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Man asks older folks for their biggest regrets and advice to their younger selves

This wisdom could save a lot of younger folks from chasing the wrong things.

older woman smiling at the camera
Photo by Ravi Patel on Unsplash

With age, comes wisdom (usually).

Have you ever sat and talked with an older person about their life and what they've learned in their decades of living? Talking with older people can give us a lot of wisdom and perspective that we otherwise couldn't get, which is why TikTok creator Yair Brachiyahu interviews people who are in their later years and asks them specific questions about their life experience.

Some of those questions include "What do you regret most in your life?" "What did you think was important when you were younger that you've realized isn't as important as you thought?" and "What advice would you give your younger self if you could go back in time?"

These are good questions to ponder at any age, but older folks' responses have a bit more weight to them. There's a certain amount of wisdom that comes with experience and having lived through various stages of life. And when you put lots of those responses together, certain themes emerge that might be valuable for younger people to take to heart.

Here's an interview Yair did with a 95-year-old woman that was particularly inspiring:

@yairbrachiyahu

95 Year Old Shares Her Biggest Regret #lifelessons #lifeadvice #interview #longervideos

Staying positive and upbeat is a common theme among centenarians who are asked how they've lived so long, so she may be onto something.

This 79-year-old's response was similar, and she also hit on the most common thing people say they thought was important when they were young but realized isn't actually.

@yairbrachiyahu

79 Year Old Shares Her Biggest Loss… #lifelessons #interview #lifeadvice #longervideos

So many older people say that they thought money and material possessions were important when they were young but have realized in their later years that as long as you have enough money to live, having more money and more things doesn't make you any happier.

@yairbrachiyahu

46 Years Married Couple Share What’s Really Important In Life… #interview #lifelessons #lifeadvice #longervideos

Of course, as some have pointed out, it's a lot easier to learn the lesson that money isn't important once you've had more than enough money. And if you don't have enough money to live comfortably, even if modestly, hearing that money isn't important can feel a bit off-putting.

But that doesn't change the fact that material wealth isn't the holy grail many people think it is. It's entirely possible to be rich and unhappy and entirely possible to be happy without a lot of money.

Listen to what this 78-year-old would go back and tell his younger self:

@yairbrachiyahu

78 Year Old Shares What’s REALLY Important In Life #interview #lifelessons #lifeadvice #longervideos

Over and over, the same lessons are shared by people who have been around the block a few times. Money isn't as important as you think it is beyond basic living expenses. Relationships with family, friends and loved ones are where true wealth lies. Health is vital and taking care of your body matters. Stay positive and live life with gratitude and appreciation.

Yair has interviewed dozens of people, mostly between ages 60 to 100, and their answers are all uniquely fascinating. You can watch more of these conversations on his TikTok channel.

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Joy

People born between 1954 and 1965 are thrilled to learn they're not boomers, but 'Gen Jones'

"Whaaat? There's a name for us? I have never felt like a real boomer—or Xer! I feel normal for once!"

Photo credits: Michelle Obama, Montclair Film, Georges Biard

Michelle Obama, Stephen Colbert and Michelle Yeoh are all Gen Jonesers.

The Silent Generation. Baby boomers. Gen X. Millennials. Gen Z. Gen Alpha. Social science and pop culture commentators have spent decades grouping and analyzing the different generations, assigning various qualities, habits and tendencies to each age group.

But some people don’t identify with their generation, or at least these particular categories of them. Those on the cusp between two generations often feel like neither aligns with who they are..

That’s where Generation Jones comes in.

Like the Xennials that straddle Gen X and millennials, Generation Jones are not quite boomers but not quite Gen X. For most of their lives, those born between 1954 and 1965 have been lumped in with the baby boomers, but culturally they’ve never quite fit. They were too young to be involved in the major civil rights, women’s liberation and Vietnam war movements of the 60s, instead witnessing those social upheavals through children’s eyes. But they were also too old to identify with the Gen X latchkey kid angst.

Jonathan Pontell is the television producer, director, and writer who named Generation Jones and explained what made them unique. “We fill the space between Woodstock and Lollapalooza, between the Paris student riots and the anti-globalisation protests, and between Dylan going electric and Nirvana going unplugged,” he wrote in Politico in 2009.

He also explained why Gen Jonesers make good leaders:

“What makes us Jonesers also makes us uniquely positioned to bring about a new era in international affairs. Our practical idealism was created by witnessing the often unrealistic idealism of the 1960s. And we weren’t engaged in that era’s ideological battles; we were children playing with toys while Boomers argued over issues. Our non-ideological pragmatism allows us to resolve intra-Boomer skirmishes and to bridge that volatile Boomer-GenXer divide. We can lead.”

