Is the whole world of middle aged people just really vacuous now?

[Sunbury1986]

Hi all, I'm no academic so I'm not talking about education in the formal sense. I just feel that everyone I meet and talk to, many are educated and hold positions of title and status, are really dull to talk to. the main conversations seem to be about property prices, their "job title", which is hardly the brightest way to introduce yourself unless you are really status anxious, or which bloody Russell Group uni their child is applying to, and obviously if their/your child doesn't make a Russell Group they are going to be lucky to get a job in a Pound Shop. AIBU? Or do I need to (re) step away from people I know? I believe many succeed with out a RG uni education.

I'm 55 and couldn't give a flying fuck about RG unis.
Its your friends.

Are your friends Mumsnetters?

RG universities are a hot topic on here.

Russell group uni is mn obsession,ive nevermet anyone so vulgar in real life

Here everyone is obsessed with the 11+ & which super selective their child will get in to (yawn...........)

I'm 45 & none of my 'middle aged' friends talk like this either. Out of interest, what do you class as middle aged?

Unless of course theyre pretending to not care,and not fessng up about the tutors

Is 40 old now? Shit! I'm 39, must swot up all the 'old people' conversations.

I never knew Russell group uni was a thing, I've looked at the list and when I was 'young' all five of my choices are on there and I was accepted to all of them

I don't think it's an age thing, more like a life stage.

ghostyslovesheep
I actually think the OP has middle class and middle aged muddled up

I think you might be right. Although the OP's views/whopping great generalisations still not making much sense.

I'd never heard of RG universities until I came on here. And discovered that I didn't go to one yet have a successful career. Many of my friends have excellent jobs. One is a professor and her husband is one too and became the youngest dean ever of his faculty and he went to the same uni.

I'm 50, so guess I fall into 'middle aged', but have only ever heard people say 'Russell Group' on MN. Just not something I've ever heard in real life.

I do sometimes ask friends about University applications, or where they are / what course they are doing, if I'm honest, as I've often known their dc for 16,17,18 years and am interested in them and their lives, and that happens to be the stage many of them are at.

Can't remember ever talking about job titles, nor the last conversation that involved property prices.
Most chat is about either things people have done / places they've been recently, or sometimes something in the news, or I might ask opinions about something if it's something I'm thinking of doing and know they have, etc.,etc.

Well, I and my friends tend to talk about politics and current affairs, books, films and current scientific thinking on various subjects. I do know people who discuss celebrities and tv and I tend to have very little to say to them as I know nothing about their subject. If you don't find your current circle talks about stuff you find interesting, find a different circle.

I just googled it and I went to a RG Uni. I never knew. It must be a middle age thing that I didn't realise before.

Think you need new friends op. Cant remember last time i discussed uni. Am i getting old now?

Define middle aged?

We will live to 90ish now. So middle aged is?

I'm middle aged. I have no idea what a Russell group uni is but I bet I went to one . Today's topic of conversation was what sort of shot you'd need to put in a shotgun to pierce a Kevlar vest [married to an ubernerd]

Just goggled im a rg member!!!!

I'm nearly 47, I've never heard this from anyone I'm good friends with.

I have heard this from all the age groups who are obsessed by these things.

A lot of my friends have continued to rent, I'm in Liverpool and you can't rely on having employment, so that might make a difference.

A lot have jobs, rather than careers and not all of them have children.

You need to vary your friendship group.

Or do you stick to people who are interested in these topics?

I do hobby type evening courses and drink in a varity of pubs, so I meet all sorts of people.

What would you like them to talk about - middle aged, hanging from the chandeliers whipping the postman sex ?
Or could it be that they don't want to talk about things that interest you and only you for 24/7

I have colleagues in their 20s,30s,40s and 50s - we all find common ground and no one is snipey or judgey.
We have discussed all sorts this week .
Now where is my whip...

I've got an honours degree, a professional career, 3 dcs, am mid 40's and have idea what an RG degree is must be an English thing. I'm in Scotland, you just kind of...go to Uni...any Uni, the qualifications are the same. What am I missing? Also my closest social circle has people from 25 to 55 in it - maybe you need a wider circle of friends?

What's your fabulous contributions to conversations OP, what do you want to talk about?

I'm with alpaca--genuinely want to know what you and your friends talk about. Not judging (or waiting to judge).

I'm middle aged or even older. If I meet up with close friends we tend to have a few common topics that crop up such as ageing parents and teenage children who are doing GCSE / A levels / at uni.
We probably mention those in the sense of keeping an interest in each other's families. Other than that we don't discuss job titles or property prices why on earth would we? None of my friends has moved house in donkeys' years nor intends to.

It depends - middle age and onwards is generally when your children are looking at what to do with their lives after they leave school and I have found that there's an obsession with getting children into Uni regardless of whether they're actually suited to academic life or not. God forbid a child should lean towards more vocational subjects or want to work. It's a fast track to the dole office apparently...
It's why I don't tend to socialise with certain family members people locally very much. They bore me shitless.

I've never heard of RG uni's till I came here, another boasty mn thing that leaves me cold