This List of Boomer Advice We Hate Because It's True Just Went Viral
Sometimes our parents knew what they were talking about.
You know when your parents would act like know-it-alls — giving you advice that you hated because you just knew they didn’t know what they were talking about? And then you grew up and realized they actually did know what they were talking about the whole time? Well, a Reddit thread has gone viral that’s full of that very kind of advice — stuff we thought was annoying or useless but later turned out to be useful, and it’s a riot.
Reddit user u/AloneListless posted a call asking, “What older generation’s advice you found funny which later turned out to be true?” in the popular r/AskReddit community.
The thread is full of super classic clichés that span several topics usually told to us by well-meaning older relatives or neighbors. We didn’t believe it when we heard them — we knew everything when we were young, after all — but as we age, sometimes we (and those Redditors) realize those old grumps weren’t wrong about everything.
1. DIY Isn’t Always Worth It
We love a good do-it-yourself project, but sometimes it really is better — for several reasons — to let the professionals take over, as another viral Reddit thread from early August explored. This is advice that Redditor u/speedyeddie shared that was true for them.
“It's cheaper to hire a professional to do the job than to try and save a couple [of] dollars to do it yourself,” he wrote, and several others chimed in.
“‘Cheap gets expensive.’ My father always said that,” u/dmbeeez replied.
u/AmigoDelDiabla had similar advice that turned out to be true. “There's nothing as expensive as a cheap attorney,” they shared. “You could substitute ‘attorney’ for a lot of professional service providers in that sentence.”
2. Go To Bed. Really.
“Nothing good happens after midnight. As a former bartender, I ignored this rule for a decade,” u/kaiiitastrophe shared in the viral thread on advice that turned out to be true. “After working late nights, I 100% agree. It’s like a switch in people’s minds go off at 12.”
Funnily enough, another Reddit user highlighted the opposite advice they found also turned out to be true — that early mornings can bring bad tidings, too. “Good news always waits until noon. Every early morning phone call has been a bad one,” u/MsMoondown noted.
3. Appreciate The Present
“Spend less time looking at the clock,” was advice another Redditor heard from someone earlier that they realized was true.
u/MemeMasterFromNorth would hear from their parents that one day they’d miss high school, something they couldn’t fathom being true when they were walking school halls. “They were telling me to appreciate it more, because [sic] life would be harder after, and I didn't believe them,” the Redditor explained in the thread. “Turned out to be true.”
For Redditor u/Aussie_Painter2140, they said when they were younger, “the idea of time speeding up seemed almost whimsical,” and they didn’t understand why older generations would tell them that “time flies as you get older.”
But when they got older, they understood. “As I've grown older, I've come to realize how true this sentiment is. The more responsibilities, experiences, and memories we accumulate, the faster time seems to pass. It serves as a reminder to cherish each moment and make the most of our time, as life truly does move swiftly.”
4. Be Smart — Not Naive
“If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is,” one Redditor simply shared. Hear, hear!
Another piece of advice? “There’s nothing new under the sun,” u/ResinFinger shared. While that advice might have pissed off young you, the older you get, the more you realize that is annoyingly true.
5. You Can Only Control You
Seeing things through rose-colored glasses feels impossible when you feel like things are going wrong. But advice that Reddit user u/axeman020 was told when they were younger explains a better way to look at life, and it’s not something they believed until they were older. (After all, who wants to be told when they’re having a terrible day that the problem is their attitude?)
"You didn't have a bad day. You had a bad moment and you let it ruin your day," was advice u/axeman020 was told that makes more sense now. “Sound advice. Take a breath, get over it, and get on with it.”
To read the full thread of advice — and to consider what advice turned out to be true for you — check out the Reddit community’s post.
