
The big 3-0. For some reason, turning 30 years old has become a very scary thing.
The past two years in particular have been very strange one's to turn the milestone age. Cosmopolitan interviewed a few people who turned 30 turning the pandemic.
One person said:
"Turning 30 is the point at which we're pressured to feel it 'all coming together.'"
Because no one had anything to do on their birthdays, and their once vibrant lives were on pause, that quarter-life crisis feeling wasn't as heavy. They were able to let go of the things they thought they needed in their 20s.
We went to Ask Reddit to learn more about what those things were that needed to change once you hit that magic number.
Redditor Tbonewiz wanted to know:
"What something you should never do after age 30?"
Here's some of Reddit's best suggestions.
Maintaining friendships as an adult.
"Expecting passive friendships to happen. F*ck me, friendship takes a lot of work to build as an adult. Back in school you had excuses to see each other regularly. As an adult you have to construct those scenarios. And if you feel bad that someone hasn't reached out to you in a while then sometimes you gotta suck it up and reach out to them or else you could just end up not talking ever again."
"My friends and I are getting better at actually scheduling things instead of just saying 'we should get together soon!' to each other over and over again until we die."
"I've learned my lesson enough that when someone says 'we should hang out!' I respond with, 'Ok I'm free Saturday, want to get lunch?' I find some people are so bad about waiting for someone else to take initiative so I just do it now. I'm too old and impatient to wait for someone else to do it."
"I tried scheduling a coffee meetup with a coworker who lived nearby. After the 7th cancellation (don't know why I tried so many times) I got the hint."
"She still says that we should get together and catch up. 'Sure, you bet!' I say and forget all about it."
"Forgot to mention that she has a toddler so most of the excuses were doctors appts which seemed legit. Guess that's why I tried till it got ridiculous."
- Luneowl
Keep moving.
"Quit exercising."
"F*cking insane how long it takes me to recover now. At 27-29 I was recovering so damn quick."
"That soreness is motivation for me to stick to it."
"This is a big one. You see those 70 year old's running and hiking like they are still 30. Keep your bodies moving people."
"Move it or lose it."
"Can't quit if you don't start!"
"In 34….after 6 months of heavy exercising my recovery times are the same as my early 20s. The slow recovery times are mostly a symptom of being out of shape rather than age, until like 50."
"I'm 69. My reward for living so long is a pair of twin grandbabies, now 9 months old. They've turned out to be a very efficient squat-training regime, with the added benefit that they automatically up the ante over time by gaining weight."
"They're almost 20lbs each, now; caring for the two of them all day is, I calculated, about 4 squats per hour per baby. It adds up!"
"Note to expectant grandparents: do the work now and get ahead of this game."
Learned from experience.
"Leave the house without peeing first."
"Or going to sleep. Just go now so you don't have to wake up at 3am to pee."
"I have gotten all the way out to my car and thought, nope.... Lemme go back in and pee just in case! Hah!"
- MiLaydee
"The day you leave the house without peeing is the day you get pulled over in your car and have to hold it in while being lectured about speed limits."
"I once had to pee as my train was coming, but I was only about 25 minutes from my destination and would've had to wait a long time for the next one. So I just hopped on without peeing."
"The train had some kind of malfunction about 15 minutes in, and we ended up stopped for well over an hour. I have never had to pee that bad in my life. 0/10 would not recommend, the risk isn't worth it people!"
- jimsmisc
Fill up your tank, always.
"Think that you will actually fill up your gas tank the next morning before work. Don't kid yourself."
- NadiaElm
"I feel personally attacked."
"That's morning guy's problem!"
"F*ck that guy, I'll ruin his day."
"I tried finding the article, but there's some research that says our brains actually consider our future selves as different people, which is part of why we procrastinate."
"Exactly 'it's other guy's problem.'"
"I'll look for the article later, it's that f*cker's problem."
- scsm
Things That Are Normal Where You Live But Crazy Anywhere Else | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
People divulge the things that are normal where they live but crazy anywhere else.#Reddit #BestOfRedditFor more of the latest trending news, Reddit stories, ...Internet arguments in general really.
