And I’m not counting things like what you do or get when you grow up like having a bank account or getting a real job. Nor am I accepting the whole ‘I just grew up’.
My sign of my childhood ending or accepting that it has ended is when all of the nu-metal bands I was introduced to and listened to a lot of us just ended up fractured. They all didn’t endure the passage of time and it was really just a matter of you had to be there to know how popular they were or the scene was.
The bands I used to have listened to have gone the way of Classic Rock on the radio. Spammed tracks from some bands because that’s all the DJ knows or that’s all they’re allowed to play.
That’s not the problem: if I talked to a kid with that kid’s generation’s talk, they would look at me with an air of pity. Just like I looked at adults trying to be hip when I was a kid. Older folks who don’t stay in their place aren’t well received, and I’m one of them now, so I abstain.
if you don’t lean into the fellow kids meme then being hip with the lingo will be uncomfortable for everyone involved, but understanding and participating are 2 different things.