Many Generation Jonesers have never felt like they had a generational home and are thrilled to learn they actually do have one. Check out how Upworthy readers responded with glee upon discovering they were a part of Gen Jones:

"Thank you! As a definite Gen Jones, I completely relate to this. To young to be a hippy, therefore was never a yuppy, but too old to be Gen X. Gen Jones works just fine."

"I have said for decades that I must be a transitional person into Gen X, because I don’t relate to boomers! I appreciate them, but I am not one of them. I am glad someone finally named my generation!"

"There are definite differences between people born in the 1940s/1950s and those of us born in the early 1960s. Most of us born in the early 1960s do not remember the JFK assassination and we were much too young to participate in Woodstock. The older Boomers were already established in their careers and as homeowners with families in the 1980s when we were in our 20s just starting out and ready to buy our first home. While the older Boomers experienced reasonable mortgage interest rates, the early 1960s Boomers faced mortgage interest rates averaging 14 percent in the 1980s which made it more difficult for us to buy our first home. We definitely need an additional group between Boomers and Gen X, and Generation Jones fits the bill."

"I was born 6 days before 1960…. I’ve felt out of touch with a lot of the boomer life descriptions, and not Gen X enough to fit in there. I’ll take Generation Jones."

"1957 here, with older siblings born before 1950. I definitely did not have the same experience growing up that they had. I feel I can identify a little with Boomers and a little with the Gen X experience, so there’s some overlap. (BTW, Gen X needs to stop claiming that they’re the first to have experienced all the things we grew up with. Kids, you didn’t invent drinking out of the garden hose or playing outside until the streetlights came on. Sheesh!) Glad to be a Joneser."

"Of course there is a difference between people raised in the 1950’s and people raised and coming of age in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Society changed a lot in those three decades."

"This is my generation but I never knew we had a name! The description fits perfectly."

Congrats on finding your people, Gen Jones. It's your time to shine.

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Joy

‘Didn’t qualify for the Olympics’ sports fail videos are even better than the real events

So much more relatable than the actual Olympics.

Photo by Oliver Sjöström/Pexels

Not everyone can be an Olympian.

Watching the Olympics is always an inspiring reminder of the incredible human ability to push the boundaries of excellence and achievement in sports. It can also be a good reminder of the utter inability the vast majority of us have to even come close to the feats those athletes perform.

There's a funny phenomenon with the Olympics where we all become overnight armchair experts in every sport, critiquing diving teams' synchronicity and rock climbers' foot placement and gymnasts' landings as if we have any idea what we're talking about. And there's also the phenomenon where, somewhere in our bodies, we feel like we might actually be able to do backflips on a balance beam or butterfly stroke our way across a pool or run 100 meters in 10 seconds.

Of course, the truth is we can't. It takes years and years of intense training to be able to do what Olympians do, and the rest of us aren't even in the same universe of skill and physical ability as they are. That's where the "didn't quality for the 2024 Olympics" viral video trend comes in, offering a hilariously humbling reality check for us all.

When elite athletes make their sport look easy, it's easy to forget how hard what they do actually is. Seeing people blunder their way through it, though, makes the difficulty painfully clear. So when people started sharing videos of sports fails on social media, tagging them with the captions along the lines of, "Unfortunately didn't qualify for the 2024 Olympic team," it became a hilarious viral celebration of human un-achievement.

For instance, this:


@sky.to.swaggy

surprised they didnt ask me to come out of retirement 🤷‍♀️ If @Simone Biles comments I’ll go back to gymnastics #olympics2024paris #gymnastics #simonebiles


And this:

@bellitabaute

Training for LA 2028!! #2024olympics

And this:

@sweetpotatoes2006

maybe next olympics😢

Sometimes you don't make it because maybe you're just a little too powerful.

@marshalls_life

i gave it my best shot tho! #paris2024 #olympics #fail #fyp


This girl is all of us after watching the diving events, mistakenly thinking we could do some of what they do.

@www.ihaveacrushonyou

maybe next year ! 😪#olympics #iwillbethenextsteelejohnson or #simonebiles

From high jump and pole vault fails to balls and bodies bouncing in ways they aren't supposed to, this trend has people wincing but rolling at the examples of why Olympians are Olympians and the rest of us are the rest of us.

Of course, even Olympic athletes have epic fails of their own sometimes, which only serves to prove how difficult it is to get to their level but and execute their skills perfectly each time. All the more reason to appreciate their talent and hard work and perhaps to be a bit humbler in our critiques from the couch.

Here's to humans who do extraordinary things—and to humans who find humor in all the epic fails it takes to get there.

