Ever felt to be too old to be learning something?

Yes, I know the old "it's never too late" and "I've left behind childish things such as the fear of being childish" platitudes but do you REALLY believe them?

I'm asking because as of late there have been two areas in which I feel like I "missed the boat" somewhat, one in which this sentiment is less understandable and one where it's more understandable (to me at least). The first being programming. At the age of 24 I am on the verge of graduating from a Master's Degree where I first learned to program on freshman year and only had one other coursed focused on programming specifically (though I had to use it in a couple of others). I felt like I enjoyed that more than the rest of the course and I am still learning things on my spare time via the Internet but I keep being intimidated by the legions of people who claim to have been doing this since the age of 10 (hell, once I found someone claiming "If you're taking a Computer Science college course and you've never programmed before, change your major ASAP since you're pretty much doomed to fail" Would you agree? I don't.) Nevertheless I will continue since I feel it's an important skill to have.

The other hobby I feel I may be too old for is card magic and cardistry. I always liked the design of cards yet never liked card games itself so when I found a bunch of playing card projects on Kickstarter I started funding them and found a rather interesting world behind them. Here's the thing: It's LOADED with teenagers, to the point that age polls in certain websites claim that HALF the readership is in their teens and pretty much every forum is filled with kids with their own youtube channels making deck reviews and performances. This makes me QUITE uneasy since I always felt myself to be a somewhat immature person and I don't want to acquire MORE "immature habits".

So what do you think? Do you feel this kind of insecurity as well?

Never. If you're wondering about learning in the sense of "academic" - the fear of failing grades, falling behind - forget it. Your own interest will propel you like a nuclear explosion to a firecracker.

Is cardistry even a word? Anyhow, what do you mean? Like magician tricks? Or the various card games that exist? I'll have to point out that both those businesses are run by adults who are far older than you or the teens that play them. Basically, a bunch of old guys get to do a lot of playing around as they invent games and/or card tricks.

Also, programming is something you've learned for a job skill or just because you like it, yes? So what if others have been doing it since they were ten. You're planning for your future, where supposedly you will be doing much the same thing, not your past ten year old self. Programming is one of those careers where you have to keep learning something because technology keeps changing. So no, if you get into it having the "too old to learn something" mentality is a detriment to your future career.

In regards to programming, that's why I clarified that my insecurities are somewhat lessened. Learning new skills constantly is definitely required these days.

In regards to card magic, I am currently following The Royal Road To Card Magic by Hugard and Braue. This book is quite old but I feel it's a good introduction to card tricks that require actual skill as opposed to those "self working" tricks you'd find in kids activity books that make the audience do all the work for you and fall apart under the closest scrutiny.

As for cardistry yes, it's a real word. If you want examples, here's the trailer for the video series I am following.

http://www.theory11.com/tricks/genesis-by-andrei-jikh.php

(Aside: No offense, but I find that question coupled with your username to be quite amusing )

edited 3rd Jan '12 12:34:56 PM by Psyclone

To answer the subject's question: Twitter.

Of course, people older than me are taking to it like a duck to water, so I don't know what's wrong with me.

I don't get what is to be learned about twitter. You post short messages about whatever interests you. You read other people's short messages. Tried it, felt that it was a little pointless, but whatever.

As for "feeling too old", not really. I do wish that I had learned a bit more music, though — I've been feeling like taking up a musical instrument for a while now, but at the moment I am way too busy to do that.

I dont understand the appeal of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media malarkey.

Also I hear learning languages is easier as a child.

Basically, the appeal of facebok and the like is that it makes it easier to contact people — especially ones that you don't know all that well.

That can be kind of useful: asking someone for a phone number or an email can be a little awkward (and, if you're like me, you'll forget it or lose it anyway), but "friending" them and then messaging them whenever necessary is pretty simple.

I just use AIM.

Facebook has simply too many problems associated with it for me to contemplate ever signing up.

If everyone switched to google + MAYBE I'd use that.

I feel like I missed the boat on learning more languages. Wish I could speak French fluently but I could still learn it if I moved to Quebec or France for a few months I bet.

As for your programming skill, I think it utterly untrue that if you've never done programming before university that you cannot learn it (or that you would fail). If you are intelligent, you should be able to pick it up. What matters the most is analytical skill and a good foundation in math.

My grandfather (Dad's side) once said that if you feel too old to learn something that's the day you die.

I definitely feel this way with regards to certain sports. Gymnastics, for instance. I feel that to be at a decent level, you would have had to start at a young age, or that I'd look ridiculous in a class being the adult n00b while there are seven year olds prancing and somersaulting around me.

Saying that, there's some adults who have just started at my taekwondo club, and I can see that they have certain advantages over people like me who started young. They can memorise and retain things well, they're more disciplined and enthusiastic (mainly because their parents don't make them attend) and they have no bad habits to start with. They want to learn it more than the rest of class, want to do well.