I’m 30 and I’ve seemed to notice something. People in my age range, or close to it, seem to be younger than previous late 20 something’s - late 30 something’s.
Take me for example, I look younger than I am (once, about 4 or 5 years ago, I was outside of my house and some sales guy walked up to me and asked me if my mother was home :dubious: and I had to tell him that my wife and I owned the house) , and most of the time, I feel like a big kid, almost like I’m celebrating my 14th year of being 16 :D. But lately I’ve been looking at the people around me. Where I work, I know a 34 year old, a 36 year old, and a 38 year old. These people do not look, or act in my opinion, like people who are heading into their 40’s. I also know someone a year or two older than me who seems like he should also be in his 20’s still.
And then there’s things like, my wife (who’s as old as I am) and I, as well as some other 30 something’s, like watching anime. I can’t remember anybody from my parents generation, 50 something’s, or even 40 something’s being into cartoons at the same level that we are. Sure, they may watch the Simpsons, or King of the Hill, but that’s about it (and yes, I am generalizing here).
Also, people seem to be living at home longer too. I would make a comment about how it seems like women in their 20’s, and even into their 30’s can live at home, and it’s perfectly OK, but if guys do that, they get made fun of, but that’s a whole other topic 
So, anyway, what do you think?
Don’t even get me started on this!!!
I call it “frat boy mentality”. When I was working in NYC, I dealt with a lot of people my age, who showed a high level of “class and sophistication”. Now that I’m living and working in CT, I’ve noticed that most of the guys in the area have little to no class. Being rude to others (especially women), intimidation of others (“get out of my way or I’ll beat your ass!!”), foul language in casual (and even business) conversations. Show any degree of genteelism, and you’re automaticly a ‘fag’. These guys run in packs. with usually the biggest, dumbest one as alpha dog. And, these aren’t uneducated hicks - all have at least one degree, are working on a supervisory level in white collar jobs. The only difference between these guys and your average trash is that they have nicer cars.
Joel, funny thing about that, I’m 45 and when I look at my parent’s generation, I think exactly the same thing. I recall how they were at this age and I feel like people my age (40 - 50) are [huge, unsupported generalization] heading into their 50’s and 60’s with an entirely different, and much more youthful, mindset and lifestyle[/huge, unsupported generalization].
Granted, most of us don’t still live at home, but we probably will when we want to retire because the vast majority of us forgot(or couldn’t afford to think) about planning for it …“Talkin’ 'bout my generation…Hope I die before I get old…”
BTW, it’s not cartoons, but there are quite a few fairly avid SciFiers among us.
That’s just my take on it, though, YMMV.
gee, I was jsut thinking on this myself here. her I am aobut to turn 34, and most people think I am in my mid 20’s. I work a rather menial job, even thoguh I have a master’s degree. I feel like my life has no direction, and that I am still a teenager waiting for the “real” world to hit me and wake me up.
and BTW, love anime, and still have some toys from way back when I lived in japan and was a kid. I look at some of the “imports” and remeber watching them when I was over there.
only thing I can say is that you have to grow old, but you don’t have to grow up. or do you?
People are probably a little more youth-obsessed than they used to be, and in general they’re taking better care of themselves (or paying more attention to their appearances). Or so it seems.
But I wouldn’t characterize it as so new. My dad is past 50 and could be called an adult kid (though he doesn’t fit fotosbyfrank’s description).
Sure people are “young” longer than they used to be. Lifespans have greatly expanded over the last 50 years, and it’s a hell of a lot better to spend more time being young than more time being old.
As for the cartoons and stuff, the idea that animation is just for kids was really just a blip on the screen. Cartoons used to be for adults too (look at Betty Boop, or some of the WWII-era Warner Brothers stuff). They were even prime-time fare for a while. Remember The Flintstones and The Jetsons? Now we’ve got stuff like The Simpsons and Family Guy.
Living at home used to be pretty standard, too. Young women lived at home till they married, and young men often lived at home after marriage, especially in agricultural areas. The idea that an 18-yo could, and indeed should, be living independently is a pretty recent innovation. Hell, till pretty recently, you didn’t reach the age of majority till 21.
