Do you hang out with people much older or younger than yourself?

[Tibby]

How old are you?
51
What’s the oldest person you consider a friend?
21 (F, 36-23-36)
What’s the youngest person you consider a friend?
18 (F, 34-24-34)
Are there ever any differences or difficulties based on life experience?
I have no idea.
Do you and your older and younger friends hang out together and get along well?
Yes, on special occasions, when I’m monetarily solvent and I have an ample supply of my beta bocker medication.

[Tibby]

The wife-friendly version*:

How old are you?
51

What’s the oldest person you consider a friend?
86 (best friend and dad)

What’s the youngest person you consider a friend?
33

Are there ever any differences or difficulties based on life experience?
Plenty of differences, but few difficulties (differences typically parlay into interesting conversations)

Do you and your older and younger friends hang out together and get along well?
Not often, due to time and distant constraints.

*…and also the version that exists in reality.

[Lobsang]

@RedRosesForMe

This question came up after I got into online dating, because I’m looking for someone who will get along with me and my friends. I’m 26, and I generally hang out with people in their early to mid-20s, although I have a friend who is turning 40 this year and I have work acquaintances who are 19.

So,

1. How old are you?
2. What’s the oldest person you consider a friend?
3. What’s the youngest person you consider a friend?
4. Are there ever any differences or difficulties based on life experience?
5. Do you and your older and younger friends hang out together and get along well?

1. [Taking a worryingly long time remembering…] 29.
4. Nope. If anything the differences make things more interesting… I have people who were around when I wasn’t. And I have people with whom I get to be the wise older friend.
5. Yes.

[Nikki_Tikki_Tavi]

@RedRosesForMe

This question came up after I got into online dating, because I’m looking for someone who will get along with me and my friends. I’m 26, and I generally hang out with people in their early to mid-20s, although I have a friend who is turning 40 this year and I have work acquaintances who are 19.

So,

1. How old are you?
2. What’s the oldest person you consider a friend?
3. What’s the youngest person you consider a friend?
4. Are there ever any differences or difficulties based on life experience?
5. Do you and your older and younger friends hang out together and get along well?

1. I’ll be 27 this month

2. Hmmm… 64? 65? I don’t know exactly how old he is, but it has to be mid 60’s. I think he’s older than my grandma.

3. The youngest person I hang around socially is probably my brother, who’s 23.

4. Not that stick out in my head. I only have 2 or 3 friends that are my age or younger than me, so there are many times when I’m the youngest person in the group. I might miss some movie references or whatever, but it’s a pretty diverse group and everyone has different experiences to bring to the table.

5. Most definitely. I went to a party last weekend with a guest list that ran from infants to grandmas and it was a blast.

[Hazle_Weatherfield]

1. How old are you? 40
2. What’s the oldest person you consider a friend? Mid to late 80s
3. What’s the youngest person you consider a friend? 4
4. Are there ever any differences or difficulties based on life experience? Not really, we discuss, as equals, what we have in common and graciously learn from what we don’t.
5. Do you and your older and younger friends hang out together and get along well? The four year old would wear out the 80 year old in a heartbeat! My husband is 60 and we’re just closer, geographically to his friends, so I mostly hang out with 50-60 year olds. Lately I find myself getting really bored with their AARP centric convos. It just makes them seem older and emphasizes how much older they are than I am. Oh, well…do something about then, dumbass…and get offa my lawn!

[accidentalyuppie]

1. How old are you?
   51

2. What’s the oldest person you consider a friend?
   92

3. What’s the youngest person you consider a friend?
   18

4. Are there ever any differences or difficulties based on life experience?
   NO

5. Do you and your older and younger friends hang out together and get along well?

My youngest friend and my oldest friend will probably never meet. My oldest friend is an ex-boss and my youngest the daughter of a family friend and they live 3000 miles apart. They would get along though…maybe someday

A lot of my friends are older then me, many of them way older. In a way this goes back to my early work days, when my co-workers tended to be 20 years or so older than me. Many of these people are still my friends. I like old people. They have great stories. I remember talking to an elderly friend of a friend and finding out she used to run a speakkeasy and once dated Legs Diamond.

I like hanging out with young people too.

I always had a wide variety of friends. Even in high school I did not limit my friendships to other students, I had friends among teachers and workers in the school and people in the neighborhood. One of my friends was an old Russian woman who made custom draperies in her home, another was one of the school custodians and his wife. I think that when you limit your friendships to people that are “like you” , you miss out on much of what life has to offer

[iamthewalrus_3]

1. 26
2. 40-something. I have two friends who are 40ish, but I don’t know their exact ages. Both were part of a dance team I used to be on.
   3)17, I think. He’s part of the group of Santa Barbara magic players who get together weekly to play. This was probably more surprising 2 years ago when he was just 15, but he’s always been a nice guy and mature for his age.
3. Not that I can tell. We are all different, of course, but I don’t think life experience is the biggest component of that.
4. The youngest and oldest are in different circles of friends, so they don’t actually interact much. But both my magic friends and dance friends have a range of 20 years or so from youngest to oldest, and get along very well.