What I really miss is the distinction between texting and instant messenging. I LOVED chatting on AIM when I was teenager. When you wanted to talk you signed on and when you were done, you just signed off. Now anyone anywhere can pop up in your pocket at any moment, demanding attention. Worse is that a good portion of people consider it rude to not answer a text immediately or even still, consider a day or 2 to be unreasonably long. Yeah, I might be checking my phone, but that doesn’t mean I’m available to talk to you at this exact moment for any myriad of reasons, including that maybe I just don’t feel like it. I started treating texts more like email and it has helped so much.

Yeah, this sure sounds like the “free market” correcting itself as these people love to prattle on about.

Yeah, exactly this. I have a mortgage and a car payment so I’ve got lots of debt, but I wouldn’t consider myself “broke” by any stretch. I don’t live paycheck-to-paycheck, I put 10% away for retirement, and I can afford to spend money where I want without stressing about it. Overall, pretty charmed compared to how a lot of folks are struggling these days and it’s honestly kinda wild to act like it’s comparable to anything they’re going through.

4th largest*

Yes, that’s exactly what I expected, too. What actually happened is truly baffling on multiple levels. Why???

Right, and Irish-Americans have more knowledge and understanding about Irish-American culture.

The other poster was making it seem like American culture is homogenous or like descendants of immigrants can’t still retain distinct cultural traditions and identities outside of generic American. Whether or not those traditions are the same as the original country of origin is immaterial. Nobody is claiming that it is.

What I don’t understand is why Americans portray themselves as Dutch when coming to the Netherlands.

Do they, though? Are there really that many Americans who think or try to pretend they are actually Dutch, instead of Americans who are have Dutch ancestry?

It honestly sounds like they are just trying to connect by sharing a commonality and something that is (probably) important to them in some way. It’s an expression of appreciation. Even if the cultural traditions carried on in the US are different than in the modern-day country–so what? It doesnt make those cultural traditions less important to the people who celebrate them. I fail to understand what is wrong with acknowledging or appreciating where those traditions originated.

Is it just a matter of semantics and an objection to the label itself “(whatever nationality)-American”?

The level of authority that you’re speaking with about another country’s culture while clearly only having a surface-level understanding is actually wild. Maybe accept that the Americans who are telling you otherwise have more knowledge and understanding of their own culture.

Yes, that reminds me of when Florida(?) started requiring drug testing for welfare recipients and ended up spending more on the tests than whatever they saved uncovering fraud.

The Mountain Goats

I do this to my mom as a way to be very low-contact with her. It’s a huge relief.

I used to love texting when it was only a handful of friends but these days I hate the pressure of it being ever-present in my pocket and the social expectation to answer in a relatively timely manner. (This has led me to being a horrible texter, sorry everyone.)

I miss the old days of AOL instant messenger. Your online status did all the heavy lifting to communicate when you had some free time and felt like chatting.

It’s definitely just me, but I think every event like this is just for consumers that don’t know any better.

You’re against performing arts/live shows and think people who enjoy them are suckers? That truly is a wild take.

Yeah, and she was a full-fledged adult in her 30s onward to these things, not like a 4-year-old who wasn’t aware of what was going on around them.

Yes, it also leads to people like me feeling like they need to go down a rabbit hole for 5 hours before they’re “allowed” to ask. Then, upon finally asking, they come to find out the answer was quick and simple and they could have saved many hours.

This is such a problem for me. Hot damn do I envy people who don’t let the fear of seeming stupid keep them from just asking the damn question.