Has society's perception of age changed in the last 20 years?

[coloradodem2005]

What I have noticed is that when I was a kid, everybody joked that when you turned 40, you were a senior citizen. Now, it seems as though that when you are in your 40's, you are mature but not old. You can still even be sexy in a way. What do you think?

[tjdee]

1. Yes. 40 is the new 30. Two of the hottest men I know are in their 40s.

Of course, I don't really know them.

But for some reason now, the twenties are almost like being a teenager still. Or maybe that's just me.

[leftofthedial]

3. yes, and 50 is the new 19

:-)

:evilgrin:

[Goldmund]

2. MILF: does the body good.

:evilgrin:

[Blue Diadem]

4. I think it changed when the boomers began getting older

in years but younger in health, diet and fitness.

[DebJ]

5. Definitely has changed...in 20 yrs, maybe, in 30, definitely.

This is more than just face lifts, cosmetics, and hair dyes. It is a shift in the health histories of the average American.

Those in their early 40's or younger today benefitted from vaccinations becoming available and becoming routine. Someone who was in their 40's in the 1970's, on the other hand, saw as common among friends and neighbors: polio, red measles, German measles, mumps, chicken pox, and I think even small pox maybe? I think the small pox vaccines became common in the late 50's early 60's when I was a child? Also, I remember major Tuberculosis centers, holding hundreds of patients. All these diseases effect the growth and aging process...note the height of the average American has moved upwards. I would guess that use of multi-vitamins has greatly increased as well, and I think that helps a lot, too. Also, the population picked up fitness habits that weren't prevalent years ago, when the typical hard manual labor of life on a farm or in a factory left one with little time or inclination for eustress physical activities.

So much for POSITIVE differences.
On the NEGATIVE side, I am continually surprised by the numbers of people in their late twenties who still act like they are 19....which is to say, they seem to live to drink and party and get stoned. They live home with Mom and Dad, don't pay rent, and even with good incomes, can't pay off their credit card and cell phone bills nor invest in a future: if they'd simply invest what they spend on alcohol, they could probably retire. If I had money to invest, I'd pick a company that plans on doing liver research. Overall, alcohol consumption in the USA is down, I read, but I credit that to us Boomers who are just too damned old to drink anymore. How people can drink their lives away for ten years at a stretch astounds and counfounds me; sorry, but I find this pathetic.

I was born in 1955, in case you are curious.

By the way, my children, in their early twenties, have much more sense!