Why are so many people getting tattoos? Not an employment issue anymore?
 

I am at Disney with the family and it's hot as hell this week. Of course that calls for shirts and skimpy tops. I can't help notice how many people have tattoos! Used to be bikers, gang members and artsy folks sported tats. Now, I see young parents and grannies/grandpas displaying them. A form of self expression? I remember when getting and displaying tattoos were career limiting. Maybe employers don't care anymore? I guess a Facebook search is more telling than a tat.

i'm doing it. just waiting my my mom to pass away. :D

What then, Cliff? Full-on Yakusa style? :)

And yes, I know you're not Japanese. :)

What is it with old people complaining about everything?

Nah, it'll be an image of his wife working in the garden. :D

We killed off most of the tribal types, and now they are all coming back as Americans. Of course, they still want their tats, so it is a bit past life regressive...

you picked the wrong week to do Disney...

"Why are so many people getting tats?" I think it's fad that has not yet die.
About 35 yrs. back before it became the next big thing. I was a kid then got my belt black.
And of course thought about the dragon tat on the forearm. Decided it had no value for me.
As you stated " Used to be bikers, gang members and artsy folks sported tats."...oh yeah and military guys. A lot of those guys look like they would kick your ass if you looked twice at them.

Same with the piercing crowd, then the fad starts and every wet nose punk has them.
To each his own, I guess.

monkey see monkey do
no original thought(s)
Followers of most anything including one white glove.

Not really career limiting anymore...
No tats on me and not judging those who do...
My brother past away several years ago and I was thinking of having a simple bicep memorial tat.
Priced in at around $300
Therefor I estimate some people are running around with several thousand dollars in body art... I kinda wonder how some people can afford that.

It was 102 an hour ago. Another really hot day tomorrow. If I could've rescheduled the vacation, I would have done it. Oh well, still enjoying being with the family!

Apologize for my native state... we get like one week of +100 degrees a year...

Its always the right week to do Disney. Another penny in the paycheck!

Darwin

because no one cares anymore.

You left out the escalation. Once everyone has the body mod du jour, someone else has to ratchet it up a notch, and the cycle starts all over again. There's a guy I see at the local Starbucks with his whole face and neck utterly covered in tats. In what customer-facing occupations is that acceptable? There's a girl - looks to be barely 18 - working at the local dollar store with her name and (I'm assuming) DOB tattooed across her chest. Why? There's a pasty-faced young white kid working at the hardware store with a chest of of gang-looking tats. Really?

Now get off my lawn!

I have tats, and I love seeing well done, artistically pleasing tats. What's alarming to me are the number of horrible tattoos I see.

All my ink is covered by a t-shirt. I'm not getting them to show off.

A guy I know was working with someone on drawings for a tattoo for himself. They never got to the point where he was happy with the drawings.

His new outlook on the matter:

"No tatto is the new tattoo."

Same reason that everybody started wearing their ball caps backwards...it's the 'Lemmings' mentality at work once again. "Hey, everybody's gettin' tattooed...guess I'll get me some too".

It used to be that tattoos actually meant something to many of those who had them, and they identified with others who shared an appreciation for the art. Not so much anymore. It seems that quantity has also replaced quality in this current wave of mega-tattooing. Arms, legs, back, chest, neck...the more the better. Unfortunately, many people's sense of design and aesthetics is sorely lacking, which can result in being stuck with some truly stupid-looking ink. I cringe whenever I see a young woman with vines & flowers tattooed all up & down her arms, or across her upper chest...or some young guy with a flaming skull on the side of his neck. Some tattoos are beautifully designed, and are applied by true artists, but most of those I see lately are just pathetic. And I know all about 'beauty being in the eye of the beholder' and all that, but really...having R2D2 tattooed on your arm? I don't think so...

I really never understood the concept of letting some 'artist' use your skin as their canvas either...and then paying them handsomely for the privilege to boot! If you like some certain design, that's fine...have it done up as a poster, or a T-shirt, so that when you're tired of looking at it, you can dump it. Most people's taste in things evolve as they go thru life. Stuff that you think looks so cool when in your 20s might not seem so stylish when in your 40s, or beyond. At one time, having tattoos would make you stand out from the crowd. Now, if you have tattoos, you are the crowd.

Unlike waking up one day and deciding that wearing your ball cap backwards looks dumb and you stop doing it, tattoos are forever. I can't help imagining that there'll be many 'WTF was I thinking' moments 20 years from now.