9 ms·
Why did people in the past look so much older?
- raydiatian 3y agoI figure it’s a hard-to-detect bias. You see a video of the 90’s you know you’re looking on at the 90’s. You unconsciously know your reference frame to the 90’s.
- atleastoptimal 3y agoOlder style/clothing that we associate with older generations, higher alcoholism/smoking prevalence, higher androgen levels (in men).
- snovymgodym 3y agoYeah, all this plus more men working physical labor jobs and working outside. Sunlight ages your skin pretty hard, especially at lower melanin levels.
- est31 3y agoDating apps in both southern europe as well as northern europe show such a massive difference in how old people look compared to their actual ages.
- willsmith72 3y agoIn which way? Are the northerners older-looking because their skin can't handle the sun? Are the southerners older-looking because they get more sun?
- runnerup 3y agoI’d also be curious about any disparate economic conditions 30-50 years ago as were judging older peoples appearances.
- est31 3y agoExactly, northerners look younger and southerners look older. It might be genetics, but I think it's more due to the sun. Exceptions exist of course, but I think there is a trend.
- wizofaus 3y agoYet supposedly the "Mediterranean" lifestyle is better for us overall...
- Arrath 3y agoI've heard that espoused in reference to their diet, not the sun exposure of their more southerly located environ.
- wizofaus 3y agoThat and an arguably a better work/life balance, and lack of SAD from excessively dark/cold/long winters.
- Arrath 3y agoFair point about SAD, knowing plenty of people in far north Alaska. But there is a huge difference between "23 hours of darkness in the winter" and "On the beach so often your skin resembled tanned leather by 32 years of age"
- hgsgm 3y agoWeathered skin doesn't kill you.
- wizofaus 3y agoSkin cancer, on the other hand, is my one of own country's bigger killers (11th biggest cause of death I think).
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- m463 3y agoI wonder about photography. Current photography benefits enormously from lots of automatic and manual technology that make photos look bright, modern, smooth and generally very attractive. compare this to film photography, which did not have the dynamic range, light sensitivity, color balance and other benefits, and could generally be improved only by sustained manual effort. (and older photography was black and white, and which added years and psychological distance to any photo) Just think of the benefits from a modern phone camera taking a candid photograph of yourself, at night, at arms length.
- bobthepanda 3y agoYou don’t have to go very far back for this hypothesis to fail. Consider that on the classic American show the Golden Girls, a sitcom of seniors, the youngest of them was 53 (played by a 51 year old actress.) We simply dress and act differently in our older age these days.
- m463 3y agoI wonder. take a look at my contrived comparison: https://duckduckgo.com/?iax=images&ia=images&iar=images&q=james+dean https://duckduckgo.com/?iax=images&ia=images&iar=images&q=ja... https://duckduckgo.com/?iax=images&ia=images&iar=images&q=chris+pratt https://duckduckgo.com/?iax=images&ia=images&iar=images&q=ch...
- bobthepanda 3y agoThe confounding factor is that in 2023 Hollywood studios assign stars nutritionists and personal trainers to get them where they need to be. Chris Pratt pictured here dropped 60 pounds in 6 months: https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/how-chris-pratt-dropped-60-pounds-six-months https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/how-chris-pratt-d... Men were not subjected to this during early Hollywood. (Women weren’t so lucky; studios encouraged drug abuse in women to keep them thin, and the most famous example is probably Judy Garland of The Wizard of Oz)
- maxerickson 3y ago
- taeric 3y agoSurprised not to see https://twitter.com/nealbrennan/status/956253921827176448 https://twitter.com/nealbrennan/status/956253921827176448 on this post. Roy Orbison, in particular, looks older than I would think a 52yo would look.
- siva7 3y agoThe guys on the left to Tom Petty don't look as old. It has to do a lot with genetics
- CoastalCoder 3y agoTangent, but Roy Orbison always looked to me like he was on death's door, not simply old.
- TylerE 3y agoI think it's mostly the giant 90 year old Florida retiree glasses.
- justinator 3y agoWhen my Father was my age, he had four children and I do not. I look younger. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
- cyanydeez 3y agoAlso, sunblock makes your skin stay young.
- justinator 3y agoYou're right! Incidentally, he died of skin cancer (this is not a joke, please cover up, wear sunscreen, get checked by a doctor).
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- NovaDudely 3y agoI will offer somewhat opposite. My father had 4 kids and at my age looks roughly the same. That is look like we where/are in our late 20's at age 40. Genetics goes a long way.
