When Your Younger Sibling Becomes Cooler Than You

All older siblings go through the point in their life when the realize they aren't the coolest sibling in the family anymore. Yes, your little sibling has outshone you. You are no longer the IT person in your family. It's really hard for the oldest to go through the steps of becoming uncool or equally cool as your younger sibling. You're the oldest; you are supposed to bring greatness to the family name, right? But as your younger siblings mature, you see your title being stripped away.

1. Your sibling knows more people when you're out and about than you do.

In your glory days, you would be with your sibling and get stopped by a friend from school, your best friend’s mother, or that one guy from the mall. You start casually talking and interject halfway through “Oh, this is my brother/sister,” as your sibling awkwardly smiles. But now it's the opposite. Your younger sibling is having to introduce you to everyone, even a high school teacher you had once. So. Not. Cool.

2. The term “Oh, so you're (insert sibling’s name) sibling?”

This term is agony to an older sibling, because that's not how it's supposed to be. You're the older and cool one, they are supposed to know your little brother from you, not the other way around. Since when is your younger sibling recognizable and known? Everyone knows it is socially correct to reference their older sibling when speaking of someone. It is the law.

3. You realize YOU have the lame social life.

You are bored, so you text your younger sibling, knowing there's no way they are out. You either get a response saying “Sorry, I'm hanging out with friends. I'll text you later” or the no response until the next morning (if you're lucky). What happened to the nights when you had fun while your sibling was at home with the parents? Now you are the one staying in watching Disney movies while they are out. That's not fair.

4. They are more popular on social media than you.

Their posts are instant hits, even on Facebook. They get comments, likes, retweets, and favorites. You, on the other hand, get a few friends to like it and the lovely comment from your mom; “Call me.” The older sibling basically teaches the younger how to work social media in the beginning, so why do they get all the credit now? Even birthday posts by them get more likes, and everyone knows birthday posts aren't popular. Why?

5. Even worse is when your friends start making comments about your sibling's social media accounts.

“OMG, did you see your sister’s Snapchat story?” “I love seeing your brother’s tweets, he's hilarious.” At first, you're like, I need to check this out. Then it hits you; your friends are following your little brother/sister and actually enjoying their posts. It's not because of you, it's because they are cool now. When did this happen? It is supposed to be a pity follow, not a real one.

6. The most dreaded sign: You start coming to them for advice.

What does this mean via text? How do I work this app? What should I watch on Netflix? They know the all the answers to what is cool now. You have to rely on their advice for literally everything, even what to wear (which is scary.) You are basically a grandma trying to work the internet for the first time. You are SO out of the loop while your sibling is in it. The sibling cool cycle is really unfair.

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This phase of life starts to worry an older sibling, but then you realize your younger sibling is growing up and you're proud of the person they have become over the years. You have been there through their awkward years and have seen the dramatic change. You have watched them go through many of life’s disappointments and overcome them. You realize you are honored to wear the title of their sibling. Also, you know they used you as a role model, which shows you are the reason they became so awesome! So props to you older siblings out there. Way to make your younger siblings great!

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(And if you have two or more younger siblings, you realize that the next youngest is about ready to bump the other one out of the “cool” phase and they will be joining you at the bottom of the totem pole. This fact makes you extremely happy.)