"Getting in arguments on Reddit, because 90% if the time you will be arguing with some punk-a** 17-23 year old."
"Make your case and walk away."
"You cannot argue on Reddit. You can state fact or opinion, but anything more is a waste of time."
- scw55
"For me, sometimes just typing the comment up and then deleting it without hitting post is enough for me. It gets it out of my system but doesn't further escalate the situation."
"Soooo much this. The best part is they have all this crazy life experience at 13."
"And they all think they are the first ones to learn about logical fallacies and so they try to use the terms against you but they do it incorrectly."
"We all did, it's just a few decades ago no one would listen to our BS for more than a few seconds. Now there's a worldwide megaphone you can tap into at any moment."
You are more than your productivity.
"Feel guilty about work. F*ck that sh*t."
"Remember, you are just a number. If you were to die on a Monday, they would have your position filled by Wednesday."
"I was about 33 when my passion for work went to 0 and I started not caring what they do. I focused more on my personal life and those in my life. Work was just that thing I do for a paycheck."
"Same with me, right down to being 33 years old."
"A switch just flipped after 2020... I busted my a** for 12 months straight, got put on multiple projects, expanded my scope of work, mentored new hires, etc. Got a solid year-end review but nothing that's distinguished myself from anyone else who was phoning it in."
"Yep, I had 6 years of excellent reviews but there was always an excuse for low raises and no promotions. 'we only get so many (promotions) as a company' or 'we are re-organizing' or 'the merger just happened so its a bad time' and so on."
"This is exactly why we have the 'work 3 years at a job then switch companies' mentality. It's the only way to properly get a raise/promotion."
"Indeed. Something that helps me reduce the amount of f*cks I give:"
"In 1 billion years, will anyone or anything give a sh*t about this? 100 years? 1 year?"
"No one lays on their death bed and says they wished they had spent more time at the office."
Go to the doctor.
"Skip routine health check-ups."
"So if I never got em in the first place I'm good to go, right?"
"I'm low key afraid to go see what's wrong with me. Nothing is hurting or anything, but I just know they're gonna be like 'you should be dead.'"
At some point, it's worth it.
"Move without movers."
- MNJayW
"Used movers for the first time a year ago. 0 regrets, I will use them again lol."
"Cost ~$400 for some college kids to move my crap and drive the truck. I hate moving so much that using movers deletes a solid chunk of the associated pain."
"Watching those two young men hoist our couch up and trot it down the stairs into the truck with little effort convinced us to always hire movers. It would have taken us a long time to move the couch and then we would have been exhausted afterwards."
"It's really worth the money."
- bunnyrut
30 isn't old.
"At age 30 you should never think age 30 is old."
"This, I'm mid 30s and I still think I'm a kid and I'm ok with that."
Who cares? You shouldn't.
"Caring about what people think you should or should not be doing at 30."
- nyle2
"Came here to say this. I'm actually healthier as a 35 year old than I ever was as a 25 year old and can actually do stuff I couldn't do in my 20's."
"As a struggling 26 year old this is so nice to hear."
"At a certain point I realized what you should or shouldn't be doing is all just relative to what actually makes you happy. I looked around at some of my friends and a lot of them had kids and got married in their early 20s. Some of them were blissfully happy and some were miserable."
"The ones that were happy were the ones that actually wanted to do that and not because it's what was expected. It became completely apparent to me that doing what people expect will never make you happy. Everyone's different and there is no one path to happiness. Just gotta find your own way and not worry what anyone else has to say."
"Yep, 30s are so much better than your 20s. Whoever said your 20s were the best years of your life was talking out their a**. Your 20s are the worst. Way too much pressure, no money, and an all round slog."
"30s things begin to click into place."
- JxY1989
"I always tell people this. Like I know there is science behind it because our frontal lobe doesn't finish developing until our mid 20s but honestly, for anyone reading, it really does feel like you wake up one day and say, "you know what, I really don't give a fu*k anymore." That's why I don't believe in anyone marrying before 25. The person I was in my 20s is not the person I am in my 30s. I wouldn't want to marry that person. I'm way more chill, and accepting now."
It's no surprise that the older we get, the wiser we become.