- justinator 3y agoAre you both rich? Being poor can really help assist in looking old. Stress is a killer and being poor is nothing but stressful.
- fxtentacle 3y agoBecause their cameras didn't include fully automated digital skin filtering? I agree that everyone (and their mom) looks young on Instagram nowadays. But meet them in person and you'll sometimes wonder if they sent their parents instead ... Also, old camera tech used to have a good local contrast but bad overall dynamic range. If you use a high contrast HDR tonemapping on modern photos, that alone will also really highlight wrinkles and skin impurities and make the person look old.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jiggawatts 3y agoYou can see this effect even with normal SLR film photos that haven’t been retouched.
- crazygringo 3y agoSo many of these examples are about TV and film though. And while Instagram lets you do that kind of smoothing, it's virtually never done on TV and film except as very explicit (and very expensive) VFX. Because it obviously doesn't work to do cheaply in HD on somebody in motion. Contrast isn't the answer either. Modern high-definition TV shows highlight wrinkles and skin texture more than film ever did (digital cameras simply resolve more detail). And so TV and filmmakers cover them up today exactly the same as they did in the 70's: with makeup.
- CKMo 3y agoLack of sunscreen
- andrewstuart 3y agoedit: removed as low quality comment
- patmorgan23 3y agoThey don't mean that people look like they are from an older time. They're talking about the age people look (as in this person looks like they're 30 or this other person looks like they're 70). Physical aging features like wrinkles and spots on their skin.
- wmf 3y agoPeople take a lot of cues from clothes and hairstyles. Virtually none of the "people looked older" examples normalize that.
- tstrimple 3y agoIs this really just a case of hair and clothes? To me this looks like a movie filmed in a high school where all the actors are nearing 30 but they try to pull it off anyway. https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/shodpt/high_school_students_1989/ https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/shodpt/h... I’m open to the idea that it’s as simple as sun damage. Kids especially are spending so much more time indoors where their skin isn’t being ravaged by the sun. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trucker-accumulates-skin-damage-on-left-side-of-his-face-after-28-years-on-the-road/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trucker-accumulates-skin-damage...
- listenallyall 3y agoPretty sure it was sarcasm, given the dinosaur reference there, Mr. Pat
- Gerard0 3y agoThere is a Vsauce video[1] about this. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjqt8T3tJIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjqt8T3tJIE
- ryaneager 3y agoThis touches something I have yet to be mentioned, you associate the clothes they’re wearing in the pictures with an older time, so therefore, they look older.
- weinzierl 3y agoAge wasn't seen as negatively as now, so people cared more about clean attire than particularly looking young.
- adrianmonk 3y agoAs far as I can tell, it used to be more important culturally to look and act your age. If you were 40 and still dressing and acting like you were young, a lot of people would assume you weren't a serious, responsible person and were foolishly trying to hang onto your youth too long. These days the attitude is more like just because you're a grown up with responsibilities doesn't mean you can't cut loose and enjoy life sometimes.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- wkat4242 3y agoYeah I'm in my late 40s but live like I'm in my 20s lol.. I'm glad these things aren't so strict anymore
- Obscurity4340 3y agoThere's a great expression in reference to dealing with other people's lifestyle/clothing/etc judgment: if you don't feed me, clothe, house, or f^*+ me, $&%^ you...Very relevant.
- irrational 3y agoI’ve been wearing t-shirts and shorts daily for the past 51 years. This is honestly the first time I’ve wondered if some people don’t take me seriously because of what I wear. I’ve never noticed anything (though my wife and kids could tell you I am notoriously oblivious).
- listenallyall 3y agoSolid color or benign logo, probably OK. Band, sports team, anything jokey, college -- no, they aren't taking you seriously. Star Wars related -- they are laughing at you.
- heavyset_go 3y ago
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- jerhewet 3y agoLife 50 or 100 years ago was a lot harsher than it is now. We have better medicine, better food and diet, better living conditions (more white collar vs. blue collar jobs, better life balance vs. all work no play, etc.) It isn't perfect, but my life is significantly less difficult and stressful than my father's or grandfather's life.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- retrac 3y agoYes. Not quite the appearance one gets from aging, exactly, so much as a weathering. Sometimes literally. Sun exposure is pretty bad for the skin. The effects of certain kinds of heavy manual labour on the body are debilitating, too. You still see men and women who suffer the effects of that today in industrialized societies, but it's nothing like in the past. I've noticed that men who work hard jobs often look older than they are. They're often taking physical injuries, and may be outdoors in the sun without UV protection. They end up stooped over, wrinkled, asymmetrical, much sooner than people who aren't exposed to those kinds of conditions. And from what I can tell, the average person's working life before the mid-20th century, roughly, was comparable to today being a roofer, landscaper, warehouser, on-foot postal worker, something like that, in terms of physical wear on the body. But maybe worse.
