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What makes us give other people credit evolves as we get older. Thankfully.

But to really drive this point home, let's take a look at a Reddit post by user Jelz where they asked everyone to share all the things that make you cool in school but have the opposite effect in adult life.

Like buying alcohol for kids. Or playing with Beyblades and carrying around a giant arena for them at all times. Or just scroll down and check out the rest of the replies!

#1

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult It didn't make me cool, but an old friend of mine (we're no longer friends) was far cooler than me. Why? Because he didn't care about grades, was openly hostile to authority, smoked weed all the time, had a criminal record, and generally just had that "I don't give a f**k, I'm a badass" confidence.

That's cool in high school. Nowadays, though, that guy is thought of as being very uncool. Why? Because not caring about your job performance (the adult equivalent of not caring about grades), being openly hostile to authority (such as your supervisors, or the cops), spending most of your waking life stoned, having a criminal record, and somehow still thinking you're a badass definitely isn't cool in adulthood.

somepeoplewait , cottonbro Report

#2

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult You were really cool if you were missing a tooth in school. If you’re missing a tooth in adulthood you just look like a crackhead.

stutterguy , pxhere Report

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Vorknkx
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, it is expected to be missing teeth as a kid, since they get changed. As an adult, a missing tooth is an indicator of illness or trauma.

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#3

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult In 3rd grade I broke my arm and got a glow in the dark cast, I also had glow in the dark shoes, I think it was the most my peers have ever liked me in my life.

PhrohdohsBabe , bakhar Report

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#4

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Bragging about sex. Did it highschool, friends thought I was cool. Did it as an adult, everyone thought it was gross and my dad threw the family cat at me

77skull , https://www.pexels.com/photo/happy-young-multiracial-friends-smiling-while-walking-on-street-with-takeaway-coffee-6147077/ Report

#5

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Laughing at weird people.
Socially awkward people often make good friends and are very warmhearted.

Timmaele , Keira Burton Report

#6

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult I was cool because I had a DSi in fifth grade. I would flex on my friends by drawing pictures in rainbow on pictochat. I have a nintendo switch now. No gf, no friends, and no rainbow drawings. :(

Madkatruss , ZaidimuParduotuveUrmas Report

#7

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult I did 1000 bounces on a pogo stick when I was 12. As a 33 year old today, people would probably be concerned for my mental health.

ivl3i3lvlb , Joe Shlabotnik Report

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Anya Beboop
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They might be concerned for your mental health, but would they be able to be concerned about your physical health?

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#8

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Burping really loud in the cafeteria. Kids from other classes knew my name because of that. I haven't tried that in the office, and I don't think I'm going go.

ModularPersona , cottonbro Report

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Mistiekim
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It was also cool if you could keep the burp going and recite the alphabet at the same time.I have no idea how those kids did it and whether or not it could carry into adulthood.

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#9

When I was eight or nine I found a huge stack of p**n mags in a paper recycling container. I had them hidden away in the woods close to school and would bring friends there to look at them during recess.

Imagining adults doing this gave me a chuckle 😆.

Anders_A Report

#10

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Being the "class clown" in any sort of instructional setting. It's funny when you're a kid but seen as obnoxious and attention-seeking when you're an adult

bnoone , Nothing Ahead Report

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Peacemaker21
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Probably because when you're an adult you want peace and quiet, no distractions like an obnoxious clown but when you're a child you're bored in school and the class clown brightens the mood

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#11

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Owning an absurd amount of Pokemon cards.

IDK what more a woman would want than a raquaza EX.

CoochieCacher69 , CLazarom Report

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Mistiekim
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some of those cards are worth thousands as collectibles - it’s like collecting baseball cards so I don’t have an issue with it.

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#12

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult I was voted "Most Likely to be Out of Dress Code" in high school, because I was always getting detention for breaking dress code. It was a pretty cool honor to have for a senior superlative, because it was about as rebellious as you could get at a Jesuit high school.

As an adult that would just get me fired if I was constantly breaking the dress code of a place that had one.

-eDgAR- , RODNAE Productions Report

#13

Bragging about what your parents got you. New clothes, new toys, car, etc. Making kids jealous with the latest stuff
If you're an adult and bragging about still being dependent on your parents...definitely uncool haha

ivelynn Report

#14

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Playing with beyblades and carrying around the giant arena for them at all times. You never know when a spin battle may ensue.

anon , abbs002 Report

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Vorknkx
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Never had these in my country... but we did have other popular stuff that was sometimes brought to school.

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#15

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult God I used to impress people by smoking cigs up my nose.

I do not see that going over well at all now.

Guzzles , Arghquoi Report

#16

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Knowing someone that would buy alcohol for underage kids.

dreamqueen9103 , Kindel Media Report

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Amy Taylor
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember in the 80's my friend group asking someone in the parking lot of the local liquor store to buy us alcohol and 8 out of 10 they would. Shocking to think about now.

