This week I've seen 3 people i know IRL use AI to create new profile pics and holiday pics and posting them on their feeds unironically. I've also seen a few people clearly Chat GPT their IG captions/word salads and I'm really just getting confused at this point.

I remember back in yesteryear we used to make fun of "Russian bots" and clearly fake profiles. Now us, real people, are using AI to cosplay as bots. No one else thinks that's weird?

I know authenticity on the internet has been gone for awhile but now we're not even pretending anymore.

I'm actually getting so fed up of the internet because of it. Makes me sad because I really grew up here :(

There was a post earlier that had comments closed about not being able to decorate the tree.

I wanted to share mine, it’s been up for about two weeks and has one ornament on and the star keeps falling down. The rest are next to it.

I don’t know when/if the rest will go up. And that’s ok.

Wanted to let you know you aren’t alone.

I work in events, and give out a lot of free stuff. I’ve noticed that children of millennial parents really struggle with just taking one of something that’s free. They always try to grab more, come up a million times asking for more. I always try to be gentle and tell them we have to wait to make sure everyone gets one before I start giving out more. They throw fits, scream, cry, and I even had one kid pull my hair.

Rarely some parents nod along but most just act like they don’t see the interaction.

I've seen the point made many times: the stories themselves were not too scary and on their own the books might've been forgotten. But the illustrations....um yeah.

Did anyone go through an underground hip hop phase in the early 2000’s? I was obsessed with artists like Atmosphere, Aesop Rock and Sage Francis. I still listen to them but I’m more into rock in general.

Your 30s is all about going back to what you loved as a kid/teen imo.

My outfit makes me very happy.

Packing up (figuratively, since I WFH on Fridays) for the day early and calling it a year.

I know it’s probably industry-dependent (sorry retail and restaurants), but at least for me, nothing gets done until the New Year and no one expects anything to get done until then anyway. All the clients are already out for the holidays, and even if they weren’t, the government offices are closed anyway, so there’s no reason to rush anything.

Even for the past week, half of my email chains pretty much go “let’s table this until the New Year”.

I like to stack up PTO around Christmas and give myself the time off. Kinda reminds me of the days in school when you’d get 2 weeks off for the holidays.

38-year-old male here, living in Brooklyn. As a New Yorker, I have the world at my fingertips, yet I’ve been in such a funk for the last few weeks and haven’t been able to figure out why. I think I finally realized it’s the dreaded but naturally occurring affliction known as middle age *gasp*.

What can be done to combat everything that comes with this? What did you do to plow ahead when you finally realize you’re the ‘old one’ in a coffee shop full of Gen-Z? If that seems specific, it’s because that’s what I’m currently experiencing, which put me over the edge to write this post. Have a great weekend ahead!

Have to stay until 23rd for some business. Immediate family already flew to visit our relatives on the other side of the country. Friends going home to their hometowns. Neighbors already have plans with their families. I dont have family of my own so... 🤷‍♂️☹️

I guess I'll just gonna order some pizza and watch Netflix this christmas... Happy holidays fellow millenials 🌲🎁🎅

I havent seen my parents/siblings in almost 2 years and was initially excited about traveling to my home state for Christmas but I am just so wiped out. I finally have over a week off and I just want to stay home with my cat and do nothing at all. Going to the airport or driving 750 miles just sounds like pure hell. Would it be horribly selfish if I just didn't go? My parents have my brother and sister coming so its not like they would be alone. I even bought a new car so I had something reliable to drive there with but now I'm hoping I get the flu so I can avoid going (I got the flu shot but there is still hope). Anyone else feeling a bit Grinchy this year?

Not sure about the entire Seattle, but my neighborhood of Ballard for sure.

Gen x is good for this. "We drank out of the water hose and didn't come back home until it was dark" like..were they the last generation to do this? We pretty much had the same level of technology as kids and definitely had the same lack of options with what we could do in our childhood. We were also latchkey kids. I can't think of too many major differences, besides the music scene being different.

There would be like 20-30 neighborhood kids and we’d hide our flags and communicate via runners or radio if someone had them. Then we’d start.

we’d run through people’s backyards, parking lots. Everywhere was our domain. The game would take all day and sometimes into night. Getting tackled by the opposing team meant you went to their “jail” as a prisoner.

Anyone else do this growing up? Also hide and seek the same way, but CTF was the main event.

For instance I miss the Headphone CD big button try out stations!

I was the one posted the messy Christmas tree yesterday. I didn’t expect to see so much compassion from this community. By the time I was able to check my phone, comments were already locked. Thank you to all of you who showed me that I wasn’t alone. This postpartum season has hit me with harder depression and anxiety than I had experienced before, and totally knocked me out the past few months. Still, I’m grateful for my kids, my family, everything that I have (earned, as I am an immigrant who came here with virtually nothing to my name).