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Science

See what researchers found when they tested a bottle of Fiji Water against a glass of tap water.

Is bottled water REALLY all that bad?

via Free Stock Photos

A young woman drinking bottled water outdoors before exercising.



The Story of Bottled Waterwww.youtube.com

Here are six facts from the video above by The Story of Stuff Project that I'll definitely remember next time I'm tempted to buy bottled water.

1. Bottled water is more expensive than tap water (and not just a little).

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube


A Business Insider column noted that two-thirds of the bottled water sold in the United States is in individual 16.9-ounce bottles, which comes out to roughly $7.50 per gallon. That's about 2,000 times higher than the cost of a gallon of tap water.

And in an article in 20 Something Finance, G.E. Miller investigated the cost of bottled versus tap water for himself. He found that he could fill 4,787 20-ounce bottles with tap water for only $2.10! So if he paid $1 for a bottled water, he'd be paying 2,279 times the cost of tap.

2. Bottled water could potentially be of lower quality than tap water.

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

Fiji Water ran an ad campaign that was pretty disparaging about the city of Cleveland. Not a wise move. The city ordered a test of the snooty brand's water and found that Fiji Water contained levels of arsenic that weren't seen in the city's water supply.

How was that possible? Sarah Goodman of the New York Times explains:

" Bottled water manufacturers are not required to disclose as much information as municipal water utilities because of gaps in federal oversight authority. Bottom line: The Food and Drug Administration oversees bottled water, and U.S. EPA is in charge of tap water. FDA lacks the regulatory authority of EPA."

3. The amount of bottled water we buy every week in the U.S. alone could circle the globe five times!

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

That sounded like it just had to be impossible, so we looked into it. Here's what our fact-checkers found:

"According to the video, ' People in the U.S. buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week.' National Geographic says for 2011, bottled water sales hit 9.1 billion gallons (roughly 34 billion liters).

A 'typical' water bottle is a half-liter, so that's about 68 billion bottles per year. Divided by 52 weeks would be a little over 1 billion bottles of water sold per week in the U.S. Because that's based on a smaller 'typical' bottle size, it seems reasonable that a half billion bottles a week could be accurate.

The Earth is about 131.5 million feet around, so yep, half a billion bottles of varying sizes strung end-to-end could circle the Earth five times."

4. Paying for bottled water makes us chumps.

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

Beverage companies have turned bottled water into a multibillion-dollar industry through a concept known as manufactured demand. Bottled water advertisements used a combination of scare tactics (Tap water bad!) and seduction (From the purest mountain streams EVER!) to reel us in.

Well, we now know their claims about the superior quality of bottled water are mostly bogus. And research shows that anywhere from a quarter to 45% of all bottled water comes from the exact same place as your tap water (which, to reiterate, is so cheap it's almost free).

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

5. Bottled water is FILTHY.

It takes oil — lots of it — to make plastic bottles. According to the video, the energy in the amount of oil it takes to make the plastic water bottles sold in the U.S. in one year could fuel a million cars. That's not even counting the oil it takes to ship bottled water around the world.

And once we've guzzled our bottled water, up to 80% of the empty bottles end up in landfills or noxious-gas-producing incinerators. The rest is either recycled or shipped to countries like India where poor people without environmental and labor protections have to deal with it.

On top of all that, the process of manufacturing plastic bottles is polluting public water supplies, which makes it easier for bottled water companies to sell us their expensive product.

6. There are 750 million people around the world who don't have access to clean water.

Photo by H2O for Life.

A child dies every minute from a waterborne disease. And for me, that's the core of what makes bottled water so evil.

The video wraps by comparing buying bottled water to smoking while pregnant. That may sound extreme, but after learning everything I just did about the bottled water industry, I can't disagree.

via The Story of Stuff Project/YouTube

If you're properly disgusted, here are a few ways you can help destroy the bottled water industry:

  1. Don't buy bottled water. Get a reusable water bottle. The savings will add up.
  2. Rally your schools, workplaces, and communities to ban bottled water.
  3. Demand that your city, state, and federal governments invest in better water infrastructure.


This article originally appeared on 5.7.15

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'Thank you for believing her': Mechanic makes discovery helping woman afraid of stalker

She was right to trust her instincts.

via Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

A mechanic looks under a woman's car.

A video posted by a mechanic who goes by Tooey’s Garage on TikTok shows why it’s so important to listen to people who fear they are in danger. It’s also a great reminder that when you suspect something creepy is going on, tell someone about it.

It all started when a woman came to Tooey’s Garage because she thought her car had a tracker attached. "The customer stated that she suspected a tracker was in her vehicle and asked if we could take a look,” Tooey captioned the video.