"Just wait til you hit 40. I didn't really feel like I had this whole adulting thing down til about then."
We are all just trying to figure out why we are startdust traveling through space on a giant floating rock and what we are going to do with our short time here.
Only you can decide what is right for you.
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Dating and the search for love and companionship... What a nightmare.
This journey plays out nothing like in the movies.
Every Prince or Princess (or everything in BTW) seems to have a touch of the psycho.
The things people say during what should be simple dinner conversation can leave a dining partner aghast.
Like... do you hear you?
Redditor detroit_michigldan wanted to discuss all the best ways to crash and burn when trying to make a romantic connection. They asked:
"You're on a date and it's going really great. What can another person say to ruin it completely?"
I once had a guy ask me if I was willing to follow him into the woods, depending on the price of the meal.
Yeah. No steak is worth that.
Plans After...
"Thanks for the ride but I have a date with someone else, I figured you wouldn't drive me if you knew I was going on a date with someone else and I really needed a ride."
"Online dating, talked to her for a while, finally got the courage to ask her out and then she said that as we got there."
iareyours
Mirror Image
“'You look just like my wife!'”
catalinachild
"I did have a guy tell me I reminded him of his son. I don’t believe English has a word to adequately describe my feelings at that time."
UnicornMagicRainbow
"That would definitely do it."
chaotica78
Third Wheel
"'Hope you don't mind if my mother joins us.'"
ofsquire
"Actually had a girl do this on a first date because she had anxiety issues. Honestly wasn’t bad except that 90% of the time she was silent and her mom talked over her."
"I didn’t mind that much and wouldn’t have minded trying again when she was more comfortable except that she was let go at the company we worked at and she deleted her social media profiles and she never responded on her number. Ah well."
Seightx
Liar
"'Hey bro aren't you gay? I made out with you last night.'"
"Random dude I've never seen before in front of my (f) date."
JHXC16
Was he lying though?
Filter Issues
"'You looked better on Tinder.'"
waqasnaseem07
"Isn’t it basic knowledge that everybody looks slightly worse than the worst picture you can find?"
no_user_ID_found
The Past
"'My ex used to do that too.'"
xxIvyOF
"Yep. I’ve definitely had two otherwise-decent-guy date-situations sour because the ex-comparisons just would not stop flowing. No woman wants to be seen as interchangeable—I’m not here to perfectly fill that ex-sized hole in your life. Focusing on the present moment and a future we could build together is a courtesy we need to grant each other in earliest dates of dating."
LarkScarlett
Powerless
"'I'm an alpha, you cant handle my top energy.'"
Midnightgay28
"I actually left a dude in the middle of dinner, in part, for saying this. I ordered an Uber under the table while pretending to listen to him. Went to the bathroom, and never came back. That was when I was young. Now I’d just say, 'How about we enjoy this meal in silence, before we head our separate ways.'”
UnicornMagicRainbow
Mommy...
"'Mother says I should be back by 9.'"
"Saying 'mother says' just feels weird."
bunnyrut
"That gives me Norman Bates vibes."
Werewolf_lover20
"'Mother says alligators are aggressive because they have an overabundance of teeth, but lack a toothbrush.'"
sodaextraiceplease
Obvs...
"'If you were going to be murdered, what method would you prefer. Purely hypothetical. Obvs.'"
Specific_Tap7296
If it looks anything like a Dateline NBC episode... RUN!
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Despite the advancement of technology rendering people left to their own devices–literally–to entertain them, there are some leisurely activities that will never go out of style.
Or so you would think.
Do people still knit to pass the time? Are people actively collecting stamps?
It depends on who's asking.
Curious to hear about hobby trends, Redditor gizehgizeh asked:
"What are once popular hobbies that are slowly dying these days?"

Before we've become conditioned to living on our phones, these activities used to keep people occupied.
Before Texting, There Was This
"Letter writing."
– littlekingMT
Literal And Tangible Joy
"Well the internet killed pen pals for sure. I do remember I had a Japanese girl for a penpal maybe back in 2007 or so. I honestly don't remember how it started, pretty sure some website, but that was a fun experience. But now I can just straight up talk to foreign people real time, lol. But yea getting a physical letter that someone took the time to write and mail still is hard to beat feelings wise."