- tstrimple 3y agoThe before and after war photos of soldier where they are physically 3-5 years older but look like they have lived through at least an extra decade really drives this home.
- swagmoose 3y agoI've noticed this with presidents as well, the before & after pictures of president Obama looked much longer than the 8 years that had passed between them.
- antisthenes 3y agoWar is a different beast entirely. Every year spent at war is a 3-5x of years as a civilian. Living in constant stress, fear and potentially malnutrition and disease takes a pretty big toll on you. 20-somethings begin to look like 35-40 year old men really quick.
- nkrebs13 3y agoI wonder if being a parent is a factor as well? A quick Google search said that the avg age of a 1st-time parent in 1970 was 21 and in 2023 in the US it is 29.6. Stress and less time for taking car of yourself especially as you start developing adulthood habits/tendencies ? Also: I think social media has played a roll in this. A comparison with all of your friends, acquaintances, extended family, etc is all just a scroll away. Everyone's social circles are less intimate and far larger, both of which lead to you not wanting to be compared negatively (ie close, intimate circle -> who cares what you look like)
- invalidname 3y agoYes. People are having kids later in life. I was born when my parents were in their early twenties. My kids were born when we were in our thirties. Nothing aged me faster than having kids...
- ks2048 3y agoIt seems this article and others in this genre are lacking quantitative data. It seems pretty easy to gather data on showing people pictures and having them guess a person's age. Effect of heavy smokers, sun/sunscreen use, etc could all be quantified. I feel like the viral posts on this could easily be cherry-picked examples.
- asdfman123 3y agoIt's just not that kind of article. They're not trying to make a rock solid formal argument, just discussing factors that may contribute to an effect.
- drewcoo 3y ago> the viral posts on this could easily be cherry-picked examples Quite clearly so. The pics are of actors in costume and makeup - obviously not chosen as typical photos of those people in real life at the time. They are wearing period clothing to "age" them (Wallace Shawn looked younger in The Princess Bride 6 years later). Not to mention that the photos are terrible quality.
- paulddraper 3y agoThis is kinda absurd....massive sampling bias. Take the example in the article itself: Cheers. [1] Do Shelley Long (33) and Rhea Perlman (34) look the same age? [1] https://images-prod.dazeddigital.com/786/azure/dazed-prod/1350/1/1351171.jpg https://images-prod.dazeddigital.com/786/azure/dazed-prod/13...
- tiffanyh 3y agoAnd in that picture, all the men in the back row look to be in the late 40s / early 50s … but are actually only in their mid-30’s.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoThe two on the right, yes, but Ted Danson looks 35, he just has an old timey hair style in the picture.
- gilbetron 3y agoOh man, this hurts my soul in such alien ways. Coach was 58, and he was portrayed as some old man that was close to dying (and did in the show). I'm 52. I see people in their 30s as "kids" now.
- listenallyall 3y agoAt that age I have to assume you are also familiar with (and pained by) the "Wilford Brimley Line"
- owlninja 3y agoFor some examples: https://twitter.com/BrimleyLine https://twitter.com/BrimleyLine
- jayd16 3y agoWas he playing 58 or was the actor 58? There's a difference, after all.
- asdfman123 3y agoA side note: I feel like people singing songs are older than they are. It's easy to forget a lot of artists from earlier eras are actually young. Like when I heard the Beatles sing "she was just 17, if you know what I mean" I used to cringe until I thought about the fact that they were kids when they recorded it. Bob Dylan positively sounds like an old man (but I think that's at least in party by design).
- hgsgm 3y ago30-year-old men dating/marrying 16 year-olds was common, especially among rock stars and actors.
- autoexec 3y agoWhen the song came out John Lennon would have been 23. For both John and Paul, 17 would have violated the "half your age +7" rule
- jzb 3y agoLennon was 22, McCartney was 21 when the song was released. (Feb. 1963 recorded, Mar. 1963 released on “Please Please Me”) But yeah, still not quite half plus 7. You could argue they were writing it for teens, though - the audience singing along would skew several years younger than the band. (Poll of the Beatles fan club placed the average fan between 13-17. And they took great pains to create the illusion that fans might just meet the Beatles and be “the one.”) It does sound wrong now, though. The lyrics, anyway. Music still holds up.