Apple AirTags and Tiles allow people to attach a small tag to their important items (car keys, wallet, luggage, cars, etc.) to track them if they get lost. The tags report back to an app that allows you to find them on a map. If these items are stolen, the owners can make the tag chirp so the thieves know they’re being tracked.

However, people can use these tags for nefarious reasons, such as stalking people by placing them on their cars. This allows them to know wherever their victim may be whenever they leave the house.

airtags, tiles, tracker devideTile tracker devices.via Dennis Sylvester Hurd/Flickr

The woman who came to Tooey’s Garage said she got an alert on her phone that an “unidentifiable tile” was following her around. So Tooey searched the inside of her car for hours and found nothing. Then he put the car up on a rack and searched the underside, where he found a tracker wrapped in duct tape and attached to the vehicle in a magnetic hide-a-key box.

The woman told Tooey that the person she suspected was stalking her had put trackers on other people’s cars as well.

@tooeys.garage

Customer stated that she suspected a tracker was in her vehicle, and asked if we could take a look. We looked inside 1st then put it on a lift once one opened up. The tile tracker was attached under the car in a magnetic key box. #creepy #creeper #stalker #mechanicsoftiktok #mechanic #fypage #gethelp @Life360 @Tile #fixed #life360

“If you feel like someone might be creeping on you and stalking you, maybe see if your local shop can take a look. Hopefully, they won’t think you’re crazy, but it does actually happen,” Tooey said at the end of the video.

People in the video's comments praised the mechanic for taking the woman’s concerns seriously and doing whatever he could to find the tracker. “Y'all are awesome for not only believing her but also helping her!” one commenter wrote. “Thank you for believing her AND being so thorough!” another added.

One commenter made a great point: trackers should be traceable back to the purchaser to prevent stalking. “The owner should be able to have that device tracked back to the purchaser and have them charged with stalking!” they wrote.

Tooey’s video has been seen over 3 million times, and it’s an important warning for people to get their cars looked at immediately if they have even the slightest suspicion that they’re being tracked. It’s also a great example for mechanics to take action if someone comes into their shop looking for a tracker because they could be in great danger.

Kudos to Tooey for going out of his way to help the woman by spending much of his workday trying to locate the tracker. Without his help, the situation could have turned tragic.







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Internet

Millennials bond over these 16 'old people hills' they'd gladly die on

Long live skinny jeans, laptops for big purchases and using your blinker!

Photo credit: Canva

Maybe we're getting old, but that doesn't mean we're wrong.

There comes a point in every adult’s life when suddenly everything younger generations are doing seems baffling, if not downright annoying. You’re convinced that the ways things were done back in your day were better, and, of course, you’re gonna complain a bit.

And that’s when the harsher reality sets in—you’re old.

But don’t fret. After all, getting older is a gift not given to everyone. Plus, you won’t be alone in your grumblings. Especially when we’ve got the internet.

Recently, someone by the username @Thel200ster recently asked millennials on Reddit to name their “old person hill” they’d gladly die on.

The OP started with text message “reactions,” which have apparently ”gotten so out of hand.”

They continued, “Younger people I text seem to think you have to attach a reaction to every text message, be it a haha, a heart, a thumbs up, a !!, or what have you. It’s gotten to the point that I’m worried about people thinking I’m rude for not using them.

But they suck. My ‘reaction’ to your text message is my reply. It feels so reductive and Orwellian and I hate how limiting and canned these responses are. Back in my day we used words to communicate our feelings!”

Is this resonating just a bit? Congrats, you’re old! And there’s even more “old people hills” to die on where that came from.

Here are some of our faves:

1.“No, you cannot listen to music / videos / calls / whatever in public without headphones.” -u/Yman_j

u/ZelnormWow added:

“I so get why boomers hated GenX and their boom boxes now. Our lord and savior Sony Walkman did not come to earth and give his life so I have to listen to you watch the same 45 second TikTok on loop for 15 minutes.”



via GIPHY


2. “Social media was better when it only showed you relevant content from friends/followed pages, and allowed you to sort by most recent so your longest scrolling session would last 10-20 minutes.” -u/ Zonda1996

3. “New car headlights are too damn bright” -u/pnwerewolf

“My astigmatisms agree!!!” quipped u/Tiny_Independence761

On the subject of cars…

4. A car’s turn signal should ALWAYS be used to signal a turn. Yes, I’m talking about you Steve when you say ‘well I don’t see anyone around’ YOU DON’T KNOW THAT FOR SURE, STEVE.” -u/falconwolverine

5. “STOP SPEEDING IN NEIGHBORHOODS AND PUT YOUR DAMN PHONE DOWN!” -u/Typical80sKid


via GIPHY


6. “I hate downloading an ap for every frickin’ thing. I ain’t clogging up my phone just for 1 baseball game ticket. Email to me a PDF of my ticket yo.” -u/beekaybeegirl

u/BrokenLink100 added:

“I went to a restaurant once where they had the QR codes for menus. That doesn’t bother me as long as the online menu has been properly formatted for mobile devices. But this QR code took you to the Apple Store to download the restaurant’s app just so you could view the menu. I asked for a physical menu, and the waitress said “oh our menu is on our app!” Like it was a totally acceptable thing. We ended up going someplace else anyway.”

