# When am I no longer "young"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951 "2010-07-16T18:23:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/1 "2010-07-16T18:23:14Z")
I’m 26 years old now, and I’ve noticed that each year seems to pass more swiftly than the one before it. :eek: I turn 27 in a month, and my 30th birthday is beginning to seem not-terribly-far off. I’m pretty sure than thirty still counts as young - I don’t think anyone would deny that I’m still a fairly young man today, and I counted many thirty-year-olds in law school as friends and peers. Still do. So, I assume you can still count as “young” into at least your early thirties. But, eventually you do become (yech) middle-aged. What’s the cutoff? Is it 35? 40? 45? When do I stop being one of the hip new potential leaders of tomorrow, and part of the boring establishment? ---
**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/2 "2010-07-16T18:24:25Z")
You’re no longer young when you feel that young people seem to all dress in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![sherrylynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@sherrylynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sherrylynn)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/3 "2010-07-16T18:26:13Z")
You’re no longer young when the professional who’s advice you seek - doctor, lawyer, whatever - is the same age as your children. And ‘Get off my lawn!’ ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/4 "2010-07-16T18:29:53Z")
Old = five years older than however old I am at the moment. So right now, old is 37. Sorry, everyone who’s 37+. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/5 "2010-07-16T18:30:55Z")
My personal definition is that “old” is ten years older than my current age. I’m 58 and I’m still young. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/6 "2010-07-16T18:34:49Z")
31-34 puts you on the young side of middle age, and 35 is solidly middle aged. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/7 "2010-07-16T18:37:26Z")
Yeah, I just turned 35. Coupled with the transition out of the 18-34 demographic, I’m pretty comfortable with self-reporting as “middle aged.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/8 "2010-07-16T18:37:31Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > 31-34 puts you on the young side of middle age, and 35 is solidly middle aged. Gah! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/9 "2010-07-16T18:39:00Z")
I plan on living until 92, so I won’t be middle aged until 46. Of course that’s getting close now so I might have to revise my plans. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/10 "2010-07-16T18:49:33Z")
I am also 26 years old and I just made an appointment to get checked out and measured for Lasik. The woman I made the appointment with explained what they’d be doing, my eyes would be dilated, measured, and they’d do some tests to rule out potential complications that can happen with older patients. Wait what was that last one?😕 They’re not common, but we test in advance to rule out some things… No no no, did you call me an older patient? I’m twenty-six years old. Who the hell are your youngster patients?😕😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/11 "2010-07-16T19:00:34Z")
I’m 40. Inside I feel 24…except when I sit in one position a little too long, then my left knee hurts a little when I stand up…wait. I’ll bet from the OUTSIDE, I look like an _old man getting up_! Crap. I lift weights, and I’m a monster on a bike, and I exercise regularly, but my knee still stiffens up, and I still hobble about a bit until I can shake it out. That and that one muscle in my back…and my newly grown beard covers up the two laugh lines pretty well. But I don’t **feel** old. But I am to the kids that get on the train at the College stop. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/12 "2010-07-16T19:02:52Z")
When I was 18 a friend of mine shared a TownHouse with a few other people. One of those people would hang out with us a lot and he always struck me as being too old to hang out with us. Not old, exactly, but more on the ‘middle-aged adult’ side. He was 28-30. Now I’m almost 32 and I guess I’m a middle aged adult… I suppose there’s something to be hand in the idea that I don’t think I would feel comfortable hanging around a bunch of people who were 18, and I was the only outlier. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/13 "2010-07-16T19:04:22Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > No no no, did you call me an older patient? I’m twenty-six years old. Who the hell are your youngster patients?😕😕😕 I think I had Lasix when I was somewhere around 18 or 19. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/14 "2010-07-16T19:06:56Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > I’ll bet from the OUTSIDE, I look like an _old man getting up_! Last year my brother came to visit me for a few days. He had only been in my apartment for a few minutes when I turned away and then looked back to find… my father. It was weird. So… my brother is old, I am not. Proof: My brother is a grandfather. I’m not a great uncle, I’m a freakin’ awesome uncle. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/15 "2010-07-16T19:09:57Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Last year my brother came to visit me for a few days. He had only been in my apartment for a few minutes when I turned away and then looked back to find… my father. It was weird. > > So… my brother is old, I am not. > > Proof: My brother is a grandfather. I’m not a great uncle, I’m a freakin’ awesome uncle. Yeah, I looked down one say and thought “When did I get my Dad’s hands?”, I look in the mirror now and I’ve got one Grandfather’s face\* and the other Grandfather’s hairline. What I desperately hope is that I don’t inherit my father’s _health_…dead at 62 means I’m 2/3rds of the way there…but if it’s my Mom’s Father that dictates, I’m less than half way (he died at 95) \*= I need to stop hanging out in graveyards ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/16 "2010-07-16T19:21:55Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I’m 26 years old now, and I’ve noticed that each year seems to pass more swiftly than the one before it. :eek: I turn 27 in a month, and my 30th birthday is beginning to seem not-terribly-far off. A friend of mine once said, “The back end of your twenties goes by really quickly. Just wait 'till you hit 30; you’ll never shit the same again.” ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/17 "2010-07-16T19:34:54Z")
I’m 32 and don’t _feel_ middle aged. However, I have some fabulous younger friends who keep trying to drag me into nightclubs. Occasionally they succeed and I’m there thinking “Argh, the noise, the crowds,the inconvenience, I want my bed and good book”. So then I suddenly feel absolutely ancient. Still, for me the cut-off is about 40. But then I might have said 30 ten years ago… ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/18 "2010-07-16T19:42:20Z")
I’m 27. Sorry dude, hate to break it to you but 30 is when you’re no longer young. 35 is without a doubt middle age and when I’m planning my midlife crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/19 "2010-07-16T19:49:28Z")
Mmm. I don’t know. I hit 30 this year, and it seems to be situational. I’m old to my friends, who are all my boyfriend’s friends and he’s four years younger than me. I’m crazy young to my coworkers, who are all ancient as Father Time and are right next to Jesus in their high school yearbooks. It’s starting to be damned offensive that they keep carding me for beer, though. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951/20 "2010-07-16T19:50:11Z")
Harrumph. No, you silly puppies, 35 does not qualify as middle aged. You can’t claim middle age until 40. Sadly, after 45, you can’t deny being middle aged, either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-am-i-no-longer-young/546951.md?page=2)