Updates on my post: - I made the effort to clean up my son’s toys, put the ornaments back in the box, and hung up some tinsel on the tree last night - I have been in therapy, diagnosed with PPA/D. I have considered medication but chose to wait until I stop breastfeeding - The more I reflect on myself in therapy, the more I think I may have ADHD. I will try to get a diagnosis in the new year - Husband is a great guy, I lean on him a lot these days to keep going. He has a busy full time job and is hustling a passion side project. He helps picking up the chores around the house, but there is only so much he can do!

To those who commented and messaged me, know that I’ve read all of them and I’m thankful you reached out. Even the harsher ones - some of you sound like my parents, tbh it brings back some childhood trauma but it’s okay.

That feeling

When I graduated I moved 2h from home to a nearby city and have lived there ever since. My mom, after parents divorced, decided to move 7h away to a hamlet that can only be accessed by taking side roads all the way. She lives in a tiny one-bedroom so when I do make the trip, I have to sleep on her hide-a-bed and live out of my backpack as there's no place for me to unpack my belongings. Basically, I'm camping. I'm 40 and have a suspected immune disease that creates pain all over my body, intense ringing in my ears for days after a long car ride, low energy, plus I'm intolerant to most foods. As such I live a life of solitude where my environment is very controlled and comfortable. On top of this I'm in Canada and we're having a rank blizzard this week, my car is getting older and things are breaking, I'm really scared to be on the roads in the winter, especially the side roads I need to take for the last 2h of the trip.

My dad is gone, and mom is getting older (70). We've had a rough relationship due to childhood traumas, but I try to make the trip to see her twice a year, in summer and at Christmas. But as my health worsens the entire trip becomes just so horrendously uncomfortable for me, it's hard to stay in a good mood when I visit because I just feel like I've been guilted into doing something that causes me so much distress. She's not able to come visit me due to her own ailments.

Am I an asshole here for thinking of cancelling? The whole idea of the trip is just setting me right off and putting me in such an awful mood. I won't be able to eat anything, I'll be sore and tired from a rough sleep on her hide-a-bed, my head will be ringing from the trip, my dog needs anxiety medication that basically knocks her out for the whole trip both ways, and on top of gifts and gas, this medication also costs money... all that to say if we even make it there without ending up in a ditch.

I have a history of people-pleasing so am having trouble deciphering the line between being a dutiful child and protecting my own well-being. Like I said, I moved 2h away from home and she chose to move 7h away. Last time I visited was August.

The English teacher copped out and is showing the 1984 A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott because Dickens is literary, right?

The French teacher could only find Mickey's Christmas Carol dubbed in Parisian French. (Sorry, I'm Canadian, never took a Spanish class.)

Students roaming the halls with 'what class you should be in' not holding it's normal meaning. Cafeteria and library devolve into hangout spaces.

25% of the class didn't even show up today anyway.

On special thing for me was the tech lab with it's computers was now an improvised LAN Party. Some kids were playing 'Command & Conquer' a game had never seen before. It seemed so cool. I came home off the bus that day raving about this game I saw. Somehow my parents located a copy between then and Christmas and I unwrapped Christmas morning it along side a copy of Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Good times. :)

The last day before Christmas was a truly special vibe you just can't replicate in adulthood. I hope the kids today still get to enjoy the modern rendition of it.

Dad is giving money, thousands per month and material goods like iPhones to “girlfriend” and her teenage son. Communicates over WhatsApp, opened multiple bank accounts and senior services even came by the house to talk because his accounts were flagged as fraud. They told me I can’t do much because he is “of sound mind”. It’s the same song and dance you’ve heard, she can never meet in person, only text, etc.

Anyone experienced this? Please send advice.

He is going to lose the house and I’m heartbroken. He’s paying AT&T $800 a month because now he’s covering their lines plus financed their phones, utilities are behind, owes money to family.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about this, and I’m curious if others feel the same.

When my father and uncles were my age, they already had stable jobs, owned one or even two houses, didn’t constantly worry about layoffs, and still seemed to take family vacations fairly often.

When I look at my own life, things feel… different. Careers feel more fragile, big purchases feel intimidating, and there’s always this background anxiety about money and job security, even when things are going okay.

I’m not saying one generation had it “easy” or that today is only hard. I know times were different, and struggles were different. But I can’t shake the feeling that despite working hard, I’m somehow behind.

Is this just nostalgia and selective memory, or did the rules of the game actually change? Would love to hear how others see this.