– skyburnsred
Model Trains
"When I was growing up, every town had a model train store in it. Now I have one in region and everything else has to be bought online."
– Hairy_Effective1172
Pretty Rocks
"Don’t see anyone playing marbles anymore, I had an awesome collection in school."
– sheeple85
"I had some marbles as a kid in the 90s. My grandma got them for me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with them. I always imagined them as a thing kids in the 40s played with."
– Ryoukugan
People Were Moving Canvases
"Paintball has been dying a slow death since 2006. Sad, really."
– hobo_recycler
Before the general population began hating clutter, collecting was once a "thing."
Precious Coins
"Coin collecting... I'm a silver/gold nut and I'm always hunting for precious metal coins. whenever I go into a shop they get all excited because 'no one under 70 collects coins anymore.'"
– ThatFishySmell99
Post It
"Stamp collecting."
– spooky_scully_mulder
"Collecting in general, really. Of course there are still prominent collectors but it's slipped more into enthusiast and niche territory than being a popular hobby that you might expect anyone to have."
– iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
What A Gem
"Rockhounding was immensely popular back in the 1950's and 1960's. Personally, I think it's a fascinating and fulfilling hobby, but when I go to a meeting at a rock and gem club, I'm usually the youngest one in the room by several decades."
– filthy_lucre
People once enjoyed making things.
Admiring The View
"Stained glass. I learned how to make it from my old man, and my junior high art class teacher also taught it. Very few artisans are still around."
– brobeanzhitler
Metal Vocation
"Black smithing."
– kenworth117
"I bought a forge to try. It’s insanely hard work, and crazy expensive. I still haven’t finished a piece."
– DSentvalue
Scrapbooking
"Yeah. I'm watching the arts and crafts stores around me completely uninstalling their racks for specialty paper. Now the only thing they have is mega packs of repeating colors/images. To boot all the inclusions like papercraft/die-cut things, washi tape, scissors, stickers, etc have gotten so expensive I would rather go buy $5 bags at value village to get an assortment of things versus buying anything new. I really, really miss yard sales for the same reasons."
– Phantasmai
I envy people who have jobs that are basically their hobbies.
Not everyone gets paid doing what they actually enjoy and have a profound level of passion for.
If they do, kudos to them.
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When we first meet someone–whether through mutual friends, at school, or in a new work setting–we generally feel people out to determine if they're worth getting to know.
While the process could take time, some people make our jobs much easier after spotting instant red flags.
Curious to hear about our general radar of people, Redditor xxFluffie asked:
"What is something that makes you immediately dislike someone?"

Some people just think they are absolutely hilarious and never realize they're the only ones laughing.
Next In Line
"They laugh about having screwed someone else over. If you think you're not next, well, you'll learn."
– whiznat
Unfunny
"when you mention you don't like a thing and they immediately do that thing 'as a joke.'"
– wayfinder
Playing Devil's Advocate
"Kneejerk contrarians. People who, no matter what you say you like or believe, just have to dismiss it and say they like or think the opposite."
– BubbhaJebus
People who put others down get slammed here.
Bad Parents
"When they treat their kids sh**ty in public. I don't mean handling tantrums, setting a rule, having to hurry to the train etc. I mean perfectly normal-behaved kids getting in trouble for trailing along peacefully, looking at things, asking questions etc."
"If you don't like tiny humans who learn the world, why have them??"
– raxeira-etterath
Public Humiliation
"Treating people sh**ty in public for laughs. Like being rude to service workers because they think it’s funny. Big red flag."
– Ok_Personality_1080
Simply Uncalled For
"Someone who is a d*ck to other people or animals for no reason."
– xebt1000
Those with ulterior motives rubs people the wrong way.
The Scheme
"If they try to get me to join their MLM scheme."
– spazmcgee1
Hard Sell
"A guy I used to be friends with in high school reached out a couple of years after graduating about a business opportunity he wanted my opinion on because 'you've always been smart', then he set up a Skype call and brought some other dude into the call and they started trying to sell me on what was clearly an MLM scheme. The guy went from friend to 'I'm never talking to you again' in a matter of 10 minutes."