–Merle Haggard
Boy, this thread really hit home. I just turned 29, have been a homeowner for 4 1/2 years, married, getting ready to start a family, etc., and I STILL feel like a kid playing house. I certainly don’t feel like a “grown-up” and that I should be acting and doing things that a grown-up would be doing. I’m still waiting to feel like an adult about to turn 30.
So you all just feel like big kids, ehh?
Want to feel all grown up REAL fast?
Just talk to a teen-ager. It doesn’t matter what words you use or how you dress, you are most certainly old school to them.
A guy from my wife’s church stopped by to talk to her about something and brought his 15 year old son. In the process of talking I come to find out the kid is in a band.
I ask him “what kind of music do you play”
He said “well most people don’t know it, it’s like punk but it’s more emotional and stuff”
To which I replied “So like The Atari’s or One Hit Wonder?”
His Jaw dropped and he said “Yeah!”
Apparently at 30 I now look too old to know anything about music.
To my credit I’m still more interested in buying mucis and video games than mowing my lawn 
Not too long ago, I was in a meeting run by two people who’d never met me. Along the line, I commented that I had nearly 29 years of government service, and he said “What did you do - start working when you were six??”
I know he wasn’t trying to flirt with me - he was genuinely surprised. I went home and looked in the mirror. I have no gray hair. For all intents and purposes, I have no wrinkles (partly due, I’m sure, to the excess weight I carry). I dress in jeans and t-shirts or polo shirts and sneakers. I’ll never be carded again (until I want my AARP discounts come January) but I don’t think I look like I’ll hit 50 in a few months.
I don’t feel like I’ll be 50 either. I’m a responsible adult - pay my bills and taxes and all that - but in a lot of ways, I feel like I’m still in my 20s. I’m not as timid as I was back then and I no longer worry whether people like me or not - guess I’ve matured that much. But I’m still pretty much the me I was in high school and in college. Just a bit more worldly-wise.
Well, my husband is 30 and I’m 29. We have no children. We play D&D, computer games, paint miniatures, play paintball, and build terrain and buildings for D&D. We’re probably “younger” than all of our younger siblings. My siblings have children and his just works all the time.
Joel just started this thread because I spent 5 hours last night trying to beat Bubble Bobble. I totally stink at video games. Does anyone have any advice for beating screen 100?
Seriously, though, what did people do in the old days for entertainment? What was “grown-up” fun? Listening to Bing Crosby on the radio? Smoking pipes? Reading the paper? Wife swapping? Playing bridge? Boring! No wonder they curled up and died by their 55th birthday!
fotosbyfrank, I think there’s a difference between “Youth” and “Immaturity”. Granted, the latter is far more annoying in a 30-year-old than in a 15-year-old, but overall I think maybe what you’ve encountered is different than what the OP is talking about.
And I think the key to what the OP is talking about has to do with that phenomenon whereby we look at our parents (or other figures older than us) and compare what they were doing at our age to what we’re doing at our age.
When my mother was 33, she already had 3 kids, the oldest of which was already an adolescent. I myself don’t plan to have kids, but even if I did, I’d just now be starting to think about it! Hell, I just got married for the first time (and hopefully the only time, but it all depends upon how my husband’s arteries hold up under tonight’s Fried Corn dinner!) last month! And none of my friends with kids have even kindergarteners yet!
Now, I do own my home (though I’ll be selling it soon to go shack up with Skip), pay my bills, and hold down a job as well as the care and feeding of two dogs, but yeah. Apparently I project a rather, er . . . youthful persona?
(A little too youthful, if you ask my sister, who keeps telling me that I dress too young. But hey, I say if you can find clothes in the Junior Department that actually cover up your entire ass crack, you can get off a whole lot cheaper! ;))
Hey, auntie, are you sure we don’t have the same mom? My parents were 32 the year I turned 13. Both of my siblings are younger than me. We were also poor, which tends to curtail those weekend trips to Aspen.
I grew up thinking adults did certain things, and none of those were fun. When I became an adult, all I wanted to do were the fun things. So I did (Well, okay, I own a house and pay my bills on time and go to work every day, but mostly I just do fun stuff).
Our D&D group has two men who have children. Both men are in their early thirties (with wives of similar age), and the oldest kid between them is under three.
