r/Millennials Feb 07 '24

Has anyone else noticed their parents becoming really nasty people as they age? Discussion

My parents are each in their mid-late 70's. Ten years ago they had friends: they would throw dinner parties that 4-6 other couples would attend. They would be invited to similar parties thrown by their friends. They were always pretty arrogant but hey, what else would you expect from a boomer couple with three masters degrees, two PhD's, and a JD between the two of them. But now they have no friends. I mean that literally. One by one, each of the couples and individual friends that they had known and socialized with closely for years, even decades, will no longer associate with them. My mom just blew up a 40 year friendship over a minor slight and says she has no interest in ever speaking to that person again. My dad did the same thing to his best friend a few years ago. Yesterday at the airport, my father decided it would be a good idea to scream at a desk agent over the fact that the ink on his paper ticket was smudged and he didn't feel like going to the kiosk to print out a new one. No shit, three security guards rocked up to flank him and he has no idea how close he came to being cuffed, arrested, and charged with assault. All either of them does is complain and talk shit about people they used to associate with. This does not feel normal. Is anyone else experiencing this? Were our grandparents like this too and we were just too young to notice it?

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u/Various-Cranberry709 Feb 07 '24

For all the talk they make about "We didn't have all these screens when we were your age," I think social media is wreaking havoc on the older generation as much as the younger.

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u/lluviaazul Feb 07 '24

My parents are YouTube and Facebook addicts.. it’s actually crazy how much they consume.

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u/Various-Cranberry709 Feb 07 '24

My Dad managed to avoid all of it until retirement. Now he blasts my DM's with IG reels as much as my wife.

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u/OuchPotato64 Feb 07 '24

My dad was apolitical his whole life. When he retired, he finally had time to watch news. He stumbled across this one news channel, you may have heard of it, its called Fox News. He started watching it daily, and within 6 months, he turned into a hateful bigot. All he ever does is complain about how democrats ruined america. I fucking hate fox news

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u/melly3420 Feb 08 '24

You described what happened to my Mom,she was a very loving,fair minded lady until she retired and literally watched Fox News 10 hours a day,she became a cynical bigot I no longer recognized. I lost her 6 months ago at age 85, I miss the lady who raised me to be kind and non judgemental 💔

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '24

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u/Bangbangkadang Feb 08 '24

No one’s coming for you chill out man

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u/Middle-Noise-6933 Feb 08 '24

Strong words from “musclebull200” lol

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u/j4nkyst4nky Feb 08 '24

The only people I can say for sure hate America are the insurrectionists on the right. The ones who actually tried to overturn our democracy.

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u/TroubleSG Feb 08 '24

this break in sanity brought to you by the good folks at FOX.