7. “Not everything needs to be recorded/photographed and posted online. Whether it’s for good, taking excessive vacation pictures or for bad, like recording arguments between strangers.” -u/Li-IonClub

“Your lips to God’s ears. I also feel passionately about this one. People need to come to grips with the fact that driving is BY FAR the most dangerous thing people do on a regular basis,” the OP commented.

8. “If I say something to you, I'd like an acknowledgement that you heard me.” -u/pie_12th


via GIPHY


9. “Manners. Manners go a long way. Having and using manners make you feel good. It is about respecting other humans beings and showing them that you do. It feels good to be polite, respectful, and generous. Manners are not disingenuous. They help others feel welcome, comfortable, appreciated, and at ease. Always use ‘please,’ ‘thank you,’ hold doors open for people. Acknowledge others, be considerate of other people. Wish others well. Don’t be afraid to smile first. Think of how your actions impact others. Think of the next person. Be kind. Help others feel appreciated for sharing this existence with you.” -u/Jocelyn_Jade

10. “I am not instantly available at any waking moment just because it is technically possible for me to see your message immediately on my electronic device. If we didn't have prior plans to be in contact, please allow 24-48 hours for response to all non-emergency communications.” -u/KuriousKhemicals

11. “I hate dealing with touchscreen keyboards. I don't think I'll ever be able to type on them nearly as fast as I can on a physical keyboard.” -u/lahdetaan_tutkimaan

Speaking of tech…

12. “Important stuff is reserved for laptops and computers. Booking a flight, studying for an exam, etc.” -u/ThatEmoNumbersNerd

13. “We do not need to follow every single trend we see on the internet.Just because it's a trend does not mean you must do it.No, you DON'T need the new expensive super big gulp metal cup that comes in an array of colors.No, you DON'T need to buy a bunch of clear plastic/glass containers to restock your fridge/pantry when food ALREADY comes in containers.No, you DON'T need make your home look like it came from a magazine or sad beige channel.No, you DON'T need a 100 step skincare routine.No, you DON'T need to get filler just because your face is maturing out of teen hood.Trends come and go, and thanks to our ever shortening attention spans, they go almost as soon as they come.Pretty soon, people will regret spending all their time and money on those trends and then move on to the next big trend that will leave them equally, if not more, unfulfilled.Just be happy with what you have.” -u/Spookybeagle

With similar gusto, u/Archeressrabbit wrote:

"Kiddo, you can't change your style every two weeks and attach core to a random buzzword. You need to look into your soul, your lifestyle, your likes and dislikes, and make boundaries about what goes on your body. I hate to go back in my day, but back in my day when we were goth, we only had the power of our imaginations and our DIY skills to create a look. We ripped fishnets, shredded jeans, raided Halloween stores army surplus and thrift stores, learned to sew, forgot to hem, held our clothes together with safety pins and hot glue, used white out on our combat boots, made our jewelry, used copious amounts of eyeliner and dyed our hair with kool-aid and splat. We made our styles ourselves. If we did buy something, we either had to save up for docs and Tripp pants, and God forbid you were Lolita because those dresses started at 500 dollars in those days."

Of course, millennial folks felt differently about their own clothing trends. -u/Notaninterestingcat declared “My black leggings will have to be pulled from my cold dead hands.”


via GIPHY


14. “Tips should be for sit down meals in restaurants only. I should not be asked to tip at random places like a clothing store or when I get my oil changed.” -u/New_Ad_7170

15. “Kids need to stop ‘diagnosing’ themselves with all sorts of mental health conditions…There is a reason why we have diagnostic criteria…So many kids I meet are self-diagnosing based on a 30-second TikTok they saw. Many 20-somethings I know are doing it as well.On a related note, the overuse and misuse of ‘therapy language’ also needs to stop…Like, come on.” - u/dribdrib

Lastly, but perhaps most important of all…

16. “The way that Gen Z makes hearts with their hands makes me deeply unsettled.” -u/TheRainbowConnection

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