- poisonarena 3y ago>> "she was just 17, if you know what I mean" I used to cringe took about 25-30 years to make men feel shame for something that was completely normal for thousands of years prior. I see so many men, usually on reddit, completely lying or somehow brainwashed that thinking the beautiful girls they saw in highschool suddenly become disgusting or 'children'. I can't help but think it has something to do with the western population decline. Is it possible progressive and feminist ideology influenced women to have kids much later, when they are less fertile, and pressured men only to date this age group? I know I sound like a andrew tate or right wing maniac (especially to those redditors described above), but I can't help but wonder
- kazinator 3y agoCheck out George Orwell. He died at 46, so no picture of him is from an older age. Must have been all the stressful war experience.
- yoyohello13 3y agoI’m pretty sure vsauce did a video about this. He concluded that it’s basically an illusion.
- 2023throwawayy 3y agoI often hear lead levels being attributed to changing behaviors. Maybe it also accounts for some of the changing looks.
- Gene5ive 3y agoSo much this. I've noticed it and talked about it for years. Glad someone wrote about it. I definitely think the "dress and act your age" thing was a big factor and I'm so glad that went out the window. Not so that people will get to be immature (that was already there, just buried), but so that people finally get to really define themselves and how they will age gracefully.
- likeableclub 3y ago[flagged]
- likeableclub 3y ago[flagged]
- DIVx0 3y agoThis is an ugly comment. What sin did you commit for your deity to curse you with such a rotten mind?
- likeableclub 3y agoSorry, im a nerd/geek, and I know god does not like nerds/geeks. Our mutual interests do not hold up in heaven. We are all basically wasting our lives on things 99% of girls don't like. And eventually you won't like it either. I committed a few sins lol and became a noble Saint, so God started speaking to me, decided he didn't like me, and now I'm stuck with a bunch of useless knowledge. You must not know people very well imo. Most people just want fun/money, that's all they think about. A lot of people lie, cheat, steal, hurt people. Can't you notice any patterns in how people look? Balding is a sign for example.
- Pannoniae 3y agoNo, balding is purely a hormonal thing. Remove androgens, remove balding. With zero change in behaviour...
- likeableclub 3y agoI'm no expert on balding but.. Who do you think triggers these hormones to start being produced? There's a lot we can do with science that affects our bodies, i.e. steroids. Your citing behavior after hormone manipulation doesn't make sense. God works slowly on people, once he makes a decision your basically stuck with it. He would not cure balding magically or otherwise just because a person changed their character or repented and reformed.
- strangattractor 3y agoGoing to let people rip this one apart but here goes. Age was valued back then so people attempted give the impression they were older than they really were. Now the opposite is true. The younger and dumber you behave the more respected you are (think Kardashians). Being (or looking) old gives the impression you are behind the times. Synonymous with calling Google "The Google" or Facebook "The Facebook". BTW I do that now because at this point both The Google and The Facebook are rather dated so I find it appropriate.
- tmpz22 3y ago> The younger and dumber you behave the more respected you are I do believe we value youth more but I thinks it’s mostly about looks and to a lesser extent personality and future prospects. Who have like, mortgages and stuff. Young people can be more malleable to change and can be more effective adapting to institutional change compared to us more seasoned curmudgeons.
- jacquesm 3y agoThere definitely is some kind of 'cult of stupidity' where people are proud because they are clueless about stuff. This is one of those things that I'll never get.
- lusus_naturae 3y agoI am glad to say I've never came across anyone like that. But if I were to guess I think it has to do with diminishing someone else's curiosity or effort to know or care about something, as in "you're wasting your time/energy/resources etc. knowing anything". It may also just be information fatigue.
- asdff 3y agoI remember a dozen years ago seeing a Touch of Grey ad on TV. It advertised dying the top of your head and keeping the sides grey, so you'd simultaneously pick up the women with your jet black top half and command respect in the board room with the grey hair on your temples, or so the ad went. Imagine if that was your world view, like you were Patrick Bateman in mid life crisis.
- treprinum 3y agoYou can visit Brazil, you'll see most young women with 18-year old bodies and 50-year old faces. I think the article has no clue why it is so as their proposed reasons can't be applied on Brazil.
- ipaddr 3y agoIn America you see the opposite. Young faces but 50 year old bodies.
- elzbardico 3y agoOr 50 tons to be more exact.