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#17

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult At my school, bragging about how drunk you got at the weekend was a thing! People would take pictures/videos if their friends who were falling about the place/passed out etc and everyone would come in on Monday and laugh about what ‘scenes’ they were. At our prom we gave out prizes like ‘most likely to...’ and we had a few drink related categories and there was just generally a vibe that if you didn’t go out every weekend and get really drunk, you were a bit of a weirdo.

Now though (I’m 25), seeing girls tripping over their heals and being so drunk they can’t open their eyes properly/talk without slurring is just embarrassing.

phoral , Isabella Mendes Report

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Vorknkx
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've never found any pleasure in getting drunk to the point of being sick. Or doing something you'd regret when sober.

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#18

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Back in the day, Hot Wheels was the s**t. We used to bring them into elementary school, show them off, and trade them.

Anything with gold wheels was hot s**t. Anything that was a model of a real car was too. We used to just make stuff up that "boosted" the rarity of a car. Stuff like, "This one is in metallic white and only 10 were made!"

Collecting Hot Wheels now probably not so cool.

^(Although I still think they are cool.)

2ofSorts , Peak Time Racing Report

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BetterBitterButter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't know it's cool or not but I definitely love it.A family friend's 4 year old is crazy for these and loved it when he showed me his collection.

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#19

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult In high school I sold pages of p**nography out of a briefcase that I named "Bob".

dabbindabzfordayz , Sean Winters Report

#20

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Being an overall d**k, or rude to other people made people think you were cool or something. Now you're just an a** and everybody is an adult so they can see it.

BeatleBorg22 , Windo Nugroho Report

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#21

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Pretending to be a 1337 h4x0r by opening command prompt on a school computer, knowing a little bit of HTML and some similar trickery that may look cool until you know that it doesn't really do anything.

anon , Sora Shimazaki Report

#22

During school lunch when a kid got in trouble I started the Jerry Springer chant and the whole class started chanting "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry".

Farty_Tardy Report

#23

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult In High School, I knew all of the lyrics to a ton of late-90s and early 2000s club banger rap songs. I was known for this throughout my entire school, and people would always dance near me at dances to watch me flawlessly lip sync these songs. I did the rapping hand movements too, and often some of the dances from the music videos, although I was a much better lip syncer than dancer. I am and was a tiny white girl from a small rural village.

It's so embarrassing to think about now. I do occasionally get asked to do it at the weddings of classmates, but I wiggle out of it by sticking to the bar. I can't imagine the brain power I wasted on this, when I should have been focusing on my studies. Probably one of the reasons that I had to take remedial math in college. Thank God I no longer live near where I grew up, I've been hiding from memories of my high school self ever since, I was so cringe.

Hey_its_me_your_mom , MattyB Report

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Mistiekim
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why be embarrassed? If you enjoyed it, no reason to. And as adult there are probably groups of people who will think that is fun, and some people who will think it’s stupid. It just depends on your peer group now.

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#24

In 8th grade I made sure I had the HIGHEST heels out of all the girls in class. They were these clunky things from Payless. Not sure how I did anything in those considering I can’t even walk in heels as a 32 year old woman today...

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Benita Valdez
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh man I wore heels, 4.5 inch platforms, everyday almost when I was 16-17 and even wore them to work at the supermarket. These days as I'm nearing 40 I can wear if low and if I'm not standing much at all.

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#25

Blasting a boombox in the hallway.

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Mistiekim
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The boom box has been replaced by a cell phone, but same thing. And very annoying in a workplace.

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#26

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Me and my friends showing up to school/ events dressed the same

Kescac , imgur Report

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Susie Elle
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've never really understood why people can be so anxious about possibly wearing the same as someone else. I once wore the same shoes as someone else at a festival (which means, out of 20.000 people) and I said to her "Nice shoes! Harhar" and the girl just threw me a death glare.

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#27

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Wearing sneakers with your prom tux.

anon , _AndyS_ Report

#28

Cheating and getting away with it was rad in school but if you cheat the IRS instead of getting cool points you get jail time

lilthickee Report

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Jason Leaf
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I dunno, three generations of the Trump family have been cheating the IRS for a century and, so far, have got away with it.

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#29

I was the best club penguin sled racer in my 6th grade class.

Oh_no_its_Joe Report

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LinkTheHylian
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It'd be really hard to consider this cool now, what with Club Penguin closing down and all.

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#30

well, I would have to say trading card games.

In school: Yu-Gi-Oh
Later in life: Magic The Gathering.

Not s******g on MTG, its a great game, but doesnt really come off as "cool" per se

ThePeskyWabbit Report

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John Smith
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nothing wrong with non mainstream hobbies. But apparently binge drinking after a random sports team won/lost is the golden standard...

