Thread by @hondanhon

Realization:

When we* say something about Adulting being hard, there's two parts.

1) Taking responsibility. Sure. Nobody likes having to do it. Would much prefer not to.

2) Dealing with the horrific shitty bureaucracy involved in (1)

* people of a certain age/disposition

I would *prefer* not to have to take responsibility for {insert thing like proactive healthcare}.

But once I decide/accept to, I don't think Some People* understand exactly how much of a run-around it is to actually get those things done these days.

* Sure, boomers

Mostly, this horrific practical bureaucracy happens (huh I wonder why) to coincide with older, larger institutions and bureaucracies. Not just government.

For all the talk of Canceling Things, it sure is hard to Actually Cancel Some Things these days.

I don't think Some People* understand how much has changed. I mean they might because they also have to Do Things. But the quality of bureaucracy is very different now than it was in the 80s and earlier.

* yeah sure, boomers

And it's not all good! Sure, you can Do Bureacracy at more times (the middle of the night!) or in more places (on your phone!) but:

* processes have gotten more complicated/harder[0] because they can
* this *isn't* just because of regulatory burden

[0] citation needed

"In my day, we had to fill out this form on paper and then mail it!"

Yeah, doing it online at any time is easier than putting it in the post. Not having to print it is great. And it's not like forms Back Then were magically usable.

But... have you *seen* forms these days?

At least with paper you can see how many pages there are.

So many online forms required for Adulting are choose-your-own-adventure fetch quests where partway through you need to do a bunch of mining and crafting to just increase the inventory needed to complete the side-quest

You know what "digital" meant for Adulting Bureaucracy?

Infinitely fields for data.
Useless supporting information.
Frustration because you can't add/upload what *would* be useful.
Powerlessness because it's easier to see how the bureaucracy could be better.

Of course I don't want to be Responsible.

Just thinking about what I need to *do* to be responsible is exhausting and discouraging.

This isn't just because of Choice (not that choice, necessarily is bad!)

But now we have myriad choices in the Marketplace and the bureaucracy for them is all mostly terrible.

Oh, and the LIES.

The LIES are the worst[0]. The lies are the *intentional choices* companies and organizations make when *some* bureaucracy is horrible, but other processes easy.

Because they *could* do it but they choose not to.

[0] I mean, they're pretty bad.

Your parents

a) couldn't complete & submit insurance claims at any time, from any place

b) didn't have paper insurance claims suddenly erase themselves for No Reason Other Than Incompetent Implementation

Your parents could write ANYTHING THEY WANTED in a name field and who knows what it would actually get stored at but AT LEAST THEY COULD SUBMIT IT.

"Oh no, will my name fit"

So yeah, when we say we're bad at Adulting, at least part of it is your fucking fault.

I'm fine with taking responsibility.

You've just all made following through an exhausting, discouraging shithole. Thanks a bunch.

Ugh I mean even PAYING FOR STUFF. Sorry, lots more examples.

Older People: here's a paper payment voucher, write the check, stick it in the post.

Now: SORRY ELECTRONIC PAYMENT DOESN'T WORK ON A PHONE OR WITH THIS ADBLOCKER OR WE PARSED YOUR ROUTING NUMBER WRONG OR ONLY AT 5PM

Like, at least you knew the routing number and account number are right when you write a check.

Now: WE COULD VALIDATE AND SHOW YOUR BANK AGAINST YOUR ROUTING NUMBER TO HELP MAKE SURE IT'S CORRECT BUT NO WE DON'T BECAUSE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Before: hi I can go to the bank and talk to someone who can actually do the thing and we'll get it done

Now: nobody is allowed to do anything the hold times are forever and the thing you need done is *literally impossible now*

AND NOW you've taken the worst of online forms and adding all those shitty bits to paper forms! THANKS A BUNCH!

Adulting is also complaining about how things used to be better but I hope I've shown how things didn't use to be better but they definitely were better in *some* ways.

does anyone else have to use horrific servicenow workflows just asking for a friend

MORE!

like, being able to communicate with your doctor electronically is fantastic but also instead of a letter which could take forever now you need to open email log into mychart wait what's my mychart password I should get that password manager where's the message-

our parents didn't have to pay anywhere near as much phone tag as we do

quadrillions of worker-productivity-hours are lost to call center holds never mind the impact to gross national happiness

AND YOU KNOW WHAT THE SAME PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT "US" COMPLAINING AND MAKING JOKES ABOUT "ADULTING" YOU KNOW WHO THEY'RE ASKING FOR HELP

ha ha punchline it's us

product registration cards
services gated behind product registration cards
the inbox shitshow involved with adulting

all those businesses headed by boomers* sure are great at sending timewasting email

* gross stereotyping