I suspect staying younger at older ages is a combination of things. 1) Entertainments made to appeal to adults and children, such as computer and video games; 2) Waiting longer to have children and having fewer of them; 3) Living longer and generally healthier; 4) Advertising that places an emphasis on how much fun you should be having at any given moment. 5) Age-centric view of how people of the previous generation are so “adult-like” compared to us.
I probably do have more fun than my parents did at my age. After all, they were raising three grade school children in a single-wide trailer. I have two cats that don’t need babysitters when I decide to see a movie at the drop of a hat.
Deadly Accurate, I think you make an interesting point about seeing your parents bogged down with financial/childrearing issues as a child, and not wanting to follow in those footsteps yourself.
My mother has always said that if she had it to do all over again, NO WAY would she get married and, given her beliefs, that leaves out kids, too. Don’t get me wrong; she was a good, caring mother (if a little overprotective), she and my dad were together for almost 45 years Until he died in 1996) and I never felt unloved or unwanted, but that did get me thinking about this “Marriage and Kids” business.
NOW, however, my mother is singing a different tune, because she wants me to have children. When I remind her that she herself wouldn’t have kids if she were able to go back in time, she rebuts by saying, “I did what I was supposed to do–now it’s your turn!”
Why, I ask her, if the whole marriage/kids thing is a choice she wouldn’t make twice, is it a choice I should make at all? (Well, OK, I’m married now, but this conversation started about 10 years ago.) Why, I wonder, is it more important for me to have kids than it (apparently) is for me to have a life that makes me happy?
“Life is not about being happy,” she snaps.
I’m sorry, but I find that attitude kind of sad. Should you seek happiness at all costs, without regard to others, even if it means kicking puppies and stealing from old ladies? No. However, I hardly think that choosing not to have kids (or even choosing not to get married) is such a crime.
Anyway, my point is that I think maybe people like us have kind of a “split personality” going on. On the one hand, we are experiencing an aversion, if you will, to our perceived definitions of Adulthood (i.e., stress about money, kids, no more playing, etc.), but on the other, such notions are so ingrained in us that we think of our own behavior as “child-like”.
Does that make sense?
Well Joel you said “Also, people seem to be living at home longer too” I hope this is not true! I can’t wait for my kidlets to turn 18 so I can turn them lose on their own!!!
It’s funny that I, too, was thinking this exact thing just after having a peer-to-peer conversation with a 24 year old today (I’m 47). And I think you’re right to some extent - we have postponed or avoided some or many of the responsibilities our parents had at our ages.
BUT, I also wonder if anyone ever gets older than 18 in his/her own mind. I suspect that our parents, even as they shouldered the burdens of earlier parenthood, mortgage, etc, felt like they were teenagers masquerading as adults: faking it maybe well enough to deceive other people, but inside they knew that’s what they were doing - faking it.
We’re luckier - because of the youth idolatry that has overcome our society in the past 40 years or so, we view being young as a good thing, and we’re less frightened by our own lack of a sense of adulthood than our parents, or so I suspect. But I still think that people of all ages never really think of themselves as fully mature.
YMMV.
A few years ago, my grandmother, who was probably at least 90 by that time (she’s 102 now and going strong), told me that every time she looks in the mirror, for a moment she wonders who that old lady is who’s looking back out at her because on the inside she still feels 16.
I compare myself to my parents’ generation, however, and I remember things like when women started wearing “mature” fashions in their 20s and it just seemed like people got older younger. I’m turning 50 this year, and like Grandmother, I still feel 16, too. I think the difference is that society has changed enough that I can get away with acting 16 if I want to!
fotosbyfrank, not to put down your area, but your in the freakin’ valley!!! Most of the guys are either uneducated, and will never leave the area, probably stay in the same town for ever, or the frat boys you mentioned living in the newer McMansions, whose kids will never leave the area.
[hijack]
BTW, nice photos, I recognized quite a few of the places, and have heard about the abandoned stuff at pleasure beach, but never gone there.
[end hijack]
I don’t think any generation thinks of themselves as getting old. I do lots of the same things now that I did 15 years ago, only now I can drink a beer legally when I’m out at a game or watching a band.