– Mental-Afternoon-164
A Timeline
"Good gawd, this! I've had more than one exposure to this abject bullsh**tery..."
- Back in the late 80's/early 90's I was invited to a meeting of literally the OG "Pyramid" where you're recruited to pay in, and then you go out and recruit others to pay in, and the last in line got f'kall.
- In 1995 I had a coworker try to reel me into Amway, which was a hard no.
- In 2000 it was Pampered Chef, though to be fair they did have useful products.
- In 2009 a coworker tried to get me into some stupid video calling service that was obviously stupid from the description. He even got offended when I called bullsh*t.
– Mystical_Cat
Too much ego is a no-go.
I Can Do Better
"Being a b*tch just to stroke their own ego."
"We get it, you can lift 5lbs more than the 12 year old, you don't have to rub it in their face just because you're slightly better"
– Livia_Pivia
Can't Top This
"Oh, you did <story that's been told>? That's nothing! I did <implausible story>.
"I get the whole empathy through relating common experience, and I'm someone who does that (which drives some people crazy on its own), but there's a big different by empathising through common experience, and one-upmanship."
– Tisarwat
Lacking Conversational Etiquette
"Starting to talk over me when I was already talking."
"Stop it you rude, arrogant jerk."
– R33Gtst
If one or more of these traits sound familiar to you, you're not alone.
We don't have time for braggadocios, pyramid-schemers, and conversation interrupters.
And that's just for starters.
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Children tend to believe just about anything they hear.
That there are monsters under your bed, watching too much TV will make your head explode, and silly faces will be permanent if you make them too often.
The sky is truly the limit when it comes to silly things that children will believe.
Some call it naivitée, other's youthful innocence.
But it's hard not to look back with embarrassment on certain things we believed as a child, that today might simply seem dumb.
Redditor Disastrous_Toe_6548 was curious to learn the multitude of silly things people believed when they were children, leading them to ask:
"What's the dumbest thing you believed as a kid?"
Pleading to deaf ears...
"My dad told me he had hearing loss and couldn't hear me if I whined because my pitch would get too high."
"Would completely ignore me until I asked him questions in a normal voice."
"Trusted him implicitly until I was 12 and he yelled at my younger brother for whining."- Tyrion_Stark.
Get it while you can.
"That they took everything off the shelves when the supermarket closed."- fgyfddg.
Silly superstitions.
"My grandfather used to tell me that if I played with the fire, I'd pee the bed."
"I believed him for a while, until I got older."
"I think he was just trying to protect me from the fire."- teddypa1981.
"Rain, rain go away..."
"That if it was raining where I was, it was raining everywhere in the world."- morningshartz.
Age is just a number.
"My parents used to seem really old to me, so much so I believed they grew up like cave people as children, wearing giant leaves for clothes and what not."- Laleena_.
So that's how they're made!
"That smokestacks from the power plant created clouds."- Scaniarix.
An instant cure.
"The sun gives you sunburns, therefore, moonlight should heal them."- velocipeter.
Better safe than sorry.
"Don't drink and drive meant all drinks."
"My dad was super confused when I told him he wasn't allowed to have any soda until we got home."- hulagirlslovetoparty.
Don't believe everything you see on TV.
"There was an episode of Mickey Mouse where Mickey couldn’t reach something at first, so he tried again and somehow his arm was long enough to reach it."
"As a small kid I believed that if I couldn’t reach something, I should just try reaching for it again and my arm would then somehow be long enough to reach it."- That-Dutch-Person.
The miracle of childbirth.
"That babies are pooped out."
"When I was like 7 I was listening to my aunt as she explained that childbirth was pretty intense and painful for her, and I was all solemnly like, 'yeah, sometimes just my poops are painful, I don’t think I could get a baby out' and she went 'um, WHAT?' and her reaction made me realize real quick that I had f*cked up somewhere and I tried to change the subject while my mind was just reeling lol."- thesoundingfurrows.
Oh to be a child again.
And to believe literally everything you're told.
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