometimes have

issues with my debit card at Sprouts. One night I gave up and paid with my Costco card. Went 2 doors down for something else and the debit card worked fine.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. I can Believe That

But, this bank's cards are problematic all over town. There are only 3 banks here. The merchants know which cards are used. There's only about 7,000 peo0le in town.
I have a 2nd debit card from the credit union (our primary account) and I've never had to swipe it after a chip failure. So, I don't think it's the reader.

[Captain Zero]

23. I 'discovered' the band, 'Keane', a couple years ago

My granddaughter told me they've been around long enough to be an oldies group.

[Vinca]

26. The band what??

Dinosaur alert.

[debm55]

4. Atticus, I guess I'm a fossil too. I remember three of the four you mentioned. Don't remember Pigeon

toed Orange Peel.

[rsdsharp]

8. I don't either, and I worked in radio for eleven years.

I had to look it up. I wish I hadn’t.

[Delmette2.0]

5. I am reminded of two youngsters.

When i told my younger son who was about 15 years old in the late 90's to make a phone phone call. He found the phone but didn't know what to do. It was a rotary phone.
He did show his grandmother how to send a text message about 12 years after that. Her first job was delivering telegrams on a bicycle.

At work we needed to type out some emergency checks because of a delivery mistake. Our newest employee was given the task. We found a typewriter but she didn't know how to use an electric typewriter. She was also a quick learner and typist.

[Irish_Dem]

12. My daughter went to London on a college trip and sent me a picture of herself in a red phone booth.

One of those old fashioned ones still standing in London I guess.

She and her friends were lined up to get pictures.
Asking all their parents to guess what they were standing in.

My daughter thought I wouldn't know what it was.

[Delmette2.0]

14. LOL

Every once in a while we get to show them how much we really know.

[Irish_Dem]

16. Right, she asked me how I knew what it was.

She was surprised because I answered her right away, matter of factly.
Didn't have to guess, etc.

Funny.

[rubbersole]

7. I won a Masters pool in April with my brother's group of friends and their kids...

They wanted my PayPal account or venmo or one other I don't remember. I said just send me a check. I ended up with a post office money order a month later. My nephew said he hadn't written a check for 10 years and didn't have any.

[redstatebluegirl]

9. My husband reluctantly got a Venmo account.

He has a group of grad and undergrad students who have never written a check, never pay cash and some cannot remember visiting a bank.

[panader0]

13. I'm with you Atticus--'Incense and Peppermints': Strawberry Alarm Clock

[Not Heidi]

25. I haven't watched the video, but the still image . . .

The white blur looks to me like a tissue sticking up out of a round beige tissue box decorated with paisleys.

[malthaussen]

27. When people ask my age, I say I was born when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn...

... and then a young whippersnapper replied "The Dodgers were in Brooklyn?"

I suppose it would be the same if I said there were 48 states when I was born...

-- Mal

[Prairie_Seagull]

28. Man, I feel your pain, wait, what was i saying.

I know, I know. Funny not funny, but come on, mostly funny.

[Coventina]

29. I'm GenX, but here's the thing I don't understand about the "youngsters".

Do they never watch TV, Movies, or read books?

I've never sent a telegram, but I know what they were and how the system worked.

I've never worn a corset, but I know what one is, and would recognize one if I saw one.

I've never used a party-line, but I know what one is.

I've never used a horse and buggy, but I know how they worked.

How is it that these younger generations are so ignorant of anything that came before their time?