- raincole 3y agoI kinda misread the title and was like: of course people in the past look older... because they're older?
- tamimio 3y agoList of things that make people looks older: - Stress - Sun (or UV to be exact) - Hormones imbalance - Alcohol - Over exercising/workout (Will add citations if if I got time later)
- umeshunni 3y ago- Smoking
- wizofaus 3y agoMust be just me but aside from the oldest guy, none of the faces from that Cheers shot look obviously older than I'd expect from their age. Which is not to say I disagree with the basic idea that the average 30yo today looks younger than someone the same age did 50 or 70 years ago, for all the various proposed reason here and in the article . It's that people are especially surprised by that Cheers cast post that surprises me...maybe I'd feel differently if I were <=30 myself!
- silisili 3y agoCliff Claven(the mailman, rear center) blew me away the most. I'd have pegged him for late 40s or 50s in that pic/show...
- wizofaus 3y agoI think that was the guy I meant - not "Coach", who was actually 58 when the show was filmed. But I know guys in real life in their 30s that arguably look older than I do (despite being 10+ years younger!), usually because of thinning or greying hair etc.
- siva7 3y agoTo me they look all at least 20 years older in that picture. Let’s say i would meet them in the wild today and they told me their age i would surely think they’re lying about their age.
- AlbertCory 3y agoPlant based diets, cosmetic surgery, smoking -- nope, nope. Not being married: maybe. Hairstyles, maybe. Generally being more independent and responsible: yep.
- izzytcp 3y agoI know two: 1. lot of smoking which is terrible for your skin. 2. life was harder and farming/factory/mining jobs were very popular, first one involve burning in the sun, second in dirt and bad air. Both hard physical work.
- FrustratedMonky 3y agoThere weren't drinking the blood of the young? https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/molecular-dx-topic/a-blood-factor-can-rejuvenate-the-aging-brain/ https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/molecular-dx-...
- mjfl 3y agoOur androgens so low bros :( It's like being Bobby Hill and thinking you'll grow into Hank Hill but just staying Bobby forever because of phthalates in the water and sugar in the food.
- jacquesm 3y agoLess smoking and less drinking perhaps?
- JohnBooty 3y agoBotox works pretty well to keep facial skin tight. When done sparingly, it looks extremely natural -- even up close and in person. My brother's wife and mother-in-law look about twenty years younger than their ages. We've all probably seen some people who look like botox disasters or plastic surgery disasters with unnatural looking faces, but what you don't necessarily notice is all of the people doing it in a more low-key way. Another thing I haven't seen mentioned is facial moisturization for men. I get the impression that men rarely used to do this and that it's still somewhat rare. Trust me: it works. People are generally surprised by my age. People have mentioned reduced sun exposure and physical labor. I don't know that I buy this. I don't think the cast members of Cheers were exactly toiling in the fields all day long. Reduction of smoking is definitely a factor.
- jzb 3y ago“I don't think the cast members of Cheers were exactly toiling in the fields all day long.” No, but they probably “worked on their tan” a lot. Instead of accidental exposure they’d roast themselves to keep a tan. Agreed on smoking, though. It does a number on skin.
- ImprovedSilence 3y agoyeah i think a lot of people world be surprised by how many people use botox. i know of people who host botox parties, and they sell/inject all their friends as a side hustle to working in healthcare.
- noman-land 3y agoCan you explain what you mean by "facial moisturization for men"?
- listenallyall 3y ago1. be a man 2. purchase facial moisturizer 3. apply to it your face He's right, it does help. Here are some products: https://philosophy.com/collections/moisturizers https://philosophy.com/collections/moisturizers
- PheonixPharts 3y agoI think this has it backwards: Why are adults today more like children? Adults, including myself to some extent if I'm honest, in multiple ways act much more like children than any other age in history. This is a very recent phenomena, and I'm continually shocked by how unquestioned it is by most "adults" I know. My suspicions is that our culture of neoteny is a byproduct of late capitalism. The ideal consumer is a mental and emotional toddler with the income of an adult professional: constantly wanting a new shiny toy or tasty treat to occupy their time, without the need for parental supervision to limit their ability to mean those desires. When I look around I increasingly see the definition of "adult" being pushed back further and further in age (in another post people are going on about the myth that "mental maturity" starts at 25!)."Adults" that refuse to outgrow the wants of a child leads us to a world where we have dessert with every meal and Christmas is everyday (Amazon makes that possible). It also means a world were individuals refuse to take any responsibility for the reality they participate in.