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#31

Putting Pacman and Mario on a f**king graphing calculator. Everyone called me a genius but in adulthood ppl would say I have no life.

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#32

I won best dressed male in senior year, my wife laughs everytime she sees the little trophy they gave me (that I kept haha).

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#33

I was the sneaker head in my school. I was that kid with the brand new retro Jordan’s and i always be getting everyone’s attentions and even girls. But, I stopped doing all of that because once you’re a adult. No one really gives a f**k. But I might go back to it again as a hobbie, for my own interest :)

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Mistiekim
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Celebrities seem to care. They release new shoes all the time. Too bad they cost as much as my mortgage.

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#34

30 Things That Are Cool When You're A Kid But Are Very Much The Opposite When You're An Adult Selling Weed to kids.

G-lover41 , Elsa Olofsson Report

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Peacemaker21
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

NO! How is this cool, whether you're an adult or a child? There is a reason why drug trafficking has the death penalty in many countries! >:/

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#35

Talking back to authority figures just because you can. In school you're seen as somebody who won't take it lying down, as an adult you're probably just immature.

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donna peluda
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends what authority you dealing with. Authority has to earn respect. That goes for teachers police or whatever. I'm over 50 and I take no s***. Happened to me in lock down. I had to go and get some meds for my mum and I had to deal with some cops on a power trip.

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#36

going out with your arms covered in silly bandz

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ChickenNugget
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember having these as a little kid! I didn’t go to school at the time tho so I don’t remember the “going out in as many as possible” part.

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#37

in my elementary school, everyone was into My Little Pony and the whole school was divided into two groups bronies (boys) and pegasisters (girls) and there was a group of girls that the school called the original seven and one girl was at the top we will call her Trish she was pretty much in charge of anyone OC if you wanted to make your own character you had to run it by her and there were rules like your family had to be you a spouse and a child and only could have one of each so if you were a regular pony and your spouse was a unicorn then your daughter had to be pegasus and you could have a pet but had to be real and only Trish and a mystical pet a phoenix and she would also draw your character with your family and at the end of the year she drew everybody in one big portrait luckily my sister was part of the original seven so I got some bonuses so yeah overall a good time in elementary school but if i did that know i would be shamed

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#38

It was perfectly fine for a senior to be dating a freshman at my high school. Now it is a lawsuit and jail time waiting to happen.

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#39

made a living ($6ish) by selling cardboard gears and whatnot for use in science projects.

It was really easy, just buy an empty box, use up all of the parts, and sell it back for half the price

​

Now if you did that as an adult people would think you're broke as hell.

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#40

Being good at hacky-sack.

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Jef Bateman
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am going to disagree with this---an adult who can hack-sack like a boss is still pretty cool to me.

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#41

Playfully messing with girls.

Almost everything would be considered sexual harassment in adulthood.

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Linda van der Pal
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now if only we could make it uncool for kids, it would solve a lot of problems....

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#42

I grew a mustache in 5th grade and a beard in 7th. I wasn't popular but I was obviously well known throughout school. I was hot s**t until halfway through highschool

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#43

I started living on my own, with my younger sister just as I turned 18. I was considered cool for having parties where people hung out at my place, BYOB, obviously.

If I now tried to invite whole bunch of underage teens to drink cheap beer and to sit on my floor, I'd not only be lame. I'd also be a criminal. (Technically, it was illegal to late the underage people drink back then too, but no officer would have ever charged me since we were so close in age.)

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#44

Getting drunk in the morning.

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#45

Uhhh drugs, dude. The answer to this for me is always gonna be drugs. I did and sold lots in high school and middle school. It made me super popular and everyone had high opinions of me (pun not intended). Even the staff, because I was so friendly and could get other kids to follow me anywhere. It wasn’t just drugs that made me this popular, but I believe that if it wasn’t for always partying, the door wouldn’t have opened for me socially at my high school.

In adulthood, drugs only make you cool to people who are actual trash. I still smoke too much weed, but that’s it. What I’d give for some Vyvanse though.

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Mistiekim
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you are the addict, the seller seems pretty cool. Your addicted friends seem cool. And they are not trash. You never know an addicts story, so it isn’t fair to do that.

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#46

Making out with underage women.

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Amy Taylor
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was around 16 I had a boyfriend who was 21. This was in the mid 80's and no one thought it was odd at all back then.. I cringe now when I think about it. What was he thinking???

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#47

Taking s**ts on the floor to make people laugh

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Autumn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait, who did this in school? I see a ton of posts about people acting like assholes and stuff like this would make you popular but my and my friends would’ve considered you idiots.

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#48

peeing your pants

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David Schrade
Community Member
2 years ago

When was that cool again?

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#49

I made offensive/racist jokes that were clever but bad

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Susie Elle
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ah, the 80's and 90's where casual racism was considered clever :')

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