- elzbardico 3y agoLate empire issues.
- throwaway6734 3y agoCan you give some examples of other late empires?
- jrek 3y agoI’m not entirely unsympathetic to this line of thinking but “dessert with every meal” as an example of late capitalist degeneracy seems cartoonishly austere.
- piuantiderp 3y agoNeoteny is a product of the safety-oriented culture and single parent-families and low-fertility rate. If you're having 1 kid vs 10, you'll be way more protective. A 100 years ago, if a horse kicked and killed a 8yo in the village, no one would bat an eye. Today, no chance the kid would be allowed anywhere close or without constant supervision. From Admiral David Farragut's life: "Farragut was warranted a midshipman in the U.S. Navy on December 17, 1810, at the age of 9. [...]Farragut was 11 years old when, during the War of 1812, he was given the assignment to bring a ship captured by the Essex safely to port." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut
- Bye_Felicia 3y agoA lot of the photos are New Yorkers. They look older because of all the pollution living there, aa well as a lifetime alcohol and drug abuse.
- jwr 3y agoThe page doesn't scroll on an iPad. How do you build a website that breaks scrolling...
- crispyambulance 3y agoThe 70's TV show, "All in the Family" featured the iconic cranky-old-man character, "Archie Bunker". The age of this character on the show? Well, there was an episode where Archie celebrated his 50th birthday-- in 1974. This show premiered in 1968. So, the show started when the Archie character was 44. I think that the perception of age and age-appropriateness was very different than it is today even a relatively short time ago.
- dhosek 3y agoMost of the male actors in the Mary Tyler Moore show were in their 40s. Perhaps the most startling fact: William Hartnell, the first Doctor Who, was just 55 when the show premiered.
- wrp 3y agoSmoking and drinking are known to be major factors, yet I knew many members of religious communities who were very strict about having none of that and they still showed their age earlier. There was earlier and more childbirth, but that doesn't account for the men. Some of the men were outdoor workers like farmers, and they definitely showed earlier aging. I think diet and environment must be a factor. I've read medical literature on the prevalence of toxic chemicals in foods, consumer products, and industrial processes before WW2. My impression of family histories is that major physical ailments were more common in that era.
- klyrs 3y agoMust be all those microplastics we're eating...
- atleta 3y agoWe were talking about this the other day. A friend, soon to be 50, was surprised that a guy and a girl from the group were just a few years younger than him. (He thought they'd be at least 10 years younger, I think.) He made a comment that 40-50 year old people looked like old men in our childhood and now people of this age really look pretty young, like 10-20 years younger than back then. And the girl replied that "well, maybe it just shows we're getting old and children and youngsters these days probably see you just as old as you saw those people back then..." :) But yeah, I had that feeling too. I remember being amazed/perplexed when looking at the photos of people from WW2 or the people on the photos of the 1956 revolution of Hungary (being a Hungarian). When you read about it and see the photos of people executed in their 30's or 40's and they look like grandparents these days. (I'm mentioning the ones executed because those are the ones usually where you know their birth date.) And no, the photos aren't necessarily ones taken at the trials or during the atrocities.
- PhasmaFelis 3y agoThe article seems to be saying, but not quite admitting, that most people don't actually look that different; it's only celebrities that have become obsessed with/expected to look very young.
- seanhunter 3y agoThey looked older because they were older. Like take my mom. She was there in the past and is much older than me. In fact the further back in the past I want a person to have lived, the older they look now. Also if I was alive at that time in the past, that person would look much older than me then and now (if they're still around). Joking aside this article might win a prize for the single dumbest thing ever on HN.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- CrimpCity 3y agoLife was considerably more difficult. Logistically a lot has been simplified. Yes modern life is more complex today but we manage it through specialization. This stress takes a toll on people and they look older.
- Nevermark 3y agoIt is a quadruple whammy when a style is time-specific, ages badly, few people can pull it off, and seems contrived or odd even when it is in fashion. I.e. Jellyfish hair could be described as mushroom head, or ... worse. Can't be unseen. But wolf cuts seem likely to age well. Naturally ragged but still beautiful and styled hair has been a staple of counter culture fashion, rock and roll vamps, and fantasy pinup art for generations. In fact, wolf cut looks a lot like the Hollywood movie version of "bed head", which has never resembled how most people look in the morning.
- hunter-2 3y agoThis looks like an article based entirely off a strawman argument. Head over to r/oldschoolcool and you will see a lot of youngish looking people in their